FOXBORO, Mass. — Matthew Judon has fit in seamlessly with the New England Patriots. The fact that some believed he wouldn’t makes Devin McCourty chuckle.
McCourty has spent his entire 12-year NFL career with the Patriots. On Tuesday, the veteran safety and co-captain shared some interesting perspective on the outside perception that certain players — like Judon, the popular and wildly productive edge rusher — might not be a perfect match for New England.
“It’s funny. It happens every year,” McCourty said. “You guys probably hear it more than we do when you ask the question — ‘How is it (playing in New England)? What do you think?’ But I think it falls under we can’t assume who people are just because we see them on a TV screen. It’s the same thing we talked about last year when Cam (Newton) got here. I think everyone thought Cam was whatever we got to see at the games, what people wrote articles about, but then he gets here and you get to know him.”
Newton’s Patriots tenure didn’t work out from an on-field perspective, but he quickly earned the respect and admiration of his teammates (who voted him a team captain) and coaches. Culture fit and buy-in weren’t problems for the polarizing quarterback.
“To me, that’s why I always say you’ve got to get to know people, and then you’ll know how they are, who they are, what they like,” McCourty continued. “But to try to assume — I think it’s funny, just playing here my whole career, how all of these guys (supposedly) won’t work in our locker room. And it’s like, we don’t know these guys.
“Like, LeGarrette Blount leaves and goes to Pittsburgh, and they’re like, ‘Man, he’s bad. It didn’t work out.’ And then he comes back here, I think it was around midseason (in 2014), and plugged right back in. Same thing when him and (Aqib) Talib came from Tampa.”
Blount was a key player on two Patriots championship teams. Talib was a Pro Bowler in his lone full season with New England and helped revive what was a struggling Pats secondary.
“So I would say between Coach (Belichick) not being what people expect and I would say overall our just day-to-day not being what people expect — because a lot of other people talk about how it is here, and a lot of those people have never played here,” McCourty concluded.
There are exceptions, of course. Cassius Marsh remains a popular target for Patriots fans after he spoke out about hating his time in New England. Other, more successful players have tolerated the “Patriot Way” but not been particularly fond of it.
But McCourty tries to reserve judgment about incoming Patriots, and he hopes they do the same.
Judon, who came over from the rival Baltimore Ravens in free agency, had to overcome some of his own preconceived notions about New England. Before he arrived in Foxboro, Mass., he thought the Patriots were “stuck up,” comparing them to “the rich school that always won.”
“But now that I’m out here,” Judon said last month, “it’s like, ‘Man, I kind of like these dudes. They’re kind of cool.’ … Like, man, I could have been over here the whole time.”
Judon already has tied his career high in sacks with 9 1/2 through ten games. He and McCourty have been leaders on a Patriots defense that’s emerged as one of the NFL’s best in recent weeks.
