It had been over 20 years since the Patriots were introduced individually ahead of a home game.

But that changed Sunday when New England’s starting offense was introduced as players came out of the tunnel one by one ahead of their game against the Cleveland Browns.

The Gillette Stadium crowd gave the loudest cheers to Will Campbell, Kayshon Boutte and Drake Maye.

So, why did Mike Vrabel stray away from a Bill Belichick tradition and something that hadn’t been done since 2001?

“I just feel like these guys put a lot into it and we’d like to recognize them individually,” the Patriots coach said after the game. “Hopefully our fans can embrace that and get excited for them. (It’s) something that felt like we wanted to do and create some energy early and get them to recognize the players efforts, and allow these fans to support us — which they did. It was getting loud on third down and we have to continue to play hard for them so that they cheer for us.”

The Patriots gave the fans in attendance plenty more to cheer about beyond the introductions. New England won its fifth straight game to improve to 6-2, while Maye put together another strong performance that earned him “MVP!” chants.

The Patriots’ next home game is in Week 9 when they host the Atlanta Falcons. It’s unclear if Vrabel will make individual introductions permanent going forward.