As the New England Patriots traveled to face the New York Giants, safety Devin McCourty dressed for the occasion of being back in New Jersey.
McCourty gave his postgame interviews while wearing a No. 10 United States women’s national team jersey, representing soccer star and fellow Rutgers product Carli Lloyd, who recently announced her retirement.
“I never got to know Carli Lloyd,” McCourty told reporters after the Patriots closed out the preseason with a 22-20 win at MetLife Stadium. “But I think the cool thing about being at Rutgers was we didn’t have many successful seasons prior to a lot of people being there. But I think each individual who had great success stepped out, and you look at Carli Lloyd, a Jersey girl who’s competed at the highest level but also been the standard at that level. (She’s) been a captain, Olympian, World Cup championships, all of those things. So I know I watched her a lot and, you know, not knowing a lot about soccer but just watching because I’m like, ‘Man, Carli Lloyd went to Rutgers.’
“So her announcing that she’s gonna retire after a couple more friendlies, it was a great time to come back to New Jersey and represent a Rutgers living legend. You always hear people say give people their flowers while they’re still here, so I know I’ve learned a lot from just watching her compete and doing it at the highest level year in and year out.”
The two Scarlett Knights didn’t cross paths at Rutgers. Lloyd had left the school in 2004 by the time McCourty got there in 2006.
Still, she caught wind of the gesture, retweeting the Patriots’ video of McCourty’s arrival in her jersey.
“Love this!!” she wrote back.
Lloyd spent 15 years with the USWNT, scoring 128 goals in 312 international games and winning two Olympic gold medals and two FIFA Women’s World Cups.
Real recognize real.
