FOXBOROUGH, Mass – With only one second remaining, the New England Patriots made a very interesting decision. 

Rather than having rookie quarterback Drake Maye throw a Hail Mary, they sent out kicker Joey Slye for a 68-yard field goal attempt. 

So was he surprised by this decision? 

“I would not really say I was really surprised in that situation. I know that Coach has a lot of faith in me that I have a strong enough leg to hit from distance," Slye explained. "To be honest with you, when they did the chunk play right there at the end, I figured it was going to be a better situation for me just to get into field goal range. I do not think we are taking that opportunity to try to get a Hail Mary in that situation. Just seemed like everything was kind of leaning towards kicking the field goal in that situation.”

And he had faith that he could do it. It even looked like he would have had it, but the kick just wasn't strong enough. 

“Yeah, I mean I hit it clean. It was dead down the pipe from where I was looking," he told reporters. "So I knew if I just got the distance, I would be fine. Cold weather today, wind in our face going that way as well so I know I needed to put pretty much everything I had into it and just fell a little bit short.”

Head coach Jerod Mayo was also asked about this, and specified that this decision was his.  

“That was 100% me. Look, Slye was hitting it well in pregame, and I felt that that was the best thing to do to help our team win the football game,” Mayo said. “Not sure what the numbers are on Hail Marys versus the field goal there, but that’s what I felt was right.”

While this play gave the Patriots an opportunity to win, there were other missed chances throughout the game. And one was a 25-yard missed field goal by Slye. 

With the game ultimately being decided by one point, that certainly played a factor. 

“I mean to be honest with you, I take full responsibility for this. We had a short field goal at the end of the half I have got to make," Slye said. "Puts us up eight, or what, nine or ten depending on what our circumstances are. When we went for two, it put us up seven. We have that field goal and we make it and we are up ten. They go down and score, they have got to get an onside kick and kick a field goal just to tie it. 

"So I have got to be better, team counts on me in those situations. Every point for this team matters with how we play complementary football with offense, defense, and special teams. So whenever I am out there I have got to score points.”