The New England Patriots filed into their home locker room following their 27-14 win over the New York Jets in front of a national audience. With the team huddled around head coach Mike Vrabel, he made sure to give praise to one defender who’s seen his role increase in recent weeks.

“I would file Dell (Pettus) under a guy that takes advantage of his opportunity,” Vrabel said in a video posted by the Patriots. “We know what that leads to: more opportunity.”

Pettus, an undrafted safety from a year ago, has seen his chances to play increase after the team dealt away Kyle Dugger to the Pittsburgh Steelers ahead of the trade deadline. Against New York, Pettus came up with a number of big plays, including a key stop on fourth down.

Two Undrafted Rookies Have Helped The Patriots Defense Amid Winning Stretch

Covering Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert, Pettus knocked the ball away on what would have been a fourth-down conversation late in the fourth quarter. Instead of having the Jets offense remain on the field, the Patriots took over and quickly milked the clock down to zeros.

“Somebody who is so consistent, reliable, and showed up at big points this year,” linebacker Robert Spillane said. “Huge play on (Falcons tight end) Kyle Pitts the other week, comes up huge for a game-winning play for us on fourth down. I can’t say enough good things about him. He comes every day looking to get better, preparing to win and preparing as a starter. So, when you make plays in this league, you tend to get more opportunities to make more plays. So, we’re excited to see where it goes.”

Another player who’s fitting the same bill as Pettus (who’s played just 12 defensive snaps over the last few weeks) is edge rusher Elijah Ponder. The bubble player coming into training camp quickly became a member of the 53-man roster on special teams. The undrafted rookie out of Cal Poly registered his first career sack against the Buccaneers a week ago, and in the fourth quarter, made it two when he wrapped up Jets quarterback Justin Fields in the fourth quarter.

“Testament to our players, our staff. I thanked them so many times just being able to roll in there on Monday, have stuff prepared,” Vrabel said when asked about young player stepping up on a short week. “You know, it’s hard to go on the road to Tampa, you know, and get your mind ready for that, but also in the back of your mind you’ve got a whole other box about what are you going to do against the Jets and being able to get on a plane, come home, get in late, but have that ready to go and have energy and a game plan ready for the players on Monday at 1 o’clock. Thank the trainers, thank the staff, the strength staff, everybody involved for getting our players ready to go for the game here in a short week.”

Both players have found themselves thrust into larger roles, with the trades of Dugger and defensive end Keion White just two weeks ago. While both players won’t be starters (at least for now), they are providing valuable depth pieces in two weaker areas of the team that will pay off come the playoff push in December.