An active NFL player helped lead the USA to its first rugby win of the Rio Olympics

While his New England Patriots teammates are busy grinding through pre-season training camp, NFL safety Nate Ebner is living it up in Rio de Janeiro.

He's not on vacation, though. And no, American football didn't suddenly become an Olympic sport.

Ebner scored to help the USA men's rugby team to its first win of the 2016 Olympics on Tuesday -- against host Brazil, no less.

Meanwhile, Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who awaits the return of his special teams standout, wore an Ebner rugby jersey to New England's training camp practice the same day.

Ebner is a four-year NFL veteran who helped the Patriots win Super Bowl XLIX in 2015. He was once a standout youth rugby player, which explains how he ended up at the Olympics while his teammates slog through pre-season drills.

Ebner scored on the first half's final play Tuesday to help the U.S. to a 26-0 win over host Brazil. Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. narrowly lost to world powerhouse Argentina, falling 17-14. But beating Brazil carried some weighty history for the Americans.

Tuesday was the U.S. team's first-ever Olympic win in rugby sevens -- a version of the game played with seven players per team. Rugby hasn't been an Olympic sport in 92 years, when teams had 15 players on the field at once. That was 1924, and the Americans won gold -- technically making the U.S. the Olympics' defending rugby champ.

But the 2016 squad extends well beyond Ebner. Take, for example, Carlin Isles, who's widely hailed as the fastest player in the sport. This five-minute highlight video shows why he's so fun to watch.

There's also Madison Hughes, the team's 23-year-old captain. Then there's coach Mike Friday, who had the team work with Navy SEALs to improve concentration. In short, there's no shortage of compelling characters to latch onto beyond Ebner.

"Just as Brandi Chastain’s penalty kick in the 1999 women’s World Cup catapulted ‘soccer’ into the American consciousness, so the Rio Games could do the same for rugby," The Telegraph's Daniel Schofield wrote last month.

If the U.S. men can keep winning and make a run for the gold medal, expect their bandwagon to fill up quick. You might even want to think about reserving your seat now.