McCourty puts all emphasis on team
FOXBORO — The Jamie Collins trade sent shock waves through the Patriots locker room, but this isn’t the first time Devin McCourty has seen Bill Belichick jettison a talented player.
During his rookie season, McCourty saw Randy Moss dealt. He later watched as Logan Mankins was traded to the Buccaneers, and saw the team let Vince Wilfork walk in free agency.
He doesn’t envy the job that Belichick has to do.
“I speak for most of the players, we wouldn’t want to be in Bill’s shoes having to make tough decisions like that,” McCourty said. “Our job is to be ready to go, to go out there and win football games.”
The Pro Bowl safety doesn’t think his personnel moves would be any good.
“I just am happy I don’t have to make those decisions, because my teams would probably be bad because I’d become friends and I wouldn’t want my friends to go,” he said. “I think we just move forward. I just don’t think it does us any good sitting here and trying to wonder why or how? It doesn’t matter.”
In his sixth season as a captain, McCourty doesn’t believe Collins’ departure will fracture the team.
“We all become close here. We all become friends, and there’s the emotional part of seeing a guy go, but we’re also here to do a job and I think we understand that in the locker room,” McCourty said. “We have enough veterans and leaders that know that, and know how the business works in football. As football players, you’ve got to pride yourself on being mentally strong. Not just with trades, but a lot of things go on in the season.”
McCourty believes the 2016 Patriots have already displayed some of that mental toughness, singling out the Sunday night opening win in Arizona and beating the Texans on a short week as examples. Not to mention winning three of their first four games without quarterback Tom Brady.
A vocal critic of the defense this season has been former Pats assistant Michael Lombardi, who claimed the unit’s poor play was the catalyst for Collins’ departure. Recently hired as a Fox analyst, Lombardi called the Pats’ red-zone defense “horrible.”
McCourty bit his tongue when Lombardi’s evaluation was brought up.
“Um, I think it’s best I just say ‘I don’t know,’ ” McCourty said.
When asked for his own assessment of the defense, McCourty acknowledged that the unit can be better.
“I think there’s always room for improvement,” he said. “We don’t do everything well defensively, but we do some things well, I think. Obviously if you’re ranked somewhere toward the top of the league in points per game, you’ve got to be doing some things well.”
The Pats are allowing 16.5 points per game, third in the NFL, and with the bye week, McCourty plans to toss on a cowboy hat.
“I’m heading to visit my brother and his family down in Nashville, listen to some country music,” he chuckled.
‘Our job is to be ready to go, to go out there and win football games.’ — DEVIN McCOURTY On the Collins trade