Call it resilience if you want, or better, parrot the terminology Mike Vrabel used after the Patriots' 33-27 victory over the Dolphins Sunday afternoon.
"We're not frontrunners,'' he said, sounding rather like a proud dad after his first win as Patriots coach, "and that's a big thing in this league."
Vrabel was talking about his team's collective refusal in a back-and-forth game to mope or back down after the Dolphins hit them with a couple of big plays, and an early lead had slipped away.
But that resilience, that determination to fight back when good fortune and momentum has abandoned you, that ability to stay focused and overcome mistakes, applies to several of his players, too.
Most obvious, of course, is quarterback Drake Maye, who bounced back from a lukewarm performance in the season-opening loss to the Raiders with an efficient performance.
Maye finished 19 of 23 for 230 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and there will be no sports-radio chatter about growing pains this week.
But to me, another Patriot embodied their resilience -- a maligned, often for good reason, veteran running back who refused to be a front-runner on Sunday.
This was Rhamondre Stevenson's best game since ... well, maybe all the way back to Week 1 of the 2024 season, when he ran 25 times for 120 yards and a touchdown in a 16-10 win over the Bengals, otherwise known as the high point of last season.
Stevenson had 16 touches, tops among the Patriots' three-headed backfield rotation that includes rookie TreVeyon Henderson and reliable Antonio Gibson. Stevenson ran 11 times for 54 yards, and led all Patriots with five receptions for 88 yards.
Yet the numbers don't totally do him justice. He was strong from the beginning, running for 9 yards on third and 1 on the Patriots' first possession, bouncing outside for extra yardage after running into his own lineman. The drive ended with a Mack Hollins 8-yard touchdown catch.
In terms of confirming that they were going to put up a fight, Stevenson made one of the Patriots' two most important plays of the day. With a little less than two minutes left in the third quarter and the Dolphins leading, 20-15, after scoring 20 of the last 23 points, the Patriots faced third and 3 at their own 24.
They couldn't afford to stall there. So what happened? Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels dialed up the perfect play, Maye lofted the ball down the right side, and Stevenson weaved his way to the Dolphins 21, a 55-yard gain. Two plays later, Maye scampered in from 6 yards out, and Stevenson converted the 2-point to restore the Patriots' lead at 23-20.
With the hope around Henderson, and Stevenson's fumbling problems last season, it's been easy to forget how productive he can be, especially when healthy and running with purpose.
Winning in Miami -- where the Patriots had lost five straight, their last win coming in 2019 when Antonio Brown was living in Tom Brady's guest house -- is always satisfying. It had to be especially satisfying for Stevenson.
Some further thoughts, upon immediate review . . .
Players suggested in the Unconventional Preview: Kayshon Boutte, Tyreek Hill, Milton Williams.
Antonio Gibson: And how about that other spectacular and crucial play by a Patriots running back besides the aforementioned Stevenson catch? After Malik Washington took a punt 74 yards for a touchdown to give the Dolphins a 27-23 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Gibson immediately answered by returning the kickoff 90 yards for a score.
Marte Mapu: There was a bit more suspense to come, but the third-year safety-turned-linebacker and rare remaining recent draft pick put the Patriots in position to ice the game when he picked off Tua Tagovailoa's fourth-and-9 pass and returned it to the Dolphins 28 with 2:12 left.
Milton Williams: The $104 million man has given the Patriots their money's worth so far. He finished with three tackles and two sacks, including burying Tagovailoa on his blindside on fourth and 12 on the Dolphins' final possession.
I suppose Andres Borregales earned some measure of redemption with his late 53-yard field goal to put the Patriots up, 33-27. But he failed to reach the landing zone on the ensuing kickoff, giving the Dolphins the ball at their own 40, and his missed extra points following the Patriots' first two touchdowns brought unnecessary tension and some tricky math to the game. For the record, John Parker Romo is with the Falcons. Never draft a kicker, friends.
By the time this wild game was over, it felt like it happened about three weeks ago, but Kayshon Boutte's spectacular 16-yard reception near the end of the first quarter for the Patriots' second touchdown must be acknowledged. Perfectly placed throw from Maye, too. Surprisingly, it was Boutte's only target of the game . . . Henderson got called for holding three times -- twice on pass plays, and once on a kick return. That's tough to do as a running back. Overall, the Patriots had 12 penalties for 75 yards, giving them 21 in two weeks. That surely thrills Vrabel. Too often that aforementioned resilience has been necessary because of messes of their own making . . . The Andrew Catalon/Charles Davis/Jason McCourty broadcast team is fourth on CBS' NFL depth chart, and they're very good for where they are in the pecking order. The broadcast itself, however, was annoyingly plagued by technical difficulties early on. At times, it was hard to tell if Dolphins fans at the stadium were stewing in their silence or the audio had kicked out again.