FOXBORO, Mass. — Matthew Judon clearly believes in his teammates, but he also isn’t running from what thus far has been a disappointing season for the New England Patriots.
“It stinks, honestly,” Judon said Thursday when asked how he feels about the Patriots being 2-4. “It stinks.”
He later added: “The past has been, quite frankly, (expletive) for us. We’ve been having some bad breaks.”
Multiple Patriots players, including Jonnu Smith, this week have said things along the lines of, “We know we’re not a 2-4 team.” Judon, like Kyle Van Noy, had a slightly different take.
“I could sit up here and say, ‘We coulda been,’ or, ‘We shoulda been,’ but the reality of it is we’re 2-4.”
But Judon, an emerging leader inside the Patriots locker room, also knows New England still has an opportunity to turn its season around and is capable of doing so.
“The one thing that we all are — we’re encouraged,” Judon said. “It’s not the end of the season. … We can change that. We can change that. And that’s why we’re all encouraged.
“We all know what we can do better, we all know what we need to do better and we’re gonna go out there and do it better — we have to, or it can get ugly real fast. … We not letting that happen.”
Valid questions recently have been raised over whether the Patriots have enough talent to consistently compete with the NFL’s top teams. At least publicy, Judon does not share those concerns.
“We know exactly who we have in the locker room,” he said. ” … I won’t let anybody come in here and think they a bad football player. We all have seen bad football players, and I don’t think we have any of those on the team.
“Not one guy.”
Judon, signed during the offseason, has been New England’s most consistently impactful defensive player this season. He enters Week 7 leading the team with 6 1/2 sacks.
The Patriots will host the New York Jets on Sunday.
