Patriots Notes: Why New England’s Defense Is Wary Of Falcons QB Matt Ryan

FOXBORO, Mass. — Some notes and nuggets from Thursday’s New England Patriots media availability at Gillette Stadium.

— Nate Ebner isn’t the only Patriots player who comes from a rugby background. Johnson Badesmosi does, as well.

And like Ebner, who represented the United States in the Olympics last summer, Bademosi didn’t just play rugby. He excelled at it.

Before leaving the sport behind to focus on football once he arrived at Stanford, the cornerback/special teamer earned spots on the U.S. national rugby teams at the U-17 and U-18 level while also playing at Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C.

Bademosi reflected on his rugby career during a lengthy chat with reporters after Thursday’s practice.

“My rugby coaches were my football coaches (growing up),” he said. “I started playing in the fifth grade, maybe sixth grade. I played in high school and played on the USA U-18 and U-19 teams and then stopped playing going into college and focused on football. But I love the game. I’m excited for Nate. I’ve been paying attention to Nate and excited that he’s gotten those great opportunities to play in the Olympics and so on and so forth. It’s still a passion of mine. I love the game.”

Bademosi said he never crossed paths with Ebner on the rugby field but later discovered they had played for some of the same coaches while competing internationally.

“He played in Ohio, and I played in the Washington, D.C., area,” Bademosi said. “We didn’t get to know him until playing against him (in the NFL), but we’ve actually had some of the same rugby coaches doing some USA Rugby stuff.”

The Patriots acquired Bademosi from the Detroit Lions shortly before this season began. He exclusively played on special teams for New England’s first five games but started at cornerback and played 73 defensive snaps during last Sunday’s win over the New York Jets.

Bademosi has made an impression as a hard hitter, both on defense and on the Patriots’ kick and punt coverage units.

— Patriots safety Patrick Chung lost a game of rock, paper, scissors with a reporter in the locker room. His punishment? He had to speak to the assembled media members.

One of the questions asked: “Do you think you should have gone with paper instead of rock?”

— Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan had a career year last season, ranking among the NFL’s best in nearly every passing category and earning NFL MVP honors.

Ryan hasn’t looked as sharp this season as he adjusts to new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian’s system, but Patriots safety Devin McCourty explained why he is one of the league’s hardest QBs to defend.

Simply put, Ryan is very hard to fool.

“I think the biggest thing is he’s good at knowing what you’re doing,” McCourty said. “So it’s not even always disguising of where he’s going, but it’s that you’re not fooling him and wherever you’re weak or light in coverage, it’s where he’s going.

“He’s in the same category as when we used to play guys like Peyton Manning, Eli (Manning) — those guys that you can try to do a bunch of different things, but you can tell their film study is at a high level, and he knows exactly what you’re trying to do. That makes it tough defensively because every defense has a light spot or a spot that’s not the strength of the call.

“When the quarterback is finding that, 95 percent of the time, he’ll put stress on the defense. I think that’s what Matt Ryan does.”

Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images