McCourty deserving of Man of the Year award
Mayo has seen the work that the Pats captain has put in off the field
Jerod Mayo may be a little biased, but to him, there’s no one more deserving to win the Walter Payton Man of the Year award than Devin McCourty, who was nominated for the honor this week.
Mayo has known McCourty since the two became Patriots teammates in 2010, and while McCourty’s exploits on the field as a three-time Super Bowl winner and one of the foundations of the Patriots defense are well-documented, the former linebacker can just as much vouch for the safety’s character and what he does off the field.
Now the Patriots’ inside linebackers coach, Mayo has continued a close relationship with McCourty and watches firsthand what he’s doing for the community. Whether it’s McCourty’s work on the players coalition task force, his work in education or the work he’s doing in social justice, his impacts off the field may outnumber what he does on it.
“You can’t just really focus on one thing with Dev because he has his hands in so many different things, whether it’s the qualified immunity stuff, he’s doing a bunch of different things and touching a bunch of different lives and using his platform to the best of his ability to get the word out there,” Mayo said Saturday. “Really, every week, he’s holding these forums and educating the team on things that we might not have known about. Sometimes it’s so easy for us during the season that we get caught up in our bubble. It’s just football, but Devin does a good job of reminding the team that there’s real struggle out there in society today. I appreciate it, and I appreciate him really keeping me level, keeping the team level-headed. …
“He’s definitely a professional on the field and a professional off the field. Honestly, if he doesn’t get the award, then something’s wrong because this guy, he just does so much. You think about, he has a young family, he’s playing football and he’s also doing all these other things to help other people. It just speaks to the type of person that Devin is.”
Patriots safeties coach Brian Belichick first met McCourty when he was a teenager and almost immediately, the safety left an impression on him.
“He’s always been a great influence on me,” Belichick said. “When he was a younger guy, he became a captain early on and that’s always a great indicator of someone with great leadership to take a role like that so quickly. That’s an off-the-field award and I think his leadership extends off the field for sure. People see what he does out there outside the building and I think it inspires the rest of us to approach life in the same way, trying to help people out and help causes we believe in.”
Bryant’s instant impact
Myles Bryant’s first career interception in Thursday’s loss was the product of months of hard work since he signed as an undrafted free agent. Cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino said Bryant made his mark in the spring with how much he wanted to learn.
“When we started meeting with him in the offseason, he asked excellent questions, really studied, really worked hard at that,” Pellegrino said. “He would pay attention to every meeting and come back later in the day and ask questions and when he came into the building, really nothing changed, kept asking why this, why that, really trying to get a greater understanding of the defense.”
Bryant is one of several Patriots rookies who were stuck behind the eight-ball in the spring, when COVID19 took away their normal mini-camps and OTAs and made all their learning virtual. But guys like Bryant and first-round pick Kyle Dugger have overcome that to earn significant roles on defense recently.
“They were working very hard in the spring to learn the defense and I think it paid off for them, in training camp when they finally got on the field and in the season when we have had them play different roles,” Belichick said. “If they didn’t commit themselves to the work early on and truly learn the whole big picture of the defense, then I don’t know if that would have been possible, so all the credit goes to them for doing it the right way since the beginning and learning as much as they can as quickly as they can.”
Phillips shows toughness
Adrian Phillips has been a key piece of the Patriots defense this season, and he showed his value again on Thursday. Despite suffering a hand injury in the game, Phillips barely missed a beat and still recorded 10 tackles.
“I have run out of adjectives (to describe him),” Belichick said. “He’s been awesome. His toughness, leadership, came back on Thursday night after the injury, which I don’t think he even blinked twice about. He’s been a very valuable member of the defense all season. … Very instinctive player, great communicator, great veteran leader who knows how to prepare well every week and is passing that knowledge to younger guys in the room like Kyle and Myles and I think he’s been a great influence on the defense this year.”