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Rex Ryan and Ryan Clark are ‘disgusted’ to admit that the Patriots are playing well
"I wanted them to spend all this money and still stink, alright? But they don't, and their dang defense is playing great."
The Patriots brushed the Panthers aside on Sunday, 24-6. A dominant defensive display was highlighted by three interceptions of Carolina quarterback Sam Darnold, taking New England’s record to 5-4.
Elsewhere on Sunday, the Revolution hoisted the Supporters’ Shield (for best MLS regular season record) despite falling 1-0 against Inter Miami in the season finale.
And the Boston Pride completed a season-opening weekend sweep of the Minnesota Whitecaps with a 1-0 win via a McKenna Brand goal in the second period.
The latest analysis on the Patriots: Following the Patriots’ third win in a row—taking New England above .500 for the first time in 2021—several former opponents (now ESPN analysts) are grudgingly giving Bill Belichick’s team credit.
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In fact, one of them is even predicting a return to the Super Bowl.
“The Patriots are going to mess around and get to the Super Bowl,” a saddened Ryan Clark admitted during a “Get Up!” segment on Monday morning. “When I said it yesterday, I said it out of disgust. It wasn’t something that I analyzed and that I felt really good about in watching and re-watching the film saying to myself, ‘You know what? I am so excited that the dang Patriots are good again.’ I am absolutely not.”
“This is everything that we thought they’d be,” the former Steelers safety continued. “We thought they’d be really good on defense. We thought they had added some pieces in free agency to make the offense flow a little bit better for who at the time we thought was going to be Cam Newton.”
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On the quarterback situation with Mac Jones, Clark praised the rookie’s performance so far in his young NFL career after beating out Newton for the starting job.
“Guess what? The guy quarterbacking this team is actually more efficient than we’ve really ever seen Cam be,” Clark said of Jones’s preseason quarterback competitor. “He gets the ball out of his hands quickly, he’s accurate with the football down the field—not far down the field, but far enough down the field to make some plays—and you have a defense that is now playing Bill Belichick-level defense, turning the football over, pressuring the quarterback, being physical, and you have a multitude of runners.
“This team is a a team that at the end of the season we’re going to look up and be like, ‘Oh, the AFC goes through Foxborough.'”
Rex Ryan, another former Patriots foe, was visibly upset at the Patriots’ current performance.
“I just think it’s terrible,” said a half-joking Ryan of the Patriots’ winning streak. “I say it because I wanted them to stink. I wanted them to spend all this money and still stink, alright? But they don’t, and their dang defense is playing great.”
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Ryan added that he wasn’t ready to put Jones “in the Hall of Fame just yet,” but continued his praise of Belichick’s defense.
“[Matthew] Judon I think was the best free agent signing in the entire National Football League,” Ryan explained. “But there are other guys, Hunter Henry is showing up too, and it just disgusts me.”
Trivia: Sam Darnold lost to the Patriots 24-6 on Sunday, meaning that his career point margin against New England through four career starts is -100. That’s the fourth worst margin by any quarterback through their first four starts against any team since the 1970 merger. The worst is actually another quarterback in their first four starts against the Patriots. Name that quarterback.
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: The 2012 number one overall pick.
More from Boston.com:
- Patriots have found a familiar winning formula: vicious defense, pounding ground game, and some well-timed throws from Mac Jones
- Buffalo’s loss in Jacksonville should have the Patriots dreaming even bigger
- Panthers call out Mac Jones for ‘dirty play’ that injured Brian Burns
- Bill Belichick on Stephon Gilmore, Odell Beckham Jr., and Mac Jones’s tackle on Brian Burns
- Revolution raised the Supporters’ Shield trophy despite losing regular season finale
- Bill Belichick joked about J.C. Jackson missing practice before ‘star’ performance
- Matt Judon told J.C. Jackson to go end a Panthers drive: ‘Then he ended the drive’
- NBA says Marcus Smart was fouled on final Celtics possession in loss to Mavericks
Bill Belichick’s Monday press conference:
On this day: In 1993, then-Browns head coach Bill Belichick cut quarterback Bernie Kosar. A team legend, Kosar had led Cleveland to three AFC Championship games in four years in the 1980s, but had failed to help the team reach the playoffs for four seasons in a row.
“I have the highest respect for Bernie, his competitiveness,” Belichick said at the time, “but it’s for the good of the football team. It came down to…his overall performance and the diminishing of his physical skills. It’s very hard to say that. It was a very difficult meeting at moments with Bernie this morning.”
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Kosar would eventually sign with the Cowboys, and collect a Super Bowl ring that season as a backup behind Troy Aikman. The Browns, led by newly installed quarterback Vinny Testaverde, would go 11-5 the next season.
Daily highlight: Jamie Collins made an interception on Sam Darnold that even Bill Belichick had to credit was a “pretty tough catch.”
Trivia answer: Andrew Luck
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