FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots’ defense is the best in the NFL through eight weeks. But they’ll certainly still take a perceived slight and use it as extra motivation. Just ask Sam Darnold or Dion Dawkins.
Patriots safety Devin McCourty isn’t doing that quite yet with comments made by Ravens tight end Nick Boyle before the two teams’ matchup Sunday night in Baltimore.
Boyle said Wednesday. “We’ll see how good they are once we play them. I don’t think they’ve seen anyone like our offense or like Lamar (Jackson).”
McCourty would expect nothing different.
“I saw a bunch of people tweeted the quote at me, and it’s like, “Oh man, he’s talking trash”. I mean, what is he supposed to say?” McCourty said. “Like, “We’re not going to run or throw, we’re just going to come and take 50 knees and concede victory?” Like, I saw what he said. He was right, though. We haven’t seen an offense like this, we haven’t seen a quarterback like this. So, to me, any time you take two good teams and you play them on a Sunday night game, you’re going to get their best shot. We’re going to get their best shot, they’re going to get our best shot, and it’s going to be a battle.
“Whoever comes out on top is going to be ecstatic, and for them to have to gear up and go right again next week, we’ll have to then focus on the bye week and how to get better. But for this week, you’re going to have two teams that I would probably go out there to say probably don’t like each other very much, and go out there and try to beat each other. It’s going to be as competitive as a game we’ve had this year.”
Still, don’t be surprised if Boyle’s comments are referenced by, say, linebacker Kyle Van Noy if the Patriots topple the Ravens in Baltimore on Sunday night.
