They all count. At home or on the road. Good competition or not so good. Pretty or ugly.

Wins -- as the Patriots are well aware after two largely-miserable seasons -- don't come easily in the NFL. And Mike Vrabel didn't want his team to forget that fact after beating the Falcons, 24-23 .

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"Understand that that's how it goes in this league sometimes," Vrabel said. "It's tough. But don't let anybody take the joy of what we do.

"Joy is authentic. Joy comes from these guys caring about each other, being happy for the guy next to them that made a play. Joy is about what we do in here, and I think that they need to embrace that and be thankful for what they get to do and what I get to do."

For Vrabel, his team's one-p

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