On Sunday, Kyle Van Noy will play the first game with his new team by taking on the team he spent the last 3.5 years with in the place he called home and was a fan favorite.
Speaking to Miami reporters Wednesday, Van Noy was asked about returning to Gillette Stadium without fans.
"I think it's going to be a cool experience," he said. "I don't think people are looking at it the way that I've been looking at it. I've been looking at it as the fans get a close, inside (look) at what guys on the field are communicating, trash-talking. Kind of like what you've seen with the NBA, you get to hear the ball dribble and you don't necessarily get to hear that all of the time. I feel like that's what it's going to be like on a football field.
"I think the smacking is going to be louder, the trash-talking is going to be right there in prime television. I think it's going to be a good atmosphere because at the end of the day, you're going to find out it's the team versus the team. There's no real home-field advantage. Obviously you have to make the road trip out there, but you're basically going against that team and they're going against you. You've just got to outperform (them), so I think that's pretty cool."
Van Noy repeated what he's said in he past about the Patriots giving him a chance to play unlike when he was with the Lions, while also saying how much he's looking forward to his time with the Dolphins.
"First off, I had a team put me in the game," he said of the Patriots compared to the Lions. "That was the biggest difference for me. I went from a team saying they didn't know what to do with me to a team that knew what to do with me and put me in the game. From top down, it was run a really, really positive way. Just like here, it's run really, really well and I'm excited to be a Miami Dolphin. I feel like they are investing a lot into our success. We have a new facility coming around. They invest a lot in off-field things that we, as players, want. They really, really want us to be successful and I hope we can be successful for this city. This city hasn't – I believe – won a playoff game in 20 years, and that's one of our goals. We're reaching pretty high and we hope that we can obtain it and bring this city some good football."
Both teams are very familiar with each other since there are a number of former Patriots in Miami, including Van Noy and head coach Brian Flores.
"Yeah, going against them, they're familiar with me. I'm familiar with them," Van Noy said. "I'm excited for this task. They've been talking trash the four years I've been there, so I'm excited to see if we both can back it up."
