While Deflategate has lingered over Tom Brady's head since mid-January, his teammates apparently haven't noticed any difference in his play when he's on the field.
Patriots safety Devin McCourty joined 98.5 The Sports Hub's Marc Bertrand and Adam Jones on Monday afternoon to discuss a variety of different topics, including how he's seen Brady handle business on the field while pundits been talking about Deflategate off the field.
"I think the greatest thing with him as a leader and as a player is that you haven't seen him change much," McCourty said. "He's still the same fiery guy in OTAs and minicamp, talking trash to the defense and trying to win the day, offense versus defense. I think that part of him hasn't changed. I think each year, it's crazy, but it seems like he gets more and more competitive out there to go out there and show that he can still do it.
Julian Edelman spoke to reporters recently about how Brady has handled criticism this offseason, saying that the reigning Super Bowl MVP is "fired up" and a "little ticked off." McCourty said he agreed with Edelman's assessment.
"Obviously I saw Julian's comments, and I think he hit it right on the head," McCourty said. "He's gonna be a guy, no matter what happens in this situation, he's gonna be probably Tom Brady times 10 and ready to go. I'm excited to see him. And honestly, my goal every time we start training camp is to pick him off as much as possible before the season so that's my goal and focus."
McCourty understands that he and his teammates will continue to hear Deflategate questions when training camp starts this week, but he's confident that those won't be a distraction.
"I haven't really noticed what they talk about on ESPN and sports talk radio that much," McCourty said. "When you get a month off, you get away from everything. I'm just excited for us to get back into the season. We'll see how all of that plays out but I think everyone knows this team has dealt with a bunch of different things and this is no different. We'll deal with it and move on and do whatever we have to do to go out there and try to win games."
Here are a few more highlights from McCourty's conversation with the Sports Hub:
On playing in the Thursday night season opener against the Steelers on Sept. 10: "I think it'll be cool. Obviously I've never experienced being there to see that banner go up. But I'm like every other player. We all watch that Thursday night game that starts the season, and to be a part of it means you wont the Super Bowl last year. I think it'll be cool to kick off the NFL season as the first team to go out there and play, but obviously it won't be as cool unless we win so that has to be the goal."
On watching the Gronkowskis compete on Family Feud earlier this month: "They were very disappointing as a team, the Gronkowskis . . . The McCourtys would've done way better up there on Family Feud. We probably would've won if you ask me, but not very impressive. I guess [Rob] does great catching touchdowns and running, but Family Feud's just not his thing."
New England Patriots
On if he's read Gronkowski's new book "It's Good to Be Gronk" this summer: "I haven't quite made it to his book on my Top 10 books to read."