This one’s fun for McCourty
FOXBORO — Devin McCourty is going home to get a needed win on the road.
The Patriots safety and his cornerback teammate/twin Jason will be on familiar turf Sunday when they take on the Jets in East Rutherford, N.J.
The McCourty brothers grew up in Nyack, N.Y., playing scholastically at St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale, N.J., and collegiately at Rutgers before going their separate ways in the NFL. Jason was drafted by the Titans in 2009 and Devin by the Pats a year later.
They will have a rooting interest in two games this weekend at MetLife Stadium as St. Joseph will play rival Bergen Catholic there on Saturday night.
“I think it is cool for me just driving to the stadium like I know all of that area so it is ways fun for me going to the stadium,” Devin McCourty said yesterday.
“I always will see 10 or 12 people who will say ‘Hooray, go Rutgers or something like that.’ It kind of feels like being at home and this Saturday is going to be cool because my high school is going to kill Bergen Catholic before we get there.
“It will be cool and hopefully St. Joe’s wins another state championship and then we go play Sunday.”
The Patriots are coming off their bye week fully recovered from a 34-10 beatdown by Jason’s old team, Tennessee. It was the Patriots third road loss of the season, prompting Devin to say the team is intent on playing better away from Foxboro the remainder of the season. The Patriots play at Miami and Pittsburgh in consecutive weeks in December in the run to the playoffs.
“I think for us, we have a good amount of road games left so it’s a challenge and an opportunity to come out and change that,” McCourty said. “What is going to be key going down the stretch through Thanksgiving is playing your best football and a good amount of those being on the road.
“We have to do that because it won’t matter after Thanksgiving if we don’t play well on the road. I think that is something we are all conscious of, we have to play well on the road to play good football down the last stretch of the season.”
The Patriots are 5-3 against the Jets at MetLife and McCourty played in all but the 2015 meeting. The Jets play the Pats tough in the Meadowlands.
“It (is always) a close game and throughout sports history that rivalry is always there,” McCourty said. “When we go down there, there are not many Patriots fans in there and if they are you probably don’t want to be to loud in that stadium because the Jets fans get rowdy.
“But it’s a lot of fun especially around this time of year, around Thanksgiving playing these guys in a kind of rivalry type game. It’s kind of fitting to be playing them this weekend.”