Lane Johnson ruffled a lot of feathers in New England last week with his criticism of the Patriots, whom he called “a fear-based organization.”
The Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle stood by his comments Friday in a return appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast.
“Here’s the whole deal,” Johnson said. “I think a lot of guys just want to be happy playing football. …Â The Patriots obviously won five Super Bowls, so it’s the Patriot Way to win the Super Bowl. Does that mean that everybody has to act the same way? Do the same thing? Is that necessarily the guidelines to win the Super Bowl?”
In his initial “Pardon My Take” interview, Johnson, whose Eagles defeated the Patriots in Super Bowl LII, said he’d “much rather have fun and win a Super Bowl than be miserable and win five Super Bowls.” This prompted responses from several ex-Patriots players currently working in media, including linebacker-turned-ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi.
“They kept interviewing ex-Patriots players,” said Johnson, who also fired back at Bruschi on Twitter earlier in the week. “What do you think they’re going to say? ‘I (expletive) hated it there’? No. ‘I won Super Bowls. We had a great time.’ They’re not going to bad-mouth their coach. They’re not going to say what they really want to say. Do you think that’s going to happen? Hell no, it’s not going to happen.”
Johnson’s comments received widespread media coverage and significant backlash from Patriots fans on social media.
“I just pissed in everybody’s Cheerios,” the lineman said. “And everybody in Boston — hey, I’ve got hate mail I still haven’t read. I’m looking forward to reading it.”
