The New England Patriots' longest punt return of the season to date came courtesy of Jabrill Peppers.
No, Peppers didn't do the actual returning, though he has returned both punts and kickoffs in his career. But his Richter-scale block on gunner Justin Hardee helped spring Marcus Jones for a 43-yard runback during Sunday's 22-17 victory over the New York Jets.
The hit ignited the Patriots' sideline, whose cheers could be heard on the game broadcast, and earned Peppers a rave review from special teams captain Matthew Slater.
"That was maybe the best block in the return game we've had all year," Slater said Monday in a video conference. "And (it was on) probably one of the best, if not the best gunner in the league right now in Justin Hardee with the way he's been playing and the production that he's had this season. (He was) a guy that we highlighted all week. If we're going to get the return game going, we've got to get him blocked. For Pep to step up and have that mindset and to meet the challenge, it was huge. He's been so selfless since he's been here, just doing whatever he's been asked to do, doing it with a smile, coming out energetic, trying to stay positive.
"Man, that was a huge, huge block. It really fired up the whole team, the whole sideline, and really gave us a shot of juice."
Speaking after the game, Peppers said he surprised even himself with his pancake of Hardee.
"They have really good strong and fast gunners, so I just wanted to get there and make a sound block," he said. "I didn't think it was going to look like that. ... But I came out of my hips, had great technique and it kind of worked in my favor."
It wasn't the only stick the physically imposing safety delivered in the win. Seeing his largest defensive workload of the season with Kyle Dugger sidelined with an ankle injury, the 5-foot-11, 213-pound Peppers led all Patriots players with eight tackles, including one forceful tackle for loss.
"Have you seen the guy? The guy looks like the Incredible Hulk," Slater said. "It's muscles on top of muscles. So physicality's an understatement when you talk about his game. He certainly embraces it, and the way he's able to really roll his hips in short-area contact, whether it's defensively or in the kicking game, it's super impressive."
Head coach Bill Belichick said Peppers, New England's fourth safety behind Devin McCourty, Adrian Phillips and Dugger, had "several big plays (in the game), and physical plays."
"Good to see that production out there, have him out there," Belichick said. "He helped us in the kicking game and certainly helped us out defensively against the run and the pass and on the pass rush. Just good to have him on the field."
Peppers also recovered an onside kick in the final minutes to seal the victory for the Patriots. That capped a season-best day for New England's special teams, with Nick Folk also going 5-for-5 on field-goal attempts and cornerback Jack Jones appearing to partially block a Jets field goal that sailed wide left. The Patriots also got a bounce-back performance from struggling punter Jake Bailey and strong kickoff coverage from Brenden Schooler and Joshuah Bledsoe, among others. The Jets did not start a single drive outside their own 25-yard line.
"We're real big on special teams here," Peppers said. "We like to play complementary football, and I think today, we had a real good game on special teams. Obviously, there's some things to clean up, but I think we did a real good job."
