New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore already was having the best season of his NFL career. And then came the third quarter of Sunday night’s game against the Denver Broncos.

Barmore sacked Denver quarterback Russell Wilson for an 8-yard loss on the first snap of the second half.

He also sacked Wilson on final snap of the third quarter, when Barmore produced the first forced fumble of his career on a third-down snap from the Denver 37. The Broncos recovered the fumble, but for a 10-yard loss.

In between, Barmore sacked Wilson for a 9-yard loss on a third-down snap from the Denver 12.

Barmore also tied for the team lead with eight tackles. His final stop came when he and defensive back Myles Bryant took down Denver running back Samaje Perine on the first snap of Denver’s final possession – a three-and-out that allowed New England to regain possession with 58 seconds to play and led to a field goal with 2 seconds left in the Patriots’ 26-23 victory.

Before Sunday night’s game, Barmore had never had more than six tackles or one sack in a game. He became the first New England player with at least three sacks and seven or more tackles in the same game since linebacker Mike Vrabel had three sacks and 13 tackles in a 52-7 victory over the Washington Redskins on Oct. 28, 2007.

“I just want to come out here, be the best player that I can be to help the team win and make my defense proud, make my coaches proud,” Barmore said after the game. “They always tell me, ‘Hey, dominate.’ And I say, ‘Yes, sir.’”

A second-round selection from Alabama in the 2021 NFL Draft, Barmore had four sacks and five tackles for loss in his first two seasons. He has 8.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in 2023, when he’s also reached a career high with 48 tackles and broken up six passes, twice as many as in his first two seasons.

“It was by far his best offseason,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after Sunday’s game. “He’s continued to train really hard, which has kept him a little healthier. He’s played a lot of football, but he’s been able to maintain that health and conditioning because of that offseason training. His lower body has really helped him with both conditioning and also just his explosive power. The experience has helped him. He did a good job tonight. We had set up a couple of things that worked well that he was able to take advantage of.”

After playing in every game as a rookie, Barmore missed seven games in the middle of the 2022 season because of a knee injury.

“I had a little injury last year,” Barmore said. “I think that slowed me down, so I said to myself, ‘I don’t want to go through that again, so I got to work 10 times harder,’ so I took the offseason real seriously. Trained every day. Talked to my coach (DeMarcus Covington). He always contacted me: ‘Hey, you doing your thing?’ ‘Yes, sir.’ Just focused on being the best player I can be for my team.”

New England’s defensive-line coach, Covington said Barmore has gotten better every season.

“For Barmore, I think, obviously, this is Year 3 for him with me working with him,” Covington said on Tuesday, “and I think for all of us, we try to grow — myself, you, hopefully, all of us in this building. Just us as human beings, we try to grow in every aspect of our lives, whether it’s spiritually, whether it’s in our work or in our profession, at home, in our marriage, whether it’s our kids, I think we try to grow in some type of way. And that’s what he’s been doing.

“Every year, he’s been getting better, growing on the field, off the field. I’m proud of the way he’s worked. I talked about it last week – consistency for him. And that’s what he’s been doing. He’s been doing a good job. And it started this offseason with him working, rehabbing, doing a lot of things to get his body right, the classroom, and really taking those things and taking it to the grass.”

Barmore is tied with the Kansas City Chiefs’ Chris Jones, the Buffalo Bills’ Ed Oliver and the Miami Dolphins’ Zach Sieler for second in sacks among the NFL’s defensive tackles this season, behind the Baltimore Ravens’ Justin Madubuike, who has 12.

“He’s had a good year,” Belichick said about Barmore on Tuesday during his weekly appearance on WEEI-FM in Boston. “He’s an explosive player. Long, got good power and has got good initial quickness. A couple of those rushes, he won immediately at the line of scrimmage and used his power there.

“But you know it’s really hard to sack Wilson. He’s a pretty elusive guy, so being able to finish on the quarterback was really good. Christian’s done a good job of that. It’s not just getting by the blocker; it’s actually getting the quarterback, especially a guy like (Wilson) or last week (Patrick) Mahomes or this week Josh Allen. Those guys, even if you get free, they’re still hard to get, so he’s done a good job on that.”

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Barmore and New England have two games remaining in the 2023 season. The Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills at noon CST Sunday and host the New York Jets at noon Jan. 7.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.