FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots’ defensive backs had rabbit ears midway through the season when the media was critiquing the secondary and fans were complaining about the unit.
Those days now seem long ago, as the Patriots are preparing to play the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI in part because the team’s secondary is playing its best football of the season.
Safety and defensive captain Devin McCourty was asked Friday if the secondary’s lack of recognition ever bothers the unit.
“No, I don’t think we care,” McCourty said. “I mean, you said we’re playing well. Usually people say we’re not playing well, so I mean, we don’t really care. We go out there and the way we look at it, we must be doing OK. We’ve won some games, we’re playing in the Super Bowl, so whether we get credit, whether we don’t get credit, I think the biggest thing for us is, we enjoy playing with each other. We’ve enjoyed each game that we’ve gotten to play together.
That’s all we talked about in the playoffs, is earning another opportunity to play another game. Now we’re here at the end of the road and we’re just focused on trying to go out there and play well one last time this year.”
McCourty and cornerback Malcolm Butler earned second-team All-Pro nods this season, so they did receive some acclaim. But they haven’t earned a nickname like the Seattle Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom,” and apparently they’re fine with that.
“Nah, we just play football,” McCourty said.
And they do it pretty darn well. They have one last chance to have fun together in Houston next Sunday against the best offense they’ve faced all season.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
