The New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills are fighting for dominance in the AFC East and that will be settled on the field, but following Sunday’s victory by coach Mike Vrabel’s team the fight became a little war of words.
Not mean words.
But definitely cutting words.
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Consider that Patriots receiver Efton Chism made an incredible one-handed touchdown catch inside of two minutes to play that provided the winning points against Buffalo.
Awesome, right? Not if you ask Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson who dismissed the play, the receiver, and then dismissed the Patriots victory.
No disrespect, of course, he said.
“Listen, we’re not gonna get into no bulletin board material,” Gardner-Johnson told reporters gathered around his locker. “An elevated guy made a hell of a catch. Probably won’t hear from him again. Respectfully. And I say that with a lot of confidence, because it’s like, [Patriots quarterback Drake Maye] need to put his confidence in his best player. If that’s what he threw, he would have thrown it to [Romeo] Doubs or somebody.
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“A practice squad player made a hell of a play,” Gardner-Johnson repeated.
Then he laughed.
CJGJ, as he’s affectionately referred to in some circles, wasn’t done. Having dismissed Chism’s highlight reel touchdown and, indeed, having dismissed Chism as a practice squad player, he then trained his commentary on the Patriots’ winning accomplishment.
“…They won the game. Whatever,” CJGJ said. “They ain’t do [expletive] better than us. We gotta play better. And they can mark that. We’ll be back, see them again end of the year.
“So they can have that same energy and put up what? Twenty-some points. They barely scored. They struggled all game.”
Lots to unpack here. Because the Bills safety apparently played in a game the rest of us didn’t see.
If the Patriots struggled to score 29 points and win, what should we say about the Bills, who had fewer first downs, fewer yards, a worse red-zone and goal-to-go efficiency, and had, the biggie, fewer points?
The Patriots also seemed to have a better grasp of the facts.
The wide receiver that Gardner-Johnson kept referring to as an elevated practice squad player joined the Patriots as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and won a spot on New England’s 53-man roster at the start of last season.
He has never been on any team’s practice squad.
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You know who has been on a practice squad? Gardner-Johnson. He was on Baltimore’s practice squad last season.
And this is where the back-and-forth picks up steam because the Patriots became aware of CJGJ’s comments about Chism on Monday morning. Coach Mike Vrabel was asked about it on his weekly day-after appearance on WEEI radio in Boston.
“For a guy that has been on eight teams in four years, I mean, I guess he knows the drill,” Vrabel said.
Vrabel was mocking but wasn’t necessarily totally accurate, either. Since 2021, Gardner-Johnson has been on seven teams, including two different stints with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Close enough.
Advantage Patriots.
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