Lessons from 2001: Patriots' Christian Elliss delivers another 'Shot Heard Around the World'

In 2001, the New England Patriots were 0-2 entering Week 3. The team had finished in last place in the AFC East with a 5-11 record the year prior – Bill Belichick's first year as head coach of the Patriots.

They had just lost their franchise quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, to a life-threatening hit by the Jets' Mo Lewis in Week 2. Bledsoe was the highest paid player in the NFL at the time.

A second-year quarterback from Michigan who had been a fourth-string quarterback on the team just the year before was given the reins to the team.

But it wasn't Tom Brady who made a play in Week 3 against the Indianapolis Colts that sparked the beginning of the Patriots two-decade run of dominance.

A forgotten moment in the annals of team history became the second most famous “shot heard around the world” in Massachusetts. It was a shot that would announce to the world that the Patriots were no longer the doormat of the NFL.

The Colts — led by a young Peyton Manning — entered Foxboro 2–0 with one of the most explosive offenses in league history. They had scored 87 points in their first two games, averaging nearly 44 per contest. Instead, the Patriots hung 44 on them, dominating 44–13.

The play of the game came early when Manning hit Jerome Pathon on a quick five-yard crossing route over the middle. Immediately after securing the ball, Pathon was absolutely crushed by veteran linebacker Bryan Cox. Cox stepped over a slumped Pathon like a gladiator over a fallen opponent.

Then Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel (#50) had a front row seat to the hit. You think he doesn't remember the impact a hit like that had on the team?

In a 2017 ESPN article, Mike Reiss quoted Belichick reflecting on that hit:

"I think that set a tone and physical-ness for that game; there was a little electricity to it. It caught and the team ran with it a little bit. So if you had to pick out just maybe one thing, that would probably have to go up there on the list."

That hit didn’t just set the tone for the game — it set the tone for the season. The Patriots went on to win their first Super Bowl, upsetting the “Greatest Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams, 20–17.

Fast forward almost 25 years later. On December 1, 2025, relatively unknown linebacker Christian Elliss may have delivered yet another "shot heard around the world" which may be the spark to a new Patriots dynasty led, this time, by Mike Vrabel.

Vrabel, by the way, had a front row seat to the Bryan Cox hit a quarter of a century before. He can be seen wearing #50 in the clip.

The play happened late in the first quarter. On 2nd-and-13, New York Giants' rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart scrambled to the right sideline. Instead of voluntarily going out of bounds five or six yards short of the first down marker, Dart tried to be cute and tip-toe along the sideline trying to sneak up to the marker.

Elliss would have none of it. He leveled Dart with a perfectly timed shoulder shot that sent the quarterback flying over the white sideline buffer used for officials.

A scrum ensued as Giants' players took umbrage with the hit, thinking it was dirty. There was nothing dirty about it. Dart had never stepped out of bounds when Elliss delivered the hit.

Vrabel has preached from the very first day he was introduced as head coach of the Patriots – only nine months ago – that he wanted his team to play with controlled violence.

“We want controlled violence. Not cheap shots. Not chaos. Violence with purpose.”

One of the most impressive traits about this year's Patriots team is how they improve week after week. Drake Maye is Exhibit A. Throws in the end zone that he tried firing in and having get intercepted like in the Pittsburgh game in Week 3, he is now lobbing toward the back pylon where only his receiver can catch it.

And while it has taken time for Vrabel’s “controlled violence” to fully materialize, in Week 13, it arrived.

Vrabel said after the game:

“That’s how we coach it. Square up, see what you hit, and finish through the man without putting the team at risk. That’s controlled violence. It’s not dirty—it’s technique, it’s intent, it’s playing fast and physical within the rules.”

The league has been put on notice, just like it had after the Bryan Cox hit in 2001. Back then, it was, "If you are going to come over the middle with that short, quick passing game, you are going to pay the price."

This week’s message was, "Quarterback or not, if you try to sneak extra yards along the sideline, you’re going to pay a price."

Vrabel says he preaches the same thing to his own quarterback, Drake Maye. He told WEEI this week that he shows Maye clips of quarterbacks getting hit hard across the NFL when they try to be cute and they don't give themselves up.

Vrabel knows that hits like the one Elliss delivered on Dart deliver a message to other teams in the NFL:

"If you play with good fundamentals and you play aggressively, hits like that happen. And when they’re clean, they send the right kind of message.”

Vrabel even preaches this to his own quarterback. He told WEEI this week that he routinely shows Maye clips of quarterbacks across the league getting blasted because they tried to be “cute” instead of giving themselves up.

Vrabel knows that hits like Elliss’ deliver a message:

“If you play with good fundamentals and you play aggressively, hits like that happen. And when they’re clean, they send the right kind of message.”

Vrabel also stresses discipline. An overlooked part of the aftermath of the Dart hit was that Elliss turned his back and refused to retaliate when Giants players confronted him. His restraint drew a 15-yard penalty on New York.

Vrabel added:

“Plays like that lift a team. They change the sideline. But it only matters because it was done the right way. If Christian lowers his head or comes in wild, that’s a penalty and a lecture. Instead, it’s a teaching tape.”

Elliss praised his coach’s philosophy:

“Coach Vrabel talks all the time about being physical without being reckless. So that’s always in your head—don’t lead with your helmet, keep your strike zone, and explode through the tackle. It’s not about trying to knock someone out. It’s about setting a tone.”

Elliss also acknowledged the emotional spark:

“Oh yeah, you feel it. You hear the sideline, you feel the momentum shift. But honestly, that’s just us trying to play Patriots football the way Coach expects—fast, physical, clean. If that fires up the guys, even better.”

For a team that hadn’t played a Monday Night Football game in almost three years, Christian Elliss delivered the perfect reminder to a national audience:

The Patriots are back.