New England Patriots fans saw a new side of Christian Gonzalez on Sunday. The usually quiet and reserved All Pro cornerback engaged in a little trash talk with Cleveland Browns receiver Jerry Jeudy late in Sunday's 32-13 win.

Gonzalez isn't one to jaw with the opposition, but he made an exception on Sunday. Trailing 30-7 early in the fourth quarter, the Browns were in desperate need of a touchdown as they faced a fourth-and-11 at the New England 12-yard line. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel went looking for his No. 1 receiver, but Gonzalez had him locked up and Jeudy had no chance to bring in the pass. 

The Browns turned it over on downs, and after the play, Gonzalez had some words for Jeudy. It went on long enough that safety Jaylinn Hawkins has to separate Gonzalez from Jeudy, before they both made a jovial trip to the New England sideline. 

"I love it," Gonzalez said when asked about his fourth-down play. "Being a corner, that's what you want. You want teams to throw the ball your way, so I invite it."

Gonzalez explained the moment of smack talk after New England's Week 8 win. 

 "It's football. At the end of the day, it's never personal," said Gonzalez, who had three tackles (including one for a loss) and two passes defended on Sunday. "It's two high level athletes competing. In any way, there's going to be a little talk. But nothing crazy. It's the same way if he's going to make a play, he's going to get up and talk to me.

"It is what it is," threw out Gonzalez.

Christian Gonzalez locks down Jerry Jeudy

Gonzalez shutting down a team's top receiver is nothing new in New England. On Sunday, Jeudy had zero catches on his two targets. While the Browns have a rookie quarterback in Gabriel, Jeudy is a talented pass-catcher and is coming off a career-year in 2024 when he had 90 receptions for over 1,200 yards for Cleveland.

But locking down a receiver is what Gonzalez does nearly every Sunday for the Patriots. 

"That's what I want to do and any corner wants to do. You want to take away who they want to go to," Gonzalez said. "Today, it was Jeudy. That was my assignment. So, going out and executing and playing team defense."

Gonzalez was quick to pass along credit to the rest of the New England defense for Sunday's win. He shouted out the front seven for applying tons of pressure on Gabriel, who was picked off by both Robert Spillane and Hawkins in the New England win. 

"It all works together," said Gonzalez. "It's not just one person covering or anything. It's all of us coming together and making plays together."

The New England defense is really molding into form as the team hits the midway point of the season. The Patriots still need to shake off their slow starts on the defensive side, but Gonzalez says the squad is never satisfied -- even as New England continues to stack wins. 

"We're happy, but no one here is satisfied. As soon as we get in here, we talk about how we could have made this play or done this. We enjoy [wins], of course, but what is special is we get right back to it," he explained. "I enjoy that a lot." 

That being said, Gonzalez has never been able to enjoy a five-game winning streak at the NFL level before. So he's going to soak it up as much as possible.

"It's amazing. Winning is amazing," he said. "I talk about it all the time, everything comes with winning. You want to go out and win and give the fans something to be excited about."

Gonzalez and the 6-2 Patriots will look to keep their winning ways going in Week 9 when they welcome the 3-4 Atlanta Falcons to Gillette Stadium.