FOXBOROUGH – The New England Patriots knew that it was going to be a fight to the finish against the Buffalo Bills in primetime on Sunday night. And with that, it also meant that every single point mattered.

The Patriots had the ball at the end of the first half, and with the score tied 3-3, Drake Maye got the team down to the Bills’ one-yard line with four seconds left. Maye attempted a pass to Hunter Henry, but that fell incomplete. And thus, only one second remained in the half.

So Mike Vrabel was faced with a choice. Should the Patriots go for the touchdown or take the three-points? He ultimately made the safe choice, and explained the decision when asked on Monday morning.

“I just didn’t want to do all that, and not come out of there with points,” Vrabel said. “The way the first half had gone, I felt like not to look at the other side of the coin, but to come out there tied … we were in a position to do some things. So that may change next week or the following week. I just felt like at that point, and how it was going, I just wanted to make sure we came out of there with points and a good feeling going in at the half.”

Borregales made the 19-yard field goal, giving the Patriots a 6-3 lead going into the half. And clearly it was a good call as New England won by three points.

“We plan on trying to be aggressive and not reckless,” Vrabel said. “But yeah, there’s certainly games where you certainly want to be or feel the need to be aggressive, especially against a team that’s averaging close to 34 points a game.”

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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Mike Vrabel details decision to kick field goal at end of first half