Jason McCourty says that 2024 Patriots need to ‘shut the hell up’ amid tough season
"When you’re on teams that aren’t winning, everybody’s looking for any fracture or any crack within the organization."
It’s been a trying season for the 2024 Patriots.
While expectations were low for a rebuilding team with a 2-7 record, the New England Patriots have also been hampered by several distractions away from the field — be it Jerod Mayo’s “soft” comments in London, wide receivers voicing their frustrations on social media, or candid sentiments shared in front of the media.
As such, former Patriots cornerback and Super Bowl LIII champion Jason McCourty stressed that the Patriots need to limit just how much they say in front of a recorder — and focus solely on their respective games this season.
“I would urge players, if you like your head coach, and you like the direction your team is going, shut the hell up in the media. Go out there on a Sunday and make plays and ball, and leave all the rest of the stuff to be determined by the front office, coaches and all of that to handle it,” McCourty said on the “Patriots Talk Podcast.” “Because that was my thing.
“When you’re on teams that aren’t winning, everybody’s looking for any fracture or any crack within the organization to sow dissension or a coach that doesn’t have control over a locker room or anything like that.”
It was to be expected for the Patriots to struggle this fall, given the deficiencies located across the roster. But McCourty noted that New England’s long-standing reputation as a powerhouse during Tom Brady’s tenure might have rattled some players not expected to face this level of adversity over the last few years.
“You’re so used to having success and expectation when you hear New England Patriots, that when it’s not going your way, sometimes people don’t know how to react in adversity because you haven’t had to deal with it,” McCourty said. “But you had to assume that it wasn’t going to be smooth sailing of a season.”
The Patriots sitting at the midway point of the 2024 season with a sub-.500 record may not come as a surprise. But McCourty said that he’s been disheartened with how quickly New England’s campaign has been sidetracked — due in large part to those off-the-field distractions.
“From the outside looking in, that’s bothered me, of being around the team in the preseason and seeing the energy and the love that everybody had for the new way that everything was rolling,” McCourty said of Patriots players talking to the media. “And then you see things like that happen, just, like, well, that’s not adding up.”
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