For much of the 2025 season, especially in the playoffs, the Patriots' defense has been the star of the show, keeping the team in games and shutting down some of the league's best offensive weapons. If it weren't for their efforts in the Super Bowl against the Seahawks, the score would have been a lot worse.
Over the past two weeks, the same can be said about how the Patriots have fared so far, as the defense is starting to look even more like the vision Mike Vrabel hoped for. They're aggressive, violent, and becoming more dominant in the trenches, and a few players are stealing the spotlight for all the right reasons.
One of those players is linebacker Christian Elliss, who has been with the team since midseason in 2023. Although it took him a bit to become a name to remember, he's grown a lot over the last three years and is arguably one of the best players on the defensive line.
He proved that even more with his performance against the Steelers, most notably his big hit on Aaron Rodgers, which forced a fumble and a 36-yard loss, putting the Steelers in an unthinkable 4th-and-43 situation.
OH MY CHRISTIAN ELLISS.
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 20, 2026
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/C6fqoQHhrd
The image has become a meme across social media, among Patriots fans and those who aren't very supportive of the Steelers or Aaron Rodgers, and it might mark the start of a very good year for Elliss.
Christian Elliss is becoming a pillar of the Patriots' defense to start the season
Over the past two seasons, Elliss has become a harder hitter, and this is just the latest example of one of his plays going viral. We saw that last year with a big hit on quarterback Jaxson Dart, which the Giants wanted flagged, but Elliss's play was perfectly legal.
He has continued to play at that level, as we saw in his latest move on Rodgers, and on Sunday, he earned a team-high pass-rush win rate (39%) and pass-rush grade (83.2).
He was on the field for 70 snaps, recording 2 pressures, a sack, one hurry, 12 combined tackles, one for a loss, and 6 defensive stops. It was a showstopping performance that helped seal the win for the Patriots, who badly needed a win after a frustrating loss in Seattle the week before.
After the win, Elliss emphasized what the defense focused on accomplishing in the game, noting Mike Vrabel's words about forcing turnovers; the linebacker said it was "everything that was on our mind this week" and that it was "great to see" come to fruition.
That's certainly an understatement.
The Patriots will need this kind of performance moving forward, now that the offense is down two key players: A.J. Brown with an ankle sprain and Mike Onwenu likely done for the season with a broken ankle. Things haven't fared as well for Drake Maye and his new offense, so the defense will have a bigger workload to keep games from getting out of reach.
Elliss can continue dominating on the field and step up into a more vocal role for the defense to follow, which will only be better if he keeps up his current rate and brings the heat to opposing quarterbacks.
He could earn a more prominent role for the rest of the season, with Harold Landry sidelined for the foreseeable future and questions about the depth at linebacker. It's a role he can take, and fortunately, he has momentum to keep it going and solidify his place for the rest of the season.
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