How Win Over Bills Reinforced Why Devin McCourty Loves Playing For Patriots

The manner in which the Patriots beat the Bills on Monday night was something only they could pull off — and Devin McCourty loved it.

New England earned a 14-10 win in Buffalo despite rookie quarterback Mac Jones throwing the ball just three times. The running game produced 222 yards and a touchdown, while the defense frustrated Josh Allen and the Bills offense on a blustery night at Highmark Stadium.

The Patriots special teams committed a few mistakes, but ultimately received two crucial field goals from Nick Folk and executed when it needed to.

“It was awesome,” the 34-year-old McCourty told reporters during his postgame news conference. “I think that’s why I’ve loved playing here. This team isn’t about one person, isn’t about egos, isn’t about, ‘This is what we do so we’re gonna do it.’ It’s about winning — we’re gonna adjust and find a way to win.

“I mean, we’re sitting on the sideline, I turn to (Adrian Phillips), like, ‘Have we thrown the ball since Jonnu (Smith) had that catch?’ … And, you know, I think everyone will look at this game and say, ‘They played to their defense.’ But, I mean, we ran the ball. We broke out a long run. When we needed to run the ball and take the clock down and drive and kick some field goals, like, that’s what we did. And, to me, that’s a team performance. Like, we understood at some point in the game, like, ‘Alright, we’re running the football. We need to get some field position, we need to play well on defense and let them run the football.’ And, to me, that’s harder as an offense. When you’re in run formations, they know you’re running, you know you’re running, and you still run the football.”

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McCourty added: “We should all be proud of the mental toughness and what we’re able to do as a team given weather conditions, score, anything that happens in the game, we’ll try and find a way to win.”

New England, now 9-4, enters its bye week leading both the AFC East and the conference as a whole. Bill Belichick’s team has won seven games in a row after starting the season 2-4, including 0-4 at Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots will look to make it eight in a row when they visit the Indianapolis Colts on Dec. 18.