Patriots legend Devin McCourty joins! The Greg Hill Show!

WEEI-FM / WEEI

Transcript

00:00of the broadcast team this evening a friend of this radio program and a former new england

00:06patriot superstar that is the great devin mccourty devin good morning good morning man how you doing

00:13great nice to see you last night likewise man it was it's always good to see you and i got to hang

00:20out with nickovich who let me know he replaced me on wednesday so you you let nickovich make

00:25fun of me right in front of my face without you know giving me a warning of like the person who

00:30replaces you like that that was pretty mean great well listen i mean uh you were with us for i think

00:36one season and then off to the off to the bigs i mean the it's the network now i mean that's i

00:43understand it kind of left us in the dust here but we appreciate the the advancement of your career

00:49you're doing a good job by the way well thank you at least i can say nico was a downgrade so i'll

00:55make sure i let them know um we talked about this briefly last night but um this team is

01:03eight and two how surprised by that outcome so far are you devin mccourty

01:09i think it's happening a little faster than everyone thought i think you you saw in the

01:17preseason you know being around and doing the games there was a lot of rumblings i think that people

01:22felt like hey man like i'm looking at this schedule like this team could win 10 or 11 games

01:27but i don't think that came with hey man this team could be the number one seed in the afc

01:32this team could win the division i think those are the things that um shocked people but i think it's

01:38it's hey when you have an influx of talent you go out there and you identify the guys you think

01:43will be good and you put them all in a room and you put a leader like vrabel in front and you see

01:48the the belief like being there in the preseason and seeing you know guys that not even just the

01:54young guys the veterans who came in the spillanes the digs the milton williams and seeing how they

01:59were buying in it was like oh man like they might have something good here it's been fun to watch so

02:05far this year devin after the win on sunday you gave a lot of credit to the rookies on this team

02:10how impressed have you been with how they've been able to step up

02:13yeah it's been fun and you know being a rookie i think the toughest thing is you come in

02:20and we used to always have this debate coming in as a high round pick or a guy with high

02:25expectations rather than coming in undrafted or late round pick what's the balance of that and

02:31you know me coming in as a first round pick you just always felt the pressure people always expecting

02:36the best out of you why or if you're not doing something like why is he not doing it let's go back

02:41and dissect the film and you look at like trevion henderson and kyle williams of all right when is

02:47going to happen when are they going to have their breakout games or this or that and i think for those

02:51guys to just stay locked in and say hey i'm not going to worry about what my numbers look like how

02:56many reps i'm getting i'm just going to continue to plug away you've heard the coaching staff talk

03:01about that so to see the game sunday where it's like all right boot case on booty's out all right

03:06remandre stevenson's out like you guys it's your turn to get out there and go there was a

03:11nervousness they just went out there and played and i think that's a lot of credit to them and

03:16you know one of the guys i've been blown away by is just woodson i think for woodson to be out there

03:20play after play snap after snap and play a key communication role in the defense like he has

03:27to be putting in so much work to know the defense to know what they're checking to to understand what

03:31the offense are attacking i know he doesn't have big numbers when it comes to interceptions and pass

03:36breakups but he's doing a lot right out there on the field and that's not easy to do as a rookie

03:41in the secondary so i've really been impressed by him we talked about this the other day is is this

03:47the best paths draft class since since you and gronk and in 2010 i mean it feels like that especially

03:56when you talk about being able to contribute right away and have an impact um on the field and i think

04:03that has been the biggest thing you know i think the hardest thing about any draft class is to

04:08continue just how can you continue to be you know whatever that is on the field how can you do a

04:14year in and year out but you look at a draft class and you can say hey where are your rookies showing up

04:19and you're like man we got two rookies starting on the offensive line we got a rookie receiver that's

04:24now you know i think going to have some kind of impact a running back i think is going to have a

04:29huge impact going down the stretch and guys playing on defense like they might even be deeper than you

04:35know what our rookie class had you know we had you know three or four guys that played large roles

04:40on the team but those guys you know i think they really have guys that you have to count on

04:45and i think you know how it is in new england the key will be hey can those guys show up and make

04:51plays down the stretch after thanksgiving in the playoffs and if they do that i mean we got eliminated

04:57in a divisional round our rookie year if they could go further than that i think you can really

05:01look at this class and say how special it is wiggy uh dev wiggy is in springfield because he went to

05:07see the boys play for umass last night unfortunately a loss so i wiggy has something for you i think

05:13wiggy yeah yeah dev uh what's good with you man i i thought i had uh no rhythm until i watch you guys

05:19put the videos up other than you i i feel like you know what i got a little bit of rhythm when i

05:25watch those videos barry looking good keep them coming because uh chris sims i mean man i thought

05:31i had two left feet but dev to kind of touch on that point a little bit i believe that this team

05:38has what it takes to get all the way and win the super bowl this year do you feel the same way about

05:45that and and part of me believing that is because i feel like the nfl is so wide open and there's so

05:52much parity at the top i don't feel like there's that one juggernaut team i agree 100 sitting there

05:59watching the games every week as soon as you're about to fall in love with a team or you think

06:06like man you know buffalo plays kansas city and you're like okay maybe buffalo because i thought

06:12buffalo has you know some issues on their team that are glaring and then they go play kansas city and i'm

06:18like man okay maybe maybe they're a little better than i thought then they go and lose in miami

06:23and whether it's the colts whether it's the rams detroit like all these teams like don't get me

06:29wrong they're good football teams and on any sunday you watch them play and you say man that might be

06:35the best team in the league and to me you throw new england in there and you say the same thing you

06:40throw seattle in there so i've always looked at it of who can catch fire and start playing their best

06:46ball right as you enter december as you're going into that stretch where you know i think for some

06:52teams you might have these huge matchups for other teams you might play some divisional games against

06:57some teams that might be done and packed up for the season but how can you treat all of those games

07:02as kind of like playoff wins because each time you win i think the way we're going to be in this

07:07situation i remember belichick used to say to us you get to this point in the season each win is a

07:12playoff win because if you can get the bye week that's an automatic move right to the next round

07:17so that is a playoff win and i think if you can start to develop that mindset going forward you

07:23could be playing your best ball and i think new england could be in that situation and my whole

07:28thing is once you get to that championship game you win that game you get to the super bowl it doesn't

07:33matter the overs the unders who's favorite like you get in that last game of the year and your players

07:40understand your game plan you can execute your game plan better than someone else you walk away

07:45super bowl champs like that is i've been in games where we've been the favorite and you lose because

07:49other teams game plan and execution is better and i've been in other games where like the rams in

07:542018 high powered offense how can the patriots defense stop them and you walk away with a uh a win

08:01with one touchdown being scored so um i definitely think they can be a team that's there in uh in the

08:07last game of the year devon i i'm just curious you had mentioned belichick and how he prepared for

08:12the team down the stretch if you were in charge of the giants if you were you know maybe the owner

08:17of the bills and that season goes in a bad direction would you hire bill belichick if at this stage of his

08:24career uh i don't know i would say this i would have belichick in like i thought the craziest thing

08:32when he was free as a coach before is that teams didn't meet with him i think i i would definitely

08:37have a man i think you got to fall in love with a candidate because i'm under the belief of when you

08:42hire somebody it shouldn't be you have a year and a half to two years to turn this whole thing around

08:48like i think when you hire someone you should say like hey we're in this for the long haul like we're

08:53trying to figure this out so is belichick that guy that you say hey we're in this for the long haul

08:59like i don't know you would have to fall in love with him from a gm standpoint and all of that but

09:04to me like if i'm if i'm shane if i'm brendan beam if he's still there however it works out i would

09:11bring belichick in and say hey what would you do how do you see this situation hey what do you think

09:17about this player or that player it's just to me it's a wealth of knowledge that not many people

09:23have gotten to sit down and break down of how he built teams and listen when we were here tom

09:28brady like his greatness made our team what it was but the idea to continue to be a hard-on guys and

09:35to bring in the right guys or choosing hey this guy stays that guy goes belichick did that better

09:41than anybody over a 20 year span i if like if i'm any organization i would want him in to know

09:48how he saw players how i evaluate them i think too often we're like hey what's happening at north

09:53carolina the girlfriend like this and that hey put all that aside i'm gonna bring that guy in and

09:59say how can we keep him in a room for 10 hours and you know take everything he's ever done and try to

10:04get it all in you know a 10 to 12 hour span you just mentioned tom brady is it too early to compare

10:10drake may to him yeah way too early i mean drake's gotta he's gotta put together a lot of seasons for me

10:19to even you know think about uttering you know him and tom brady i don't think it's too early to break

10:25down you know the early part of tom brady's career and compare because when you work in media like

10:30that's what you do you have to it's it's fun to do but i think overall to mention him and mention

10:36brady and what brady was able to do in new england is just too soon you know but you you enter those

10:43conversations if you get to the super bowl and you win a super bowl you enter the conversation to be

10:47spoken about with anybody but i i still think that's a time away um before we can enter drake

10:53may into there sorry wigs to further that question though 10 weeks in where would you rank drake among

11:00other quarterbacks right now he's playing like a top five quarterback that's why he's he's a favorite

11:07in the mvp race because i think when you're a quarterback and in this league and your team's

11:13winning and you're playing at a high level that makes you the guy to talk about whether it was

11:18jayden daniels last year as a rookie cj stroud when he was a rookie matthew stafford right now even at

11:24you know his older age when you're quarterbacking a top level team that's going out there executing

11:30you should be spoken about in a high regard daniel jones same thing and with indianapolis right now

11:36sam darnold and seattle guys that are not big names guys that were written off whatever you want to say

11:42you go do that you should be talked about i think for me when you talk about mvp like jonathan taylor

11:50and matthew stafford to me would have a leg up but like i think it's crazy and if anybody would have

11:56said two years ago we're going to get a quarterback in drake may and his second year he's going to be

12:01top five in mvp talks like i would have said hey give me that right now that's ridiculous

12:07i think that's what he's played his way into dev uh this i think is you know you better than anybody

12:14to talk about one of our great minds in football is greg hill and he asked this question

12:20can you say the name again please greg hill and he asked this question every week which is it's such

12:27a great question and i try to wrap my head around it but as an offensive guy i don't know what is it

12:33with this defense that they always give up like that first possession they give up points and you've

12:41been in defenses so can you like maybe give us a window into what could lead to that

12:46yeah i've always thought it's a combination of your calls are kind of safer or all out like i i think

13:01new wing i think the players and you know core they're like they're figuring out what's the best

13:08calls and how to operate so like i look at last week in tampa like tampa came out in a formation that

13:16to me was kind of obvious of the point of the field that they would attack but like gonzales was

13:21a little too far off uh mecca buka i thought woodson could have been a little bit more aggressive in

13:26their call in the middle of the field but they they were all like i would say a step and a half a little

13:31late like kind of like maybe this is the concept maybe it's not let's just play it safe and i think

13:38they kind of have that approach in the game i think it's you know they have some younger guys out

13:43there so you like you're figuring out the game plan how this team is going to attack you and it's

13:48almost like let's not be too aggressive early and let's figure it out and then i think then they go

13:55from there but i do think they can and i think they probably will be it's at this point in the season

14:02where you can start to say hey i don't think this team is going to open the game and attack us running

14:07up the middle and if they do let them have fun blocking tonga milton williams and barmore and i

14:14think they will start to say let's play to our strengths on this open and drive let's come with

14:19maybe outside pressure because we think the team if they run they're going to attack us outside hey

14:24let's call some calls in the secondary that allow us to jump some routes in the middle of the field

14:29because we think teams are going to go play action and you know pretend like they're going to run

14:34up the middle and try to hit us right behind the linebackers i think they'll start to feel like

14:39hey this is how we're being attacked let's now start to attack that instead of being a little

14:44bit more passive um but i think they're also like hey we give up a drive early in the game and then

14:49that's it let's not go crazy and change everything but i think as a fan even when i watch i go here we

14:55go again early drive and again giving the team confidence like tonight is just like hey don't give

15:01just any type of drive to give them confidence let's get three and out or turn over and you

15:07know take over the game right from the beginning but we'll have to see how it plays out you brought

15:12up gonzalez he's eligible for an extension after this season what what what what what what's that

15:18number is like is that like four four one thirty one one forty like what's that number look like to

15:25yeah whoever was that is that sauce gardeners contract give them a hundred thousand more

15:31sauce make them happy whatever that is to me and i said it i was on chris sims podcast i said i think

15:38gonzalez this year goes from instead of people saying like he's top 10 to top like five ish

15:45as i think people say like hey there's no corner i would take over christian gonzalez like he's that guy

15:51and i think you saw the impact early in the season when he wasn't out there and you turn on

15:57the film this past week ameka buka has been outstanding this year and man-to-man coverage

16:02when he was on ameka buka you were like holy damn like ameka buka can't get open like there's

16:08there's no space like he to me he's that good um of a corner like i would i would pay him whatever

16:16that number is i would pay him early because like we see in philadelphia when you pay guys

16:21early it gives you more freedom you have a rookie quarterback on a rookie contract pay those guys

16:27and try to take advantage of it devon what have you seen from mike rabel this year and how much

16:33credit does he deserve for the team's eight and two start a lot of credit i think you know i started

16:39off i think i think his presence of what he demanded coming in as a you know former head coach and being

16:48at the titans i think when he came in he had a clear vision on how this team gets better i think

16:54because he had leverage he had other jobs he could have went and worked for the jets he came in i think

17:00he came in and told ownership hey if we if i'm going to take this job these are these are the things we

17:05have to do and i think you saw that right away the investment into free agency how they went about the

17:11draft the different upgrades that they have uh in the building building the new facility like all of those

17:17things go a long way when you're talking about we're building culture we're bringing guys in

17:22we're getting guys to believe i think that all stemmed from rabel taking over and then him as a

17:28coach i think how he goes about it whether it's a guy hurt on the field him coming out holding their

17:34hand or talking to him i mean the the ballsy for uh before the half first down to not actually try to

17:41score and you know like there's coaches i think in the nfl when you do that with your team

17:47they're like this is stupid like what like what are we doing you could see like that whole team was

17:53like all right we've talked about this we've practiced this before we know the situation

17:58offense we got to go score now and digs makes the unbelievable fourth down catch that's a team that's

18:04behind their coach that's a team that we saw a long time in new england when bill would make some

18:09hey we're going to go for it on fourth and two and this air like whatever it is you saw like all

18:15right even on the outside if you could be like that was a pretty dumb decision like to me what

18:20rabel did that was dumb like but it doesn't matter if your whole team believes in what you're going to

18:26do because sometimes you'll be right sometimes you'll be wrong but we always had a saying if we're

18:30all wrong we're right like that like that's what matters and i think that's what they have right

18:35now in new england i think that is all because of rabel and his presence what he brings what he

18:40preaches day in and day out those guys it's the old school new england way like nobody might not no

18:46one will understand what we're doing but we believe in it and we'll keep doing what we're doing and we'll

18:51just win games and keep it moving well dev we miss you on this show we miss you on this football team

18:58but we will be we will be able to watch you tonight and can't wait no you don't miss me on the team

19:04anymore there's a new 32 and uh you don't you don't need me out there but i will say i still had a

19:10faster uh time as a ball coward and trevon henderson so uh until he beats that i'm gonna i'm gonna hold

19:17that i'm gonna take that for myself yeah man let's go all right no and and no any danger of a

19:27trap here tonight or not not this team i don't think so but division opponent there's always a

19:36little bit that that could have come up but i i just think this team is hot and i think it benefits

19:41the patriots not having a full week to practice um compared to the jets they have a lot of moving

19:47parts they got garrett wilson's out you you kind of want to switch to tyrod taylor at quarterback but

19:54you're not going to get to practice i think that all favors new england uh tonight devon mccourty

19:59thank you and we look forward to seeing you again soon good talking to you guys all right there he is

20:06that's the great devon mccourty

20:07that's the great devon mccourty

20:08that's the great devon mccourty

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