Patriots players react to Malik Cunningham’s impressive preseason appearance appeared in the original NBC Sports Boston
Malik Cunningham was one of the stars of the New England Patriots. Preseason opener vs. the Houston Texans Thursday night.
Although he didn’t go quarterback until late in the fourth quarter, the undrafted rookie added some much-needed excitement to the Patriots’ offense.
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He even scored New England’s first touchdown on a 9-yard run that included a very effective performance. Social media went crazy with the reaction after the play, even the Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson liked it.
Cunningham completed three of his four pass attempts for 19 yards and had a downed touchdown pass in the end zone by Tre Nixon. He also ran for 34 yards and a touchdown on limited snaps.
Here’s a rundown of Patriots players reacting to Cunningham’s preseason appearance following a 20-9 loss to Texas.
“Malik came in and did a great job, he had a really good drive. He scored the only touchdown of the game. He did really well on both the running game and the passing game. It was really nice to see him do that. Especially his first NFL game, To be able to go out there and put tensions aside and play like he did was really good to see. I think like everybody, I’m sure he had those little nerves, little tensions in the first play or so. With the drive going, you can see he’s relaxed To be able to see him score a touchdown and how excited he was, that was really good.”
“Yeah, it was really fun to see him get out there and just play the ball. That was fun to watch. A very nice guy, always talking, real high energy. It was very interesting to see him being able to go out there and do that on the sidelines for us to see that.” I’m happy for him.”
“I watched him in college when he was at Louisville, so we already knew what he could do, but it’s good to see him get out there and do it tonight. It was definitely fun to watch. I know a lot of guys in this room right now who have high hopes for him.”
“Malik is a guy who comes in every day who’s so humble, works so hard in practice and you see he gives the most. That’s what you guys want to see — make that transition from quarterback to wide receiver and now back to quarterback. Just to see that, and he executes at a level Good and gets into the end zone, you have to be happy for a guy like that.”
“We were all excited there. I saw him give the ball to Jake (Andrews) and he shot the ball. We’re all excited to see another guy succeed and do a good job. It was a great attacking unit there and the team effort for the final push of the drive. It was great to see him score.”