FOXBOROUGH, Mass – In the fourth quarter, the New England Patriots had a chance to take the lead. And much of that was thanks to an impressive play by Jabrill Peppers. 

The safety executed an aggressive hit on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, knocking the ball right out of his hands. 

And fellow defenseman Marcus Jones was right by his side, grabbing that ball and providing the Patriots with a crucial turnover.  

"That was just a great play by Jabrill," Jones told A to Z Sports. "His helmet and shoulder pad definitely, it was in the right spot of hitting the ball. And then right when I see it I was like let me hop on the ball. So, a great play."

However, when the play first happened, Peppers had no idea that he had even caused a fumble. 

"I wanted to get him more airborne and put him on his back. He squat a lot so kind of took him off to the side. But it still was a little pop," Peppers detailed. "I didn't realize the ball came out until after. So that definitely was a good feeling."

And how did he react when he finally realized what had happened? 

"That's when I went crazy. But I had to calm down because I started cramping a little bit and I knew we might have to go back out there," Peppers said with a smile.

Peppers hit came with just over three and a half minutes remaining in the game and the Patriots trailing by five points. Hurts lost the ball on the Eagles' 41-yard line, providing the offense with a prime opportunity in Philadelphia's half. 

"It wasn't that much time left so we know when they went empty that they liked the QB draw. He's a cutback kind of runner. I just took my leverage and tried to put my face mask on the ball and got the ball out," Peppers said. "It always means a lot when you can do something to help the team win. I pride myself on being an aggressive guy and I try to be as controlled, aggressive as I can and do whatever I can do to help this team win."

However, the offense was unable to get in the end zone despite Peppers turnover along with the defense forcing a turnover on downs just after the two minute warning. 

Yet, this is only the first game of the season and it's clear that Peppers' passion and aggression will certainly help the team with some wins this season. 

And Jones is just one of many of Peppers' teammates that feed off his energy. 

"That's a guy that brings all the juice and energy and everything like that. So you love to see that from him," Jones said. "And then we always harp as defense, coach tells us all the time as a defense, we got our motto of like causing turnovers. That's what we want to do and just be consistent with that so we can get the ball back to our offense."

Featured Image via Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports