FOXBORO -- Three days after Jaguars cornerback Jalen Ramsey made a Super Bowl guarantee speaking at a rally in Jacksonville Sunday night, Patriots players are continuing to get asked their thoughts on what he said.
"The Super Bowl stuff? I mean, obviously that's his game," cornerback Eric Rowe said on Wednesday. "He's a confident dude. I've been watching him. I watched him last year, watched him this year. He's a confident guy. Obviously they're happy to go to the championship game, but you know, that mindset of thinking ahead of yourself, I don't think it's a good idea.
"We saw what happened to the Steelers. On our end, obviously, we're not thinking ahead of the game. We need to get past [the Jaguars]. So, we heard it, but not too focused on it because we've gotta focus on doing our job for the game."
Devin McCourty was another player asked to respond.
"Nobody plays in this game to lose," he said. "I understand that. We're out here, we're preparing, we're doing everything that we can to try to win. I'm sure he's doing the same thing. Everybody's approach is different, and obviously they have a very confident group, I think across the board. Not just defensively, I know a lot of people are writing about how they are a confident defense, but I think across the board. You go out there [and] you win two playoff games on the road, you should be very confident. So, we know they're coming in here, they're going to be physical, they're going to be ready to go and confident. So, we've got to match that intensity and make some plays of our own."
So, why don't the Patriots ever trash-talk and make bold statements like that?
"We don't talk about what happens behind the scenes here, as you know," Matthew Slater said. "Why does it work for [us]? Look, we just come in here to play football, try to do our job. I think we have a lot of guys here that understand how fortunate we are to be in the position that we're in. We play professional football for a living, so I hope we all understand how blessed we are.
"And then when we come in here, we try to take advantage of that opportunity because there are no guarantees in this league. From day to day you just try to come in and do what you can to contribute to the team and hold on to a job."
