FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Wilfork Island? Yes that’s right. Wilfork Island struck late in the game Sunday to secure a 16-9 victory for the New England Patriots over the Oakland Raiders.
We all know about Revis Island, but defensive tackle Vince Wilfork made the clutch defensive play for the Patriots in a tight game. Wilfork intercepted quarterback Derek Carr's pass to wide receiver Denarius Moore after it was deflected by cornerback Logan Ryan.
“Wilfork Island? He kind of called that he would get another one this year,” safety Devin McCourty said. “Hopefully we’ll slow him down and pick up our play. We don’t want him at the top of the leaderboard. He could have worked on his run after the catch, but I think he is so smart and he knows situational football that he just got down and let the offense come on and take a couple of knees.”
Wilfork, a 325-pound defensive tackle and one of the more unlikely players to intercept a pass, now has three career interceptions including two against the Raiders.
“We always try to tell people to stay in front of the quarterback and maybe you can get a tipped ball or bat a ball down or something like that,” Wilfork said. “I was more concerned not to get tied up so I hit the center and then I kind of came back and they started following me a little bit -- I thought it was going to be illegal men down the field.
“After that, I saw the quarterback release the ball and I just turned. I had some defenders there with me and the ball bobbled and luckily I just came up with the play. That was a great defensive play. I was just happening to catch it,” he said.
Defensive end Chandler Jones gave Wilfork a shout-out on Twitter for his game-ending interception.
Wilfork said it felt good to make an interception like this one, but deflected the credit to his teammates.
Great team win!!! Oh how about that pick??? @wilfork75
— Chandler Jones (@Chan95Jones) September 21, 2014
“The credit doesn’t go all to me; the credit goes to the defense,” Wilfork said. “Because without the coverage in the end zone, without the man-to-man coverage we were in, without the bobbled ball, without the two other guys on the line of scrimmage rushing with me, that play probably wouldn’t have happened, so that’s a great defensive play.”
