March 22, 2023 • 46 mins
In this edition of Pats from the Past we sit down with Devin and Jason McCourty immediately following Devin's retirement ceremony at Gillette Stadium. Among the highlights are Devin’s reaction to the organization’s ceremony, A look back at their “Super Season” and what’s Devin’s next chapter in life look like? Plus, In the beginning-the McCourty’s were not always a package deal. Hear the fascinating recruiting story.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
It's time for another episode of Patch from the Past
podcast Matt Smith with Paul Prillo and I think we just, Paul,
I think we just sort of slipped this one under
the wire. Let right. Absolutely, he's barely cold. As far
as from the past, I was like, dang, from the
past already, some of them a more recent past, but
two's always better than one. Devin and Jason mccordia are
(00:29):
joining with us, joining us. Thank you guys for being here.
Really appreciate it, no problem. And as we're taping this today,
we are coming almost literally after Devon's retirement ceremony. How
was it? That was awesome? Um? And I know, like
Stacy text me about doing it, and I told Stacey,
I was like, yeah, man, if if it'll help you,
I'll do it. Um. But it was for me it
(00:51):
was awesome because so many people played a major part
in my career. And I think oftentimes for players, like
we always get honored for certain things. But I think
being able to do that press conference got me to
highlight some people who meant a lot to to my career.
Obviously you know building mister Kraft, but also my mom,
my wife, um, other people in this building. Like Donna
(01:13):
Robin and Miss Nancy who don't you know they never
really get recognized for how much they do for us
as player. So, um, I just love being able to
do that. You didn't say your twin brother. I didn't mean,
I didn't mention you, you know, but um, he may
have been the MVP of that ceremony. Talk about it.
Uncle Jason was on it. Talk Oh yeah, I mean
uncle Jason was. I would tell, but I would tell
(01:36):
anybody like he's doing a good job on TV, but
if they want to hire him to be a nanny,
he'd be off incredible the more you can do. My
wife is very proud of the man that she has
molded me into, so I know if she's listening, she's smiling.
Just let everybody know that's three children were there, and
I think it was the youngest one, right, Yeah, Chase,
you were doing some chasing. He was active exactly, and
(01:58):
Jason was was tasked with that duty. But just absolutely
adorable kids. Thank you, ridiculously adorable Jason. How important was
it for you to be here for this very important
I've been up since about four thirty in the morning.
Uh did the show this morning? Good Morning Football? On
NFL Network. There goes my shameless plug. And then after that,
(02:20):
me and my my middle child, my son Kaden. He
took off a day of school and he got to
come and hang out at the studio and then we
jumped in the car and headed up here for me
And to be honest, I've never been to a retirement ceremony.
I've been on four different teams, and you typically throughout
my career, you don't have guys that play on one
team for this long and mean, uh this much to
(02:41):
one organization. So I didn't really know what I was
walking into and being able to sit there in the
front row and watch highlights from the very start of
Death's career, him there talking about he can't pronounce the
name of the tight end, and I don't. I don't
remember that I came. That's a pretty good line. That
(03:02):
was when I was like, did I not know Gronkowski?
But I'm like, after I got drafted out, I wasn't
paying attention. I was hyped. I just remember some big
tight end got drafted, So I'm not even gonna try
to say his last name. And then just hearing the
picture perfect answers he had, like I just want to
come in. I just want to help the team. And
if you interview him now, he says none of those things.
(03:23):
It is these quirky responses. He's trying to make you laugh.
So just seeing his maturation throughout the process and being
able to sit there and hear mister Kraft and hear
Bill speak about him and talk about visiting him at
Rutgers and just the lens that everybody in this organization
sees him through. It was awesome obviously to be a
part of her for three years and witness it up close,
(03:44):
and that thing now on this given day where you
don't always give a chance to highlight people and give
him their flowers, hearing everybody speak about Dev, to see
his kids go up there, his wife, my mom, it
was it was really special. I know my older brother
I was back at home. He was texting because he
was watching it. And those are the people kind of
my mom and my older brother throughout our entire lives
(04:04):
that have pushed us and Dev telling that story about
Boston College. He still has a chip on his shoulder
about something. He's like every other NFL player, you find
some type of doubt to motivate you and push you saw.
I was an honor to be able to be here
and witness it. We're gonna get to be seen a second.
But I just one more fall upon the retirement. You
were probably at Sweet Feats back in August or whenever
(04:26):
that was Kafeezy, you remember that one. I remember light
So you're like city, They're going, oh, yeah, well this
is great on that White, Kevin Fox. These are all
great Patriots, James White, woll And you sort of said
it today like it seemed like you were blown it,
like their coaching staffs there, all these players who were
working out and everything like that. That's how important you
(04:46):
were to them. Yeah, that's got to blow you away.
It is crazy because, like James White, should just happened
before the season. You know. But when I was younger
and I went to I think the first one I
went to was k fault Um, and I spoken today
about what what uh Fezi meant to me and how
he helped me when I was young. But when I
(05:07):
went to his, I was like, yeah, a lot of
people like I know what he did for me. He's
done that for a long time. Fourteen years. When I
went to Vince's, same thing Ninko, same thing. Um, you
just don't. You don't put yourself in that place because,
for one, that means it's the end. So when you're playing,
you don't. You don't like to think about the end
like that. Um. But for as many guys that come,
(05:28):
like we're at the end of towards the end of March,
like there's no guys really here, and UM, I think
for them just to take the opportunity to come here
and just listen to me one more time, um, after
they had to listen to me for you know, so long. Uh,
it's been an honor. And I think mostly I'll miss that.
I'll miss the everyday interaction like I obviously keep in
(05:48):
touch with guys, but that every day without any effort,
getting an opportunity to talk, laugh and joke. Um, I
won't have that anymore. And that's what I missed between
the players and the coaches, of just being able to
do that throughout my career. So you've been obviously such
a big part of this community and this organization for
so long. Matt and I feel like we know a
lot of the stuff. We both left that that that
(06:11):
ceremony today and the first thing we talked about. Was
that story that you guys just touched on with with
Boston College And I didn't know any of that stuff
that was that public? Should I find that really interesting?
I just from from the perspective of the two guys
that were involved, I'd like you to tell that story
a little bit because I don't think that's common knowledge.
And it was really really interesting that the school one
(06:34):
school would come at one of you. I just thought
that was really fascinating. Like, like Paul and I Areston
were walking out of it, wouldn't you just because you're
a nice person, go okay, the other twin can't play,
but you know what will play? Kate him just to
make him feel good that we're here and give him
five minutes. But we really want the other believe that.
That's why that was stuck. So honestly, when we came
(06:55):
out New Hampshire offered both of us. Kent Stay offered him,
offer me, um BC offered him, wouldn't offer me, and
Rutgers offered him first um before they offered me, but
Rutgers decided to invite me on the official visit. When
they came to our house, they sat with both of us,
UM So for me, it was the fact that Um,
(07:16):
Tom O'Brien and BC came. I love how you keep
saying his name too, because I don't so, And I'll
tell you why. It's not well known. When Tom O'Brien
came and they spoke to him, UM, I wasn't like allowed,
Like obviously I could have went, but it was kind
of like, well, we don't really need you in this meeting. UM.
And for me, when Rutgers came and coach Rizzi and
(07:39):
Coachiano came, they had us both in there, and whether
they really wanted me at that moment, I don't think
so because they didn't offer me at that moment, but
they still allowed me to be a part of the
process of the recruiting of talking to me UM, And
I thought like that was like common sense, Like I'm
a seventeen year old kid, Like there's no reason to
try to make me feel worse about not getting a scholarship. Um.
(08:03):
The BC stuck with me for that reason, like you
live in a small house, like I'm sitting on a
basically on the other end of that wall, not hearing it.
But why I never like bashed them with talking about it,
because like I didn't think it would have been fair
for like me, the position I had as a Patriot
to talk about the school and whoever the coach would
have been, like right now, coach Halfley's there, and I
(08:23):
like coach Halfley. I like, you know, I like their staff.
I've been there. Um. So I never wanted to like
make it seem like I didn't like them and put
negative press because all my hard feelings and I laughing
joke now I say hard feelings towards time over, like
I get it, you're recruiting guys, You're gonna miss on guys. Um.
But it all came full circle his senior year. My reshhurt.
(08:44):
Junior year, we played NC State in the bowl game,
coach by Tim O'Brien, who left Boston College shortly after
we've visited. I get the interception that seals the game.
I threw my wolf pack up, started celebrating because other
a former Patriot not a long time but taekwon. Underwood
also had a best friend, Rich Gannelle, who committed and
(09:06):
played at BC. They were high school teammates, both stars
of a team BC also wouldn't offer him, and he
blocked a punt that game. Or picked up a block punt,
So we enjoyed that moment for us kind of like
you were wrong. So, I mean we were talking about this, Devin.
Everybody needs a little something to score them on. Not
(09:26):
everybody's a five star recruit. Not everybody is you know,
parade All American or whatever, And you might need something
to motivate you. The fact that this guy's in your
house and he's not choosing to speak with you as
an eighteen year old kid. You can take that with
you to your twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, and
that fire keeps burning. Yeah, I mean, and then then
(09:47):
you get drafted to the Patriots. So now it's like, man,
the school that's right in the backyard, Like how cool
would have been? Because I think there is a chance
that we both got offered by BC, that you know,
if we came on a visit to together instead of
just him coming on his visit, there's a chance that
we might have liked. And I remember thinking that when
I got drafted, like Dan, i'd probably been pretty cool.
(10:07):
Like if I would have went to BC and got
drafted as like a first round or to the New
England Patriots, like that would have been because I think
about all the kids now that come out of BC,
and oh, so many articles get written like, man, the
Patriots has signed him, or the patriot should draft him
from BC. But I mean, again, it's a part of
the story that at the time I was really angry about,
but it's a part of like the reason I'm here
(10:29):
today as well. So I got to enjoyed. And I
think on top of that, it doesn't just stop with BC.
Like Dev had a chip on his shoulder even when
it came to Rutgers, and I remember, like he said,
I got offered first, and then he got offered when
one of our official visit and we had a high
school teammate that was already at Rutgers, Ron Girault, who
coach Shanno went to and was like, Hey, what's the
difference between these two, because we've already offered Jason and
(10:52):
we're still recruiting Death. He was like, they're the same player.
Devon just got hurt their senior year, so Jason seems
like he had a better year that year, and that's
when Rutgers finally decided to offer dev So even once
Dev got drafted, he still had like this chip on
his shoulder life. Wow. I always remind you offered me
just to get my brother, and I got here and
(11:14):
I had to prove to you guys that I was
just as good. So, um, like I said, he's he's
always had that chip and he plays with it. And
I think kind of credit Tom O'Brien because this guys
played thirteen years at an extremely high level. Yeah, I
mean that was one of the things that we were
talking about. I was like, I mean, they're they're twins.
They both played for a long time in the National
Football even had a lot of success. How different could
(11:35):
they have been as seventeen eighteen year old players? And
that makes sense that you got you got banged up
because you had a red shirt, and Jason you didn't.
That's why you would draft it first, right, you played
the year before, right. Yeah, if only if only Robert
Craft and Bill Belichick would have drafted maybe I would
have had I think about it. But I mean, you know,
and I don't. I'm gonna guess you don't harbord any
(11:56):
kind of villa, not at all, No, I know, but
like it's not unusual you're human to think about that, right, Yeah,
for sure? And I think That's the beauty about each
and every guy that has a career or whatever your
journey is, because it's unique to just you. And I
think my journey helped Dev along the way because my
rookie year in the league I go to the Tennessee
(12:17):
Titans under Jeff Fisher and he gets drafted a year
later under Bill Belichick and the Patriots, and the way
they ran their two organizations couldn't be any more different.
So Dev senior year, the entire time, I'm telling them
this is what the NFL is like, this is how
we do things, this, that and the third and then
the next year he's like, you lie to me. The
NFL there's nothing like what you just describe. And once
(12:39):
he got here, I was like, I definitely get it.
And obviously for our path to be able to come
together nine years later we both when I got a
chance to come to New England, I think it made
it that much better that my journey kind of went
around about way to lead us back to each other.
So Dev, I'll tie the knot on the time, O'Brien.
Thing for you. I had a chance, you know, from
my high school, every high school here in Massachusetts, I
(13:00):
spoke yet our varsity club banquet as as you know,
one of the award guys for alumni and Tom O'Brien
was one of the speakers that night too, And it's
kind of a low key, you know, it's not an
overly formal events of this. Sometimes you're talking and people
are still eating and the clanking of the glasses, like
you don't have everybody's attention. Tom O'Brien didn't like that.
(13:23):
Tom O'Brian was very upset. He's like finger pointing people
and telling people to stop talking as he's talking. I
was like, I was like, Wow, what a hardassy. What
are we doing here? So that's like tision Tom O'Brien,
He's not I don't think you've spoke them back at
every either. I've always had a lot of every high
school players over the years, so that you haven't had
a long to really think about it because you just
(13:44):
made this decision. Um, if you look back at the
thirteen years and I'm going to put the pressure on you,
is there you know the highlight of your career is
it the eighteen season and how that season ended, being
able to play with your brother and to cap it
off with the Super Bowl Championshi, Yeah, no do I
I had to pick one season, Um, it would be
that season. Um. Not only because we won another championship
(14:07):
and it was with him, but it was the way
that season was, like him at the end of training camp,
everyone wondering if he's gonna get cut or make the team. Um.
And then you know, we beat Houston Week one, we
go and get absolutely destroyed by Jacksonville on the road
in Jacksonville, then go on the road to Detroit Sunday
night football, get destroyed again, win some games, Miami miracle. Um.
(14:30):
Then you know, I think, yeah, we kind of reset
after the Miami miracles, like we need to go win
this game in Pittsburgh. We go down to Pittsburgh and
lose again, play a good game and lose to win
to win the division that week, and then it kind
of turned into like, oh damn, Like we just lost
two games in December, like that's not what we do here.
(14:51):
Like and I still vividly remember Bill coming in and
we had the Jets and Bills Bills, I don't remember
which order, but those two and he comes in, he
we got nothing but playoff games left. If we do
what we're supposed to do. Everything will work out, and
sure enough we go win the two games, Houston loses,
we end up with a buy in the first round
of two seed, and then you know, we go to
(15:13):
Kansas City. We beat Kansas City on the road first
time I think since it was oh four, maybe that
the team had won on the road in the AFC
Championship Game. And then we go and have a Super
Bowl that was total opposite of the year before. We
couldn't stop it. We couldn't stop Philly at all as
a defense the year before, So to go have that performance,
(15:34):
I always look at that year was like the most
up and downs. But I was an older player. I
was like even more of a veteran then because there
were no other guys that count on, Like there were
no Vincent and Gerard, Like, I didn't have those guys
on defense. So to be able to have that team
and you know, myself high being like those guys that
(15:56):
were here for a long period of time leading that
group was a lot of fun. Man. And then this
guy made the story just so much better because his
energy and everyone wanted to give him so much credit
of like, man, you deserve this. You're finally and how
he just kept telling people like, why do I deserve
this more than anybody else? Like, yeah, I worked hard,
but like there's a ton of guys in the NFL
(16:17):
that worked hard. So I thought we had a great
mix of guys like Damn Danny Shelton, they went in
sixteen the year before, like they were back. They want
our team about there playing a super Bowl game after
going owen sixteen. So I just thought we had so
many cool storylines from individuals, but ultimately, like that team
to me was just a great story. I can only
(16:38):
imagine what your mom thinks when she sees the video
at the end of the Kansas City game, because when
I look at it, even we all stop. I mean
I still get almost choked up about it when I
see it, like because it's surreal and here's two kids
who probably did that in your backyard or on the
playground at school and everything, and it happened. And I
(16:58):
know you got to close the deal because it would
have shocked yea if we do right, But how amazing
was that moment? Oh, it was awesome and you said
we did it. Growing up, I can remember getting ready
for Sunday Pop Warner games and me and Dev would
go outside on the pavement and start throwing the ball
and we'd go over all of our plays that we
(17:20):
were going to run later on in the game, just
to prepare ourselves. And now from that moment waking up
Sunday morning to now fast forwarding years later, now we're
waking up on a Sunday morning and we're walking into
a stadium getting ready to play in the Super Bowl.
That he's done. This was his fifth time being in
this game. And I think the best moment wasn't on
the field after the game. It was in the locker
(17:41):
room as we're going and we're passing around then FC
Championship trophy and now we're talking about going to the game.
And for me, it was so surreal. And I said
it when I was holding the trophy. This is the
first time I get to go to the game on
my own accord and I'm not hitting Dev up to
figure out the logistics and taking care of the family,
but I'm actually getting invited to the game. So for me,
(18:04):
it was truly special. Dev knows the Super Bowl in Houston.
I never know the numbers the Super Bowl in Houston.
I was, yeah, they're all the same to me, other
than fifty three try having to write about it. Yeah,
I don't remember ever. I can only imagine the hardship
these guys go through having to write about Super Bowl.
That's tough life. So it was just it was remarkable
(18:29):
and I think to be able to go through it
all and obviously have him alongside me. But I just
remember being in that locker room like I'm finally getting
a chance to go and as I was saying, the
Super Bowl in Houston, I remember leading up to when
they won the AFC Championship game, I remember saying to
my wife, h I'm not going to the super Bowl
this year. It was just like at that point, it
wasn't jealousy, but there was some envy within it of
(18:51):
we're both in the same sport each and every year.
I work my ass off all off season, to the
point where me and Dev would be training sometimes and
he'd be like too, like there's no need to do this,
Like this isn't this isn't the reason you're not getting there.
You're just killing yourself and just trying so hard. Because
I was on the field in Arizona when he won
that game and I got a chance to witness it
(19:13):
as his twin brother, and it was awesome, and I
was just like, I want to take this back to
Tennessee and I want to get to this game. I
remember when he made it to the Super Bow. I
was like, I'm not I'm not going to the game.
Like was you busting your balls or was he being
cherish about this? No, he was as far as working
why are you working so hard it you're not gonna happen. Yeah.
And I don't say that from the standpoint because I mean,
anybody that's been around us guy, he's one of the
hardest working guys in this sport. And he was saying
(19:36):
it to me of just like there's a certain level
where it's like are you working harder or working smart?
It was just like this isn't necessary to continue to
improve and get better. So I remember then it was
probably like the Monday of the Super Bowl and I
said to my wife, I was like, ah, I gotta go.
And we had just had a son, and I end
up taking my daughter with me, who was I think
three at the time, and flying out to Houston. As
(19:58):
much as I kind of was going through stuff on
my own head of wanting to be in that game,
I was like, I can't miss this, Like this is
this is too important. And I had a blast down
at the game, and as always, I hosted the family,
taking them out to eat, handling tickets and all of
those other things so DEVI could focus on the game.
So it was a long journey and a long process.
So to finally get to that Super Bowl twenty eighteen,
(20:20):
it was just it was so surreal awesome. The Kansas
City game to me, you know, just we don't necessarily
talk a lot about the memories of the actual games
because everybody knows the highlights, but that game to me
stood out. I mean, I've been here over twenty years.
That to me still is my favorite game just to
have watched. Yeah, just the amount of tension in that
(20:42):
second half that you guys were playing through on both
sides of the ball. You shut them down completely for
one half and now we're holding on for delighting in
the second half. Three game earlier in the season, right
right right. I remember sitting on the bench at the
end of that game and we end up winning forty
forty three. Ste kicks the kick and we win the game,
and we're sitting there as a defense and durn Harmon,
(21:05):
Devin mccordy, Patrick Chong, Gilmore, Jon Jones there sitting on
the bench and everybody has like this look on their
face because we just gave up forty points. I'm like,
what the hell is wrong with y'all? We just won
the game. I don't care if we gave up sixty.
You know how many of these games I've been a
part of where like the offense gets the ball and
you're just like, we have no shot. We actually went
down and won the game, and I remember that we
(21:26):
laughed about that moment after because like he kind of
started off with me, Danny Shelton, Josh Gordon, we were
all on that team that didn't win a game the
year before, And not only that, I was on the
Titans team that was two and fourteen, that was three
and thirteen. So my perspective on would admitt to win
a game and how hard it was was totally different
to a lot of the guys that have been around here.
So you take that game and then you fast forward
(21:47):
to the playoff game and Bill kind of hit on
all the exits and oals of probably were able to
win that game. And I think that's what was cool
because I think in twenty eighteen, our secondary became a
weapon for us from the standpoint of we didn't need
a lot of direct rules from the coaching staff on
how we want to do things, Like he said, like
stopping Tyreek Hill turned into me and John Jones talking
(22:10):
about where he lined up, how I thought he should play,
how he thought, and like we literally would watch film
and be like, oh, I think you should be here.
They us do this all right, if they bring Hardman
and they put them both here, we're gonna do this.
And that continue from twenty eighteen nineteen, Like anytime we
played this team, we would have like these rules and
things we would do that. If you ask the coaching staff,
(22:31):
they'd be like, yeah, I think they're playing like this,
because but it was really just our unit that was
dictating and doing things like that. So that was also
a cool moment because we had grown as a group.
You know, Jay Jones got here in sixteen, Steph in seventeen, myself,
Do and Chung had been here playing together since all
(22:52):
of us playing a lot since twenty fourteen, So adding
him in eighteen and I felt like because he was
my twin brother, like it didn't feel like a new guy.
And an e row was here. We had a group
that had now had like two or three years playing together.
Added a young guy like J. C. Jackson was just
a straight out playmaker. We were able to do things
(23:12):
in that secondary That for me was the first time
that wasn't like mandated by Bill. It was kind of
like if you come to the sideline and something looks
wrong you but I have a good reason why you
did it. And he said I remember him saying to me, like,
I want you to do with your things best because
nine out of ten times I'm gonna agree with what
you want to do, so I'd rather just go do
it on the field. And like since then it was
(23:36):
just like, all right, we have some ownership of how
we want to do certain things. Let's just go do it.
So that's interesting perspective right there, because I think the fan,
the neo, fight the outsider. I look at fourteen, okay,
and so I get seduced maybe by vas Okay, Browner, Okay,
that was good that you guys are younger and everything
like that, But maybe you didn't have the experience in fourteen.
(23:58):
Maybe you guys are just going off of tremendous ability,
great numbers. Chandler was on that team, so you know
have the pass rush to go with it a little
bit as well. But now you've got the experience that
you gained from all those different battles that you went
through so that you can do the things which more
us most is like I know what we're doing here,
like Tom says all the time, I know the answer
(24:20):
to the test before you give it to me. So
is that maybe the difference between that fourteen secondary and
the eighteen So definitely for me, now that fourteen secondary
was good like you said me Chung Duran, but from
a corner depth wise, like Malcolm Butler was our sixth
corner right, Like we had Alfonso Dinner, Kyle Arranton, Logan,
Ryan Reeves Brown, like we had so many good players.
(24:43):
But that was like that was year five for me.
So yeah, I was like I was understanding how to
play the game. I was playing probably some of my
better football in my career. But when you talk about
being a leader and like running things from a team standpoint,
Mayo and Vince did that, Like I controlled where we
need to line up in the secondary, what we needed
to do, from what coach said the game plan was
(25:05):
I was gonna make sure we got to execute the
game plan. The difference in eighteen was this is the
game plan, but this is how we're gonna win the game. Yeah,
stick to the game plan, but also if you need
to change some things and do things differently, go, like,
don't worry about what any coach is gonna say. It
was like, we trust you just as much as we
trust a coach telling you to do something. So if
(25:26):
you see it, go do it. And in fourteen I
didn't have that kind of confidence yet um to do that.
And you know, I think that's what made eighteen special
for me. Yeah, you would ownership at and that's the difference. Yeah,
Like in fourteen it was like we were all good,
Like those guys came here because they were good, um,
And I saw it as that, like, man, I just
(25:47):
want those guys that feel welcome, whereas an eighteen I
felt more like, all right, those guys all ready to go,
but like I gotta be the captain of this. I
gotta help these guys understand how we want to play.
And it wasn't a like I'm a top of the
mountain better than you, but it was like, hey, if
I if I can lead this, and then everybody else
will fill in and due their roles. Like no one
(26:08):
challenged me more in our room, in our secondary room
than him. And it wasn't like we're about to break
out and fist fight. It was like, no, I'll tell
you why I'm right, and he's like, I'll tell you
why you're wrong. And we go back and forth and
then we go in the locker room and laugh about
it because we challenged each other that way. And I
think that's what made that team so special because we
were all a lot of us were around the same age,
and then we had a couple of young guys like
(26:30):
it was just a great mesh of guys um that
I thought came together to build something that wasn't establishing
and beginning like fourteen, when those guys came, it was
like you better, you better win the Super Bowl, Like
you just put two Pro Bowl players from another team
on your team, Rievas and Browner, Like you need to
go win. So it was a little different, but it was.
(26:51):
I mean, it was still so much fun. That's my
second it was it was my first ever win UM,
so that was definitely special too. When did you recognize
a moment like you talked about when you came in
guys like Kevin Falk and advancing those guys, and you
mentioned Vincent Gerrard sort of ran that too. Did you
recognize the moment that you turned into that guy? Did
(27:12):
you sort of understand it? You know, because they were
going in that transition, they were gone. And I keep
saying that, like everyone talks about the future of this
team from a leadership standpoint, and I've told I've told
Doug that, I've told bit not as much because Ben
already kind of does that, but I've told some of
the younger players. I was like, you're gonna look around
and the guys that you saw doing things will be gone.
(27:35):
So that means the only other person that can do
what is you, Or you let somebody that doesn't understand
or see what you've you've seen and how it's supposed
to be done, you let them take over. I said,
But then you have to think about do you want
to live in a world where because I don't want
to do what I let somebody's doing, I let them
do it wrong. So for me, twenty fifteen to twenty
(27:57):
sixteen really is like the mesh of some newer guys.
But it was like me and Hi. Hi had been
here since two and twelve, Me since twenty ten. I
thought had to be more vocal, and Hi had to
take a little time to fall into his Like if
you ever get to know Hi, he like rebels against
everything that he knows. He is like he never wanted
(28:17):
to be a captain, even though he was like the
ultimate captain, got voted all the time. Um but I
thought we all kind of looked up and everyone filled
a role like Chung was never super vocal, U, but
Chung was a leader in his way of being tough,
being tough and filling every role along the defense, safety, linebacker,
corner like he did everything. Um So I always look back,
(28:40):
you know, between myself, Chung and and Hi of really
deciding like, all right, we gotta be the next wave
of leaders of this group. I can remember Mayo saying
it where he was coming back in the building and
he said he'd come back and he was just like,
who the hell is this mcquarity, Like dev never spoke
as much when I was on the team, and I
think that speaks what he's saying. You didn't have to
(29:01):
because there was a guy doing that. I think now
he's moving on, guys will definitely speak up more because
anybody that's played with Dev he's wanted the allowest people
in the building. Never shuts up, so some are But
we like that, right, He's right, we do, and so
do the fans, And so the fans now see a
side of Devin mccordy. He's the guy in the huddle
(29:21):
every single week. He's very vocal, hits something very important
and generally pretty poignant to say at that point in time.
But that can be overrated and I think bill Ian
you sort of mentioned that a little bit today. You know,
world's filled with big mouse you know, it's a kind
of leadership that might get you. We don't know what
you're doing behind the scenes. It's picking a guy up,
(29:42):
like you're saying something's going wrong with their family, you know,
or maybe he's got, you know, something in their personal life.
That's the kind of leadership. Those are the guys that
you probably gravitate to, like this guy's got my back
and I don't need to hear all the you know,
rab Rossiskumba nice, get me wrong and love this stuff.
But it's the other stuff that really really shows you
(30:04):
who the real leaders are. Is that right? Just as
an example, throughout my entire career, I gave the same
pregame speech that Dev did every single game, whether I
was in Tennessee, whether I was in Cleveland, did it
once I left here in New England, and I did
it in Miami as well. And I would argue that
I gave a better pregame speech every single Sunday than
Devin mccordy. But we didn't win games. No one cares
(30:27):
what you're saying when you don't win games. And I
could be a great leader, give a great pregame speech,
team could just not be as talented as a team
across from us, and we don't win the game, and
no one is gonna say, like, wow, he's a great leader.
Did you hear the pregame speech he made before the game.
But when you go out there and you hear the
words that Dev says before the Super Bowl fifty three
(30:47):
and he talks about iron and Shopper and iron and
picking up your brother, and then you go out there
and win the game. And then you have Coach Belichick
after the game and you ask him about this guy
that you perceive as a leader because what he's saying
before the game, and you hear Coach Belichick talk about
what he does during the course of the week, or
you hear a Steve Belichick talk about the fact that
he wears the green dot and he's controlling what the
(31:08):
defense here is from the coaching staff, or you hear
Robert Kraft talk about the work that he does in
the community for the past thirteen years of his career,
or you hear one of his teammates talk about, Hey,
in this moment in the game, we were feeling this,
or something happened like in the Super Bowl where we
don't get to a play. He yells over to me, Jada,
are going to come back to that play and make
sure you're ready for it. That's when it all comes
(31:28):
full circling. You're like, Wow, it's not the moment before
the game where he yells and he screams and the
veins popping out of his forehead. It's all the six
different touch points that everybody's saying about him that makes
him pat the Patriot, the ultimate team leader. And I
think with him, he just had the total package and
the next the next group of leaders on his young
team may come in different forms of fashion, and maybe
(31:50):
the vocal guy and then behind the scenes guy. I
don't know if you replace a devil mccordy with one
single leader. I can only imagine that you put your
mother through growing up because I barely know you. Guys.
Donn't see how competitive you are. Who's drinking water fastest,
who's good whatever? You guys are uber competitive with each other.
It's legit when you see what happens for him today,
(32:13):
that you were able to be a part of it,
you know, and all the bs aside about I'm better
than you, I'm gonna make more money than you and TV. No,
I'm gonna make more money than you and TV. How
proud of you were to be able to say, wow,
one team thirteen years, look at what all you accomplished,
and it must make you feel great as a brother. Yeah,
he doubled my salary in the NFL, so I have
to make more on TV. But it's so special it's
(32:38):
hard to put it into words. The fact that I
can walk in this building and shake hands with so
many people and laugh and joke. Buill doesn't make that
trade or go and get me. If Devin's not here.
I truly believe that I had a good career before
I got here. I'm on TV because it had three
years that I spent here in annoying the Patriots. Half
(33:00):
the time. When I'm out, if somebody recognizes me, they
think I played for the Patriots for ten plus years,
and they asked me how many rings did I win
while I was here, because they have no idea that
Dev was the one here for thirteen years and I
was just here as a pit stop along my career.
So when you talk about how proud I am, I'm
extremely proud to be able to not only watch Dev,
(33:22):
but to be a witness of a not only his
playing career, but his entire life. When I got here,
it was one thing to learn about who he was
in the building, in the way everybody perceived him. And
he's right because in the meeting rooms, no one felt
like they could say he was wrong about something. I
had no problem saying that. But beyond just the exit
and OLS. On Tuesdays, I would be waking up at
(33:42):
seven am on our off day because we'd be driving
into Boston to do something social justice related or something
community related that he was leading the charge on and
those were the things that get spoken about, but they
sometimes can't go unmentioned. And he was a catalyst behind
a lot of things done off the field as well.
So for me it was special to watch him up
(34:03):
there today during his retirement ceremony. But like you said,
to be in this building for three years, to witness
winning the Super Bowl our first year to my last
year here, his first time not making the playoffs, and
that spectrum and the scale of those things, and we
laughed about it that twenty twenty season because it was chaos. Obviously,
(34:24):
there was COVID, Tom had just left, Cam came in
and I remember the year we won the Super Bowl.
It was the most games he had lost in his season,
it was five games. It was the most I had
ever won. It was double digits for the first time
in my career. He did, he definitely did. And then
I won him a super Bowl that Craft mentioned, so
I got I gotta make sure I send that check
(34:45):
to Craft for that. And I remember laughing with him
at the end of that season because in New England
a lot of people don't realize it, but even throughout
losing seasons, there's moments of laughter. There's moments of joy.
You find the way to get through the adversity, and
it builds the relationships amongst the guys. And I remember
saying to Dev at the end of that season, I
(35:06):
told you, losing sucks, but it's not that bad because
as we went through that season and he didn't make
the playoffs, he was going through it and I was
happy to be here to be able to kind of
pick him up and pick the other guys up. Was like, Yo,
we just got to keep swinging, and uh, those three
years were awesome. So Jason, I want to give you
an opportunity to talk about that play too that Robert
mentioned at the ceremony, because he's only talked about at
(35:30):
but he's never talked about it here in the Patriots studio.
So I want to give you an opportunity of what
you saw, what you remember, um, you know standing, you know,
being in the in the press box one hundred miles up.
It just Brandon Cooks all by himself. Yeah, So it
was a beautiful Sunday evening, not that that just to
(35:51):
lead up to that game, and Dev kind of alluded
to it when he said in twenty eighteen he realized
the secondary could be used as a weapon and more
specific to the back room, had built a bond and
I think had reached a certain level. I remember our
Corners coach Josh Boyer after the bye week, we were
a meeting and he said, we went through a self
Scott and we realized one of the strengths of our
defense is we can cover anybody on the field. He says,
(36:13):
I'm just letting you guys know, stretch, get your hamstrings ready,
whatever you need to do. But we're playing man to
man for the rest of the season, press and we're
gonna cover everybody. And it was like okay. So from
that point on, all the way up until the AFC
Championship game, myself, Stefan Gilmore, JC Jackson, Jonathan Jones, we
played man to man against everybody, and we all four
(36:35):
of us played and whatever form or fashion had happened.
And we get to that week of that Super Bowl,
and I remember before that game, Josh Reynolds, Brandon Cooks,
Robert Woods, all of them talked about if they play man,
if they played the way they've been playing, like, we're
gonna get at them. And they had no reason not
to think we were gonna play man. And when you talk.
(36:56):
They definitely thought we were gonna play man, he's still
I mean the next year he figured it out when
we went to LA But that's good a story for
another day. So in that game and that play, we're
playing Cover four, and anybody that's watched kind of the
miked up portion of it, that play happened earlier in
the game where Brandon Cooks runs a post on the
front side and we'd drop them and I think, no,
(37:19):
Gilmore runs with him, but I don't drop off to
help him. And Gilmore is looking at that play like
there's a lot of space back here for Cooks to
run away from him. Man, we're playing Cover four and
there's a post and over from the other side, and
when we get on the sideline. Something that had become
a really good habit for us is obviously the coaches
would go over to the lou Blue Microsoft service that
everybody has seen Tom Slam before, Bill Slam before. We'd
(37:42):
sit down and we'd go over those things, and as players,
we didn't get it, and we talk about it, and
Dev's holding the surface on the sideline and he's like
Jay Jay and he shows the play. They're gonna come
back to this play. You have to make sure you
drop off and you come back. And I'm like, I know,
I know, I saw the play. I talked to stuff
after I get it, but that was a communication necessary.
Everybody talks about halftime adjustments. A lot of those adjustments
(38:05):
go on on the side right after the play, series
by series, and we make that adjustment and then the
play comes up and Dev always says it, I'm probably
two steps late in my recognition to be able to
get there and on the front side between Dev Gilmore
and I think Killy dropped it. Killy dropped the route.
(38:25):
The rule that we said after that game is we
never say who was supposed to So Brandon Cooks is
wide open and I recognize it, probably two seconds too later,
and probably two seconds earlier. He probably doesn't throw the ball,
or maybe I do intercept it, but who knows. But
either way, Um was able to get back there and
make that play, and that was special for me to
(38:46):
make that play. Had another pass break up. Man, it
was so important to me to play good in that
game because it took ten years just to get to
the playoffs. So being able to get to a super Bowl,
like I firmly believe when I got in that game,
like this is the only super Bowl I'm playing, right,
There's not gonna be another. I can remember coming home
and obviously here in New England, Titletown Boss, and everybody
(39:09):
be like we gotta get seven, but like seven, Hell no,
I'm built with one. I don't know. I don't need
a second championship. So it was, it was it was
so important to me to play well in that game.
So to have a play that everybody still talks about
or it gets mentioned and very proud of. And I've
gotten a chance to be around Cooks quite a bit.
And uh, what's the quote like with Kobe Bryant. I
(39:29):
hate it had to be Cooks because he seems like
a really good guy, But I hate it had to
be be Cooks because he's loved and every single building
that he's ever been. Interesting. We're talking with Jason and
Devin mccordy, and as we kind of wrap things up
here a little bit is we just we're listening to
Jason Jason's the TV Star and again talking about how
competitive you are. You probably don't have anything signed yet,
(39:49):
but my guess is there's a line outside the door.
I hope. So I've been on a couple of interviews,
so you've had some auditions. Haven I'm waiting for them
to slide that offer sheet across the table, like how
does that look to you? But now it's been a
lot of fun, I think, and I think that's what
kind of got led me to even retirement, to being
able to do some of those things during the bye
weekend and after the season of like actually enjoying it
(40:13):
like that. Like I talked about earlier, I didn't used
to enjoy watching football because I would watch football and
get angry about maybe I missed the play or us
not playing in the playoffs, but doing that and you're
now you got segments that you're talking about, so you
got to watch the film. You're breaking it down again.
I was enjoying just the game of football at its core.
(40:36):
Didn't matter that I was watching Buffalo and Cincinnati were
about to play like that didn't matter that, you know,
we should have beat both We had a chance to
beat both of them. At the end of the year,
I kind of had that out of my mind and
I started talking about the strengths and what we talked
about playing them, and I was like, uh, I kind
of like this, like this is fun. I do this
during the season. This is how I break down the
(40:58):
game and look at the game. So to talk about
it and then talk about it with guys like Kurt
Warner a couple of times, Michael Irvin, coach KAO or
like sitting in a CBS production meeting and talking to
coach KAO or about fire zones and how to cover
it in how he talked to Bill about it. I'm like,
so I got coach about Bill Belichick and I'm sitting
(41:18):
here with Bill Kauer and We're talking about fire three defense.
Like I was like, when would that ever happen? And
that's when I knew. I was like, I think I'll
enjoy doing this and I might be able to get
paid for it, exactly right. And so Jason, I'm sure
you'd been able to help him a little bit. You know,
like you, what's your brother's lifestyle doing it like he's
on early in the morning. You've done drivetime morning radio
(41:39):
and being on with guys at six o'clock in the morning,
and so you know how hard that could be. It
might not all be just it's not all glitz and
glamor exactly yeah, but do you get enough of advice
baby from Jason where he can give you some Hey,
don't do this because this stinks, but you know if
you can do that, And do you have a preference
Devin studio? Would you ever want to do games? Anybody
(42:00):
approached you about you know, doing color or do you
like being in the studio? Hello, It's not just advice
I give him. I gave him. I gave him a
week audition on the show too. I booked him so
he didn't get me paid. It's easy to book somebody
for free. As I also had a decision over my head,
so you know, they were like, all right, if he comes,
(42:21):
maybe he'll decide if he's gonna retire or not. That
seems to be pretty good news for seven to ten
A go up on the show. It helps, But I
would say, obviously the advice, and so far I've done
the studio analyst stuff the most. So if you're actually
what I'm comfortable it would be that, um what I'd
be willing to do everything like a college studio analysts, uh,
at games, like anything, because I want to just try
(42:43):
it all. But the biggest thing that I got from
him was his joy this past season. Um, there were
times will we jump on FaceTime and we would talk
about a team in their offense because he was gonna
call a game on the radio, and he was like,
what do you what do you see when you watch
this team play? Or what did y'all? What did Bill
talk about when y'all played against the Jets? For their
(43:04):
defense and what their defense does well, So little things
like that. When I would talk to him, I'll be like, man,
he's really enjoying this. And then we have a group
chat with kV Vanoy and durn Harman and Dude was
always like that well thought out guy and he was like, yeah,
you miss it though, and he'd be like, dude, I'm
not lying you. I'm having so much fun. He's like, like,
(43:27):
he said, I go to the games for radio. He said,
I walk on the field, I'm dapping guys up, I'm
talking to guys. He said. I went to Germany and
London with the show. He said, like, I'm just having fun.
I didn't know I would have this much fun. So
just seeing that side for him of I think for
all of us as players, the scariest thing is like
what do I do after football? Like everything sounds good.
(43:48):
Everybody's like being entrepreneur, start a business, go on TV,
do this, to be a stay at home dad. But
it's like, what is gonna fulfill me? What is gonna
help me have a new purpose at life? Getting to
see just his joy, flat out joy daily, um, and
that in me everything was perfect what he was doing.
But the fact that he had joy, I was like,
(44:08):
all right, there, there's hope out there for me. You're
a Jersey guy, so I imagine Jersey. I would think
Jersey is gonna be ultimately where the mccardies are going
to reside at some point in time. Please tell the
fans that this is gonna be your second home. I mean,
I think the people in New England feel like you're
one of us, you know. And um, it's gonna be
really different for people around here, not seeing number thirty
(44:31):
two on the field and not it just you were
You're always there. Yeah, we're gonna keep always there. We're
gonna keep our house in Foxborough, New England, is a
huge part of who I am. Um. Obviously I grew
up in New York and lived in New Jersey. Um,
but since I was twenty three years old, like I've
(44:52):
been a Massachusetts resident. You know, I'm now thirty five,
Nash Like I got I got married while I was
living here. I had all three of my kids, and
then we came back up here. So everything I've kind
of done as an adult and a parent, it was here,
and it's what my kids knows, what I know. UM,
So this will always be a home for me. Um.
(45:13):
I'm gonna stay connected to all the things I do.
Right now, I'm on the board at BMC. UM I'm
looking I'm probably planning on joining two more boards that
are based up here. UM. So obviously be here for
all the Patriot stuff and things like that, but I
also will have the same off the field things, um,
continuing our mccordy Bowl and the tackle sickle cell stuff
(45:34):
that we do. UM. That's why it's important we stay
on TV so we have like people has a reason
to steal come to the event. Yeah, and I'll be
able to still like invite those guys and offer them
like some decent stuff for coming to our events. So
I'm excited. You know, Massachusetts will always be a home
for me. Devin mccordy. Uh Robert Kraft said it today,
(45:54):
and he said it best. He's a real true Patriot.
You represented everything that this organization teams should be important,
and you did it better than anybody else. Thank you,
guys for being here today. Congratulations on an unbelievable career.
Appreciate it. Thanks guys, Thank you. Thank you for downloading
this podcast. Subscribe on Apple, Google Play, and everywhere else
you listen. Like the show, Please rate and review us.
(46:17):
Listener comments and ratings help keep us high on the
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to checkpatriots dot com for more news and more podcasts.
It's time for another episode of Patch from the Past
podcast Matt Smith with Paul Prillo and I think we just, Paul,
I think we just sort of slipped this one under
the wire. Let right. Absolutely, he's barely cold. As far
as from the past, I was like, dang, from the
past already, some of them a more recent past, but
two's always better than one. Devin and Jason mccordia are
(00:29):
joining with us, joining us. Thank you guys for being here.
Really appreciate it, no problem. And as we're taping this today,
we are coming almost literally after Devon's retirement ceremony. How
was it? That was awesome? Um? And I know, like
Stacy text me about doing it, and I told Stacey,
I was like, yeah, man, if if it'll help you,
I'll do it. Um. But it was for me it
(00:51):
was awesome because so many people played a major part
in my career. And I think oftentimes for players, like
we always get honored for certain things. But I think
being able to do that press conference got me to
highlight some people who meant a lot to to my career.
Obviously you know building mister Kraft, but also my mom,
my wife, um, other people in this building. Like Donna
(01:13):
Robin and Miss Nancy who don't you know they never
really get recognized for how much they do for us
as player. So, um, I just love being able to
do that. You didn't say your twin brother. I didn't mean,
I didn't mention you, you know, but um, he may
have been the MVP of that ceremony. Talk about it.
Uncle Jason was on it. Talk Oh yeah, I mean
uncle Jason was. I would tell, but I would tell
(01:36):
anybody like he's doing a good job on TV, but
if they want to hire him to be a nanny,
he'd be off incredible the more you can do. My
wife is very proud of the man that she has
molded me into, so I know if she's listening, she's smiling.
Just let everybody know that's three children were there, and
I think it was the youngest one, right, Yeah, Chase,
you were doing some chasing. He was active exactly, and
(01:58):
Jason was was tasked with that duty. But just absolutely
adorable kids. Thank you, ridiculously adorable Jason. How important was
it for you to be here for this very important
I've been up since about four thirty in the morning.
Uh did the show this morning? Good Morning Football? On
NFL Network. There goes my shameless plug. And then after that,
(02:20):
me and my my middle child, my son Kaden. He
took off a day of school and he got to
come and hang out at the studio and then we
jumped in the car and headed up here for me
And to be honest, I've never been to a retirement ceremony.
I've been on four different teams, and you typically throughout
my career, you don't have guys that play on one
team for this long and mean, uh this much to
(02:41):
one organization. So I didn't really know what I was
walking into and being able to sit there in the
front row and watch highlights from the very start of
Death's career, him there talking about he can't pronounce the
name of the tight end, and I don't. I don't
remember that I came. That's a pretty good line. That
(03:02):
was when I was like, did I not know Gronkowski?
But I'm like, after I got drafted out, I wasn't
paying attention. I was hyped. I just remember some big
tight end got drafted, So I'm not even gonna try
to say his last name. And then just hearing the
picture perfect answers he had, like I just want to
come in. I just want to help the team. And
if you interview him now, he says none of those things.
(03:23):
It is these quirky responses. He's trying to make you laugh.
So just seeing his maturation throughout the process and being
able to sit there and hear mister Kraft and hear
Bill speak about him and talk about visiting him at
Rutgers and just the lens that everybody in this organization
sees him through. It was awesome obviously to be a
part of her for three years and witness it up close,
(03:44):
and that thing now on this given day where you
don't always give a chance to highlight people and give
him their flowers, hearing everybody speak about Dev, to see
his kids go up there, his wife, my mom, it
was it was really special. I know my older brother
I was back at home. He was texting because he
was watching it. And those are the people kind of
my mom and my older brother throughout our entire lives
(04:04):
that have pushed us and Dev telling that story about
Boston College. He still has a chip on his shoulder
about something. He's like every other NFL player, you find
some type of doubt to motivate you and push you saw.
I was an honor to be able to be here
and witness it. We're gonna get to be seen a second.
But I just one more fall upon the retirement. You
were probably at Sweet Feats back in August or whenever
(04:26):
that was Kafeezy, you remember that one. I remember light
So you're like city, They're going, oh, yeah, well this
is great on that White, Kevin Fox. These are all
great Patriots, James White, woll And you sort of said
it today like it seemed like you were blown it,
like their coaching staffs there, all these players who were
working out and everything like that. That's how important you
(04:46):
were to them. Yeah, that's got to blow you away.
It is crazy because, like James White, should just happened
before the season. You know. But when I was younger
and I went to I think the first one I
went to was k fault Um, and I spoken today
about what what uh Fezi meant to me and how
he helped me when I was young. But when I
(05:07):
went to his, I was like, yeah, a lot of
people like I know what he did for me. He's
done that for a long time. Fourteen years. When I
went to Vince's, same thing Ninko, same thing. Um, you
just don't. You don't put yourself in that place because,
for one, that means it's the end. So when you're playing,
you don't. You don't like to think about the end
like that. Um. But for as many guys that come,
(05:28):
like we're at the end of towards the end of March,
like there's no guys really here, and UM, I think
for them just to take the opportunity to come here
and just listen to me one more time, um, after
they had to listen to me for you know, so long. Uh,
it's been an honor. And I think mostly I'll miss that.
I'll miss the everyday interaction like I obviously keep in
(05:48):
touch with guys, but that every day without any effort,
getting an opportunity to talk, laugh and joke. Um, I
won't have that anymore. And that's what I missed between
the players and the coaches, of just being able to
do that throughout my career. So you've been obviously such
a big part of this community and this organization for
so long. Matt and I feel like we know a
lot of the stuff. We both left that that that
(06:11):
ceremony today and the first thing we talked about. Was
that story that you guys just touched on with with
Boston College And I didn't know any of that stuff
that was that public? Should I find that really interesting?
I just from from the perspective of the two guys
that were involved, I'd like you to tell that story
a little bit because I don't think that's common knowledge.
And it was really really interesting that the school one
(06:34):
school would come at one of you. I just thought
that was really fascinating. Like, like Paul and I Areston
were walking out of it, wouldn't you just because you're
a nice person, go okay, the other twin can't play,
but you know what will play? Kate him just to
make him feel good that we're here and give him
five minutes. But we really want the other believe that.
That's why that was stuck. So honestly, when we came
(06:55):
out New Hampshire offered both of us. Kent Stay offered him,
offer me, um BC offered him, wouldn't offer me, and
Rutgers offered him first um before they offered me, but
Rutgers decided to invite me on the official visit. When
they came to our house, they sat with both of us,
UM So for me, it was the fact that Um,
(07:16):
Tom O'Brien and BC came. I love how you keep
saying his name too, because I don't so, And I'll
tell you why. It's not well known. When Tom O'Brien
came and they spoke to him, UM, I wasn't like allowed,
Like obviously I could have went, but it was kind
of like, well, we don't really need you in this meeting. UM.
And for me, when Rutgers came and coach Rizzi and
(07:39):
Coachiano came, they had us both in there, and whether
they really wanted me at that moment, I don't think
so because they didn't offer me at that moment, but
they still allowed me to be a part of the
process of the recruiting of talking to me UM, And
I thought like that was like common sense, Like I'm
a seventeen year old kid, Like there's no reason to
try to make me feel worse about not getting a scholarship. Um.
(08:03):
The BC stuck with me for that reason, like you
live in a small house, like I'm sitting on a
basically on the other end of that wall, not hearing it.
But why I never like bashed them with talking about it,
because like I didn't think it would have been fair
for like me, the position I had as a Patriot
to talk about the school and whoever the coach would
have been, like right now, coach Halfley's there, and I
(08:23):
like coach Halfley. I like, you know, I like their staff.
I've been there. Um. So I never wanted to like
make it seem like I didn't like them and put
negative press because all my hard feelings and I laughing
joke now I say hard feelings towards time over, like
I get it, you're recruiting guys, You're gonna miss on guys. Um.
But it all came full circle his senior year. My reshhurt.
(08:44):
Junior year, we played NC State in the bowl game,
coach by Tim O'Brien, who left Boston College shortly after
we've visited. I get the interception that seals the game.
I threw my wolf pack up, started celebrating because other
a former Patriot not a long time but taekwon. Underwood
also had a best friend, Rich Gannelle, who committed and
(09:06):
played at BC. They were high school teammates, both stars
of a team BC also wouldn't offer him, and he
blocked a punt that game. Or picked up a block punt,
So we enjoyed that moment for us kind of like
you were wrong. So, I mean we were talking about this, Devin.
Everybody needs a little something to score them on. Not
(09:26):
everybody's a five star recruit. Not everybody is you know,
parade All American or whatever, And you might need something
to motivate you. The fact that this guy's in your
house and he's not choosing to speak with you as
an eighteen year old kid. You can take that with
you to your twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, and
that fire keeps burning. Yeah, I mean, and then then
(09:47):
you get drafted to the Patriots. So now it's like, man,
the school that's right in the backyard, Like how cool
would have been? Because I think there is a chance
that we both got offered by BC, that you know,
if we came on a visit to together instead of
just him coming on his visit, there's a chance that
we might have liked. And I remember thinking that when
I got drafted, like Dan, i'd probably been pretty cool.
(10:07):
Like if I would have went to BC and got
drafted as like a first round or to the New
England Patriots, like that would have been because I think
about all the kids now that come out of BC,
and oh, so many articles get written like, man, the
Patriots has signed him, or the patriot should draft him
from BC. But I mean, again, it's a part of
the story that at the time I was really angry about,
but it's a part of like the reason I'm here
(10:29):
today as well. So I got to enjoyed. And I
think on top of that, it doesn't just stop with BC.
Like Dev had a chip on his shoulder even when
it came to Rutgers, and I remember, like he said,
I got offered first, and then he got offered when
one of our official visit and we had a high
school teammate that was already at Rutgers, Ron Girault, who
coach Shanno went to and was like, Hey, what's the
difference between these two, because we've already offered Jason and
(10:52):
we're still recruiting Death. He was like, they're the same player.
Devon just got hurt their senior year, so Jason seems
like he had a better year that year, and that's
when Rutgers finally decided to offer dev So even once
Dev got drafted, he still had like this chip on
his shoulder life. Wow. I always remind you offered me
just to get my brother, and I got here and
(11:14):
I had to prove to you guys that I was
just as good. So, um, like I said, he's he's
always had that chip and he plays with it. And
I think kind of credit Tom O'Brien because this guys
played thirteen years at an extremely high level. Yeah, I
mean that was one of the things that we were
talking about. I was like, I mean, they're they're twins.
They both played for a long time in the National
Football even had a lot of success. How different could
(11:35):
they have been as seventeen eighteen year old players? And
that makes sense that you got you got banged up
because you had a red shirt, and Jason you didn't.
That's why you would draft it first, right, you played
the year before, right. Yeah, if only if only Robert
Craft and Bill Belichick would have drafted maybe I would
have had I think about it. But I mean, you know,
and I don't. I'm gonna guess you don't harbord any
(11:56):
kind of villa, not at all, No, I know, but
like it's not unusual you're human to think about that, right, Yeah,
for sure? And I think That's the beauty about each
and every guy that has a career or whatever your
journey is, because it's unique to just you. And I
think my journey helped Dev along the way because my
rookie year in the league I go to the Tennessee
(12:17):
Titans under Jeff Fisher and he gets drafted a year
later under Bill Belichick and the Patriots, and the way
they ran their two organizations couldn't be any more different.
So Dev senior year, the entire time, I'm telling them
this is what the NFL is like, this is how
we do things, this, that and the third and then
the next year he's like, you lie to me. The
NFL there's nothing like what you just describe. And once
(12:39):
he got here, I was like, I definitely get it.
And obviously for our path to be able to come
together nine years later we both when I got a
chance to come to New England, I think it made
it that much better that my journey kind of went
around about way to lead us back to each other.
So Dev, I'll tie the knot on the time, O'Brien.
Thing for you. I had a chance, you know, from
my high school, every high school here in Massachusetts, I
(13:00):
spoke yet our varsity club banquet as as you know,
one of the award guys for alumni and Tom O'Brien
was one of the speakers that night too, And it's
kind of a low key, you know, it's not an
overly formal events of this. Sometimes you're talking and people
are still eating and the clanking of the glasses, like
you don't have everybody's attention. Tom O'Brien didn't like that.
(13:23):
Tom O'Brian was very upset. He's like finger pointing people
and telling people to stop talking as he's talking. I
was like, I was like, Wow, what a hardassy. What
are we doing here? So that's like tision Tom O'Brien,
He's not I don't think you've spoke them back at
every either. I've always had a lot of every high
school players over the years, so that you haven't had
a long to really think about it because you just
(13:44):
made this decision. Um, if you look back at the
thirteen years and I'm going to put the pressure on you,
is there you know the highlight of your career is
it the eighteen season and how that season ended, being
able to play with your brother and to cap it
off with the Super Bowl Championshi, Yeah, no do I
I had to pick one season, Um, it would be
that season. Um. Not only because we won another championship
(14:07):
and it was with him, but it was the way
that season was, like him at the end of training camp,
everyone wondering if he's gonna get cut or make the team. Um.
And then you know, we beat Houston Week one, we
go and get absolutely destroyed by Jacksonville on the road
in Jacksonville, then go on the road to Detroit Sunday
night football, get destroyed again, win some games, Miami miracle. Um.
(14:30):
Then you know, I think, yeah, we kind of reset
after the Miami miracles, like we need to go win
this game in Pittsburgh. We go down to Pittsburgh and
lose again, play a good game and lose to win
to win the division that week, and then it kind
of turned into like, oh damn, Like we just lost
two games in December, like that's not what we do here.
(14:51):
Like and I still vividly remember Bill coming in and
we had the Jets and Bills Bills, I don't remember
which order, but those two and he comes in, he
we got nothing but playoff games left. If we do
what we're supposed to do. Everything will work out, and
sure enough we go win the two games, Houston loses,
we end up with a buy in the first round
of two seed, and then you know, we go to
(15:13):
Kansas City. We beat Kansas City on the road first
time I think since it was oh four, maybe that
the team had won on the road in the AFC
Championship Game. And then we go and have a Super
Bowl that was total opposite of the year before. We
couldn't stop it. We couldn't stop Philly at all as
a defense the year before, So to go have that performance,
(15:34):
I always look at that year was like the most
up and downs. But I was an older player. I
was like even more of a veteran then because there
were no other guys that count on, Like there were
no Vincent and Gerard, Like, I didn't have those guys
on defense. So to be able to have that team
and you know, myself high being like those guys that
(15:56):
were here for a long period of time leading that
group was a lot of fun. Man. And then this
guy made the story just so much better because his
energy and everyone wanted to give him so much credit
of like, man, you deserve this. You're finally and how
he just kept telling people like, why do I deserve
this more than anybody else? Like, yeah, I worked hard,
but like there's a ton of guys in the NFL
(16:17):
that worked hard. So I thought we had a great
mix of guys like Damn Danny Shelton, they went in
sixteen the year before, like they were back. They want
our team about there playing a super Bowl game after
going owen sixteen. So I just thought we had so
many cool storylines from individuals, but ultimately, like that team
to me was just a great story. I can only
(16:38):
imagine what your mom thinks when she sees the video
at the end of the Kansas City game, because when
I look at it, even we all stop. I mean
I still get almost choked up about it when I
see it, like because it's surreal and here's two kids
who probably did that in your backyard or on the
playground at school and everything, and it happened. And I
(16:58):
know you got to close the deal because it would
have shocked yea if we do right, But how amazing
was that moment? Oh, it was awesome and you said
we did it. Growing up, I can remember getting ready
for Sunday Pop Warner games and me and Dev would
go outside on the pavement and start throwing the ball
and we'd go over all of our plays that we
(17:20):
were going to run later on in the game, just
to prepare ourselves. And now from that moment waking up
Sunday morning to now fast forwarding years later, now we're
waking up on a Sunday morning and we're walking into
a stadium getting ready to play in the Super Bowl.
That he's done. This was his fifth time being in
this game. And I think the best moment wasn't on
the field after the game. It was in the locker
(17:41):
room as we're going and we're passing around then FC
Championship trophy and now we're talking about going to the game.
And for me, it was so surreal. And I said
it when I was holding the trophy. This is the
first time I get to go to the game on
my own accord and I'm not hitting Dev up to
figure out the logistics and taking care of the family,
but I'm actually getting invited to the game. So for me,
(18:04):
it was truly special. Dev knows the Super Bowl in Houston.
I never know the numbers the Super Bowl in Houston.
I was, yeah, they're all the same to me, other
than fifty three try having to write about it. Yeah,
I don't remember ever. I can only imagine the hardship
these guys go through having to write about Super Bowl.
That's tough life. So it was just it was remarkable
(18:29):
and I think to be able to go through it
all and obviously have him alongside me. But I just
remember being in that locker room like I'm finally getting
a chance to go and as I was saying, the
Super Bowl in Houston, I remember leading up to when
they won the AFC Championship game, I remember saying to
my wife, h I'm not going to the super Bowl
this year. It was just like at that point, it
wasn't jealousy, but there was some envy within it of
(18:51):
we're both in the same sport each and every year.
I work my ass off all off season, to the
point where me and Dev would be training sometimes and
he'd be like too, like there's no need to do this,
Like this isn't this isn't the reason you're not getting there.
You're just killing yourself and just trying so hard. Because
I was on the field in Arizona when he won
that game and I got a chance to witness it
(19:13):
as his twin brother, and it was awesome, and I
was just like, I want to take this back to
Tennessee and I want to get to this game. I
remember when he made it to the Super Bow. I
was like, I'm not I'm not going to the game.
Like was you busting your balls or was he being
cherish about this? No, he was as far as working
why are you working so hard it you're not gonna happen. Yeah.
And I don't say that from the standpoint because I mean,
anybody that's been around us guy, he's one of the
hardest working guys in this sport. And he was saying
(19:36):
it to me of just like there's a certain level
where it's like are you working harder or working smart?
It was just like this isn't necessary to continue to
improve and get better. So I remember then it was
probably like the Monday of the Super Bowl and I
said to my wife, I was like, ah, I gotta go.
And we had just had a son, and I end
up taking my daughter with me, who was I think
three at the time, and flying out to Houston. As
(19:58):
much as I kind of was going through stuff on
my own head of wanting to be in that game,
I was like, I can't miss this, Like this is
this is too important. And I had a blast down
at the game, and as always, I hosted the family,
taking them out to eat, handling tickets and all of
those other things so DEVI could focus on the game.
So it was a long journey and a long process.
So to finally get to that Super Bowl twenty eighteen,
(20:20):
it was just it was so surreal awesome. The Kansas
City game to me, you know, just we don't necessarily
talk a lot about the memories of the actual games
because everybody knows the highlights, but that game to me
stood out. I mean, I've been here over twenty years.
That to me still is my favorite game just to
have watched. Yeah, just the amount of tension in that
(20:42):
second half that you guys were playing through on both
sides of the ball. You shut them down completely for
one half and now we're holding on for delighting in
the second half. Three game earlier in the season, right
right right. I remember sitting on the bench at the
end of that game and we end up winning forty
forty three. Ste kicks the kick and we win the game,
and we're sitting there as a defense and durn Harmon,
(21:05):
Devin mccordy, Patrick Chong, Gilmore, Jon Jones there sitting on
the bench and everybody has like this look on their
face because we just gave up forty points. I'm like,
what the hell is wrong with y'all? We just won
the game. I don't care if we gave up sixty.
You know how many of these games I've been a
part of where like the offense gets the ball and
you're just like, we have no shot. We actually went
down and won the game, and I remember that we
(21:26):
laughed about that moment after because like he kind of
started off with me, Danny Shelton, Josh Gordon, we were
all on that team that didn't win a game the
year before, And not only that, I was on the
Titans team that was two and fourteen, that was three
and thirteen. So my perspective on would admitt to win
a game and how hard it was was totally different
to a lot of the guys that have been around here.
So you take that game and then you fast forward
(21:47):
to the playoff game and Bill kind of hit on
all the exits and oals of probably were able to
win that game. And I think that's what was cool
because I think in twenty eighteen, our secondary became a
weapon for us from the standpoint of we didn't need
a lot of direct rules from the coaching staff on
how we want to do things, Like he said, like
stopping Tyreek Hill turned into me and John Jones talking
(22:10):
about where he lined up, how I thought he should play,
how he thought, and like we literally would watch film
and be like, oh, I think you should be here.
They us do this all right, if they bring Hardman
and they put them both here, we're gonna do this.
And that continue from twenty eighteen nineteen, Like anytime we
played this team, we would have like these rules and
things we would do that. If you ask the coaching staff,
(22:31):
they'd be like, yeah, I think they're playing like this,
because but it was really just our unit that was
dictating and doing things like that. So that was also
a cool moment because we had grown as a group.
You know, Jay Jones got here in sixteen, Steph in seventeen, myself,
Do and Chung had been here playing together since all
(22:52):
of us playing a lot since twenty fourteen, So adding
him in eighteen and I felt like because he was
my twin brother, like it didn't feel like a new guy.
And an e row was here. We had a group
that had now had like two or three years playing together.
Added a young guy like J. C. Jackson was just
a straight out playmaker. We were able to do things
(23:12):
in that secondary That for me was the first time
that wasn't like mandated by Bill. It was kind of
like if you come to the sideline and something looks
wrong you but I have a good reason why you
did it. And he said I remember him saying to me, like,
I want you to do with your things best because
nine out of ten times I'm gonna agree with what
you want to do, so I'd rather just go do
it on the field. And like since then it was
(23:36):
just like, all right, we have some ownership of how
we want to do certain things. Let's just go do it.
So that's interesting perspective right there, because I think the fan,
the neo, fight the outsider. I look at fourteen, okay,
and so I get seduced maybe by vas Okay, Browner, Okay,
that was good that you guys are younger and everything
like that, But maybe you didn't have the experience in fourteen.
(23:58):
Maybe you guys are just going off of tremendous ability,
great numbers. Chandler was on that team, so you know
have the pass rush to go with it a little
bit as well. But now you've got the experience that
you gained from all those different battles that you went
through so that you can do the things which more
us most is like I know what we're doing here,
like Tom says all the time, I know the answer
(24:20):
to the test before you give it to me. So
is that maybe the difference between that fourteen secondary and
the eighteen So definitely for me, now that fourteen secondary
was good like you said me Chung Duran, but from
a corner depth wise, like Malcolm Butler was our sixth
corner right, Like we had Alfonso Dinner, Kyle Arranton, Logan,
Ryan Reeves Brown, like we had so many good players.
(24:43):
But that was like that was year five for me.
So yeah, I was like I was understanding how to
play the game. I was playing probably some of my
better football in my career. But when you talk about
being a leader and like running things from a team standpoint,
Mayo and Vince did that, Like I controlled where we
need to line up in the secondary, what we needed
to do, from what coach said the game plan was
(25:05):
I was gonna make sure we got to execute the
game plan. The difference in eighteen was this is the
game plan, but this is how we're gonna win the game. Yeah,
stick to the game plan, but also if you need
to change some things and do things differently, go, like,
don't worry about what any coach is gonna say. It
was like, we trust you just as much as we
trust a coach telling you to do something. So if
(25:26):
you see it, go do it. And in fourteen I
didn't have that kind of confidence yet um to do that.
And you know, I think that's what made eighteen special
for me. Yeah, you would ownership at and that's the difference. Yeah,
Like in fourteen it was like we were all good,
Like those guys came here because they were good, um,
And I saw it as that, like, man, I just
(25:47):
want those guys that feel welcome, whereas an eighteen I
felt more like, all right, those guys all ready to go,
but like I gotta be the captain of this. I
gotta help these guys understand how we want to play.
And it wasn't a like I'm a top of the
mountain better than you, but it was like, hey, if
I if I can lead this, and then everybody else
will fill in and due their roles. Like no one
(26:08):
challenged me more in our room, in our secondary room
than him. And it wasn't like we're about to break
out and fist fight. It was like, no, I'll tell
you why I'm right, and he's like, I'll tell you
why you're wrong. And we go back and forth and
then we go in the locker room and laugh about
it because we challenged each other that way. And I
think that's what made that team so special because we
were all a lot of us were around the same age,
and then we had a couple of young guys like
(26:30):
it was just a great mesh of guys um that
I thought came together to build something that wasn't establishing
and beginning like fourteen, when those guys came, it was
like you better, you better win the Super Bowl, Like
you just put two Pro Bowl players from another team
on your team, Rievas and Browner, Like you need to
go win. So it was a little different, but it was.
(26:51):
I mean, it was still so much fun. That's my
second it was it was my first ever win UM,
so that was definitely special too. When did you recognize
a moment like you talked about when you came in
guys like Kevin Falk and advancing those guys, and you
mentioned Vincent Gerrard sort of ran that too. Did you
recognize the moment that you turned into that guy? Did
(27:12):
you sort of understand it? You know, because they were
going in that transition, they were gone. And I keep
saying that, like everyone talks about the future of this
team from a leadership standpoint, and I've told I've told
Doug that, I've told bit not as much because Ben
already kind of does that, but I've told some of
the younger players. I was like, you're gonna look around
and the guys that you saw doing things will be gone.
(27:35):
So that means the only other person that can do
what is you, Or you let somebody that doesn't understand
or see what you've you've seen and how it's supposed
to be done, you let them take over. I said,
But then you have to think about do you want
to live in a world where because I don't want
to do what I let somebody's doing, I let them
do it wrong. So for me, twenty fifteen to twenty
(27:57):
sixteen really is like the mesh of some newer guys.
But it was like me and Hi. Hi had been
here since two and twelve, Me since twenty ten. I
thought had to be more vocal, and Hi had to
take a little time to fall into his Like if
you ever get to know Hi, he like rebels against
everything that he knows. He is like he never wanted
(28:17):
to be a captain, even though he was like the
ultimate captain, got voted all the time. Um but I
thought we all kind of looked up and everyone filled
a role like Chung was never super vocal, U, but
Chung was a leader in his way of being tough,
being tough and filling every role along the defense, safety, linebacker,
corner like he did everything. Um So I always look back,
(28:40):
you know, between myself, Chung and and Hi of really
deciding like, all right, we gotta be the next wave
of leaders of this group. I can remember Mayo saying
it where he was coming back in the building and
he said he'd come back and he was just like,
who the hell is this mcquarity, Like dev never spoke
as much when I was on the team, and I
think that speaks what he's saying. You didn't have to
(29:01):
because there was a guy doing that. I think now
he's moving on, guys will definitely speak up more because
anybody that's played with Dev he's wanted the allowest people
in the building. Never shuts up, so some are But
we like that, right, He's right, we do, and so
do the fans, And so the fans now see a
side of Devin mccordy. He's the guy in the huddle
(29:21):
every single week. He's very vocal, hits something very important
and generally pretty poignant to say at that point in time.
But that can be overrated and I think bill Ian
you sort of mentioned that a little bit today. You know,
world's filled with big mouse you know, it's a kind
of leadership that might get you. We don't know what
you're doing behind the scenes. It's picking a guy up,
(29:42):
like you're saying something's going wrong with their family, you know,
or maybe he's got, you know, something in their personal life.
That's the kind of leadership. Those are the guys that
you probably gravitate to, like this guy's got my back
and I don't need to hear all the you know,
rab Rossiskumba nice, get me wrong and love this stuff.
But it's the other stuff that really really shows you
(30:04):
who the real leaders are. Is that right? Just as
an example, throughout my entire career, I gave the same
pregame speech that Dev did every single game, whether I
was in Tennessee, whether I was in Cleveland, did it
once I left here in New England, and I did
it in Miami as well. And I would argue that
I gave a better pregame speech every single Sunday than
Devin mccordy. But we didn't win games. No one cares
(30:27):
what you're saying when you don't win games. And I
could be a great leader, give a great pregame speech,
team could just not be as talented as a team
across from us, and we don't win the game, and
no one is gonna say, like, wow, he's a great leader.
Did you hear the pregame speech he made before the game.
But when you go out there and you hear the
words that Dev says before the Super Bowl fifty three
(30:47):
and he talks about iron and Shopper and iron and
picking up your brother, and then you go out there
and win the game. And then you have Coach Belichick
after the game and you ask him about this guy
that you perceive as a leader because what he's saying
before the game, and you hear Coach Belichick talk about
what he does during the course of the week, or
you hear a Steve Belichick talk about the fact that
he wears the green dot and he's controlling what the
(31:08):
defense here is from the coaching staff, or you hear
Robert Kraft talk about the work that he does in
the community for the past thirteen years of his career,
or you hear one of his teammates talk about, Hey,
in this moment in the game, we were feeling this,
or something happened like in the Super Bowl where we
don't get to a play. He yells over to me, Jada,
are going to come back to that play and make
sure you're ready for it. That's when it all comes
(31:28):
full circling. You're like, Wow, it's not the moment before
the game where he yells and he screams and the
veins popping out of his forehead. It's all the six
different touch points that everybody's saying about him that makes
him pat the Patriot, the ultimate team leader. And I
think with him, he just had the total package and
the next the next group of leaders on his young
team may come in different forms of fashion, and maybe
(31:50):
the vocal guy and then behind the scenes guy. I
don't know if you replace a devil mccordy with one
single leader. I can only imagine that you put your
mother through growing up because I barely know you. Guys.
Donn't see how competitive you are. Who's drinking water fastest,
who's good whatever? You guys are uber competitive with each other.
It's legit when you see what happens for him today,
(32:13):
that you were able to be a part of it,
you know, and all the bs aside about I'm better
than you, I'm gonna make more money than you and TV. No,
I'm gonna make more money than you and TV. How
proud of you were to be able to say, wow,
one team thirteen years, look at what all you accomplished,
and it must make you feel great as a brother. Yeah,
he doubled my salary in the NFL, so I have
to make more on TV. But it's so special it's
(32:38):
hard to put it into words. The fact that I
can walk in this building and shake hands with so
many people and laugh and joke. Buill doesn't make that
trade or go and get me. If Devin's not here.
I truly believe that I had a good career before
I got here. I'm on TV because it had three
years that I spent here in annoying the Patriots. Half
(33:00):
the time. When I'm out, if somebody recognizes me, they
think I played for the Patriots for ten plus years,
and they asked me how many rings did I win
while I was here, because they have no idea that
Dev was the one here for thirteen years and I
was just here as a pit stop along my career.
So when you talk about how proud I am, I'm
extremely proud to be able to not only watch Dev,
(33:22):
but to be a witness of a not only his
playing career, but his entire life. When I got here,
it was one thing to learn about who he was
in the building, in the way everybody perceived him. And
he's right because in the meeting rooms, no one felt
like they could say he was wrong about something. I
had no problem saying that. But beyond just the exit
and OLS. On Tuesdays, I would be waking up at
(33:42):
seven am on our off day because we'd be driving
into Boston to do something social justice related or something
community related that he was leading the charge on and
those were the things that get spoken about, but they
sometimes can't go unmentioned. And he was a catalyst behind
a lot of things done off the field as well.
So for me it was special to watch him up
(34:03):
there today during his retirement ceremony. But like you said,
to be in this building for three years, to witness
winning the Super Bowl our first year to my last
year here, his first time not making the playoffs, and
that spectrum and the scale of those things, and we
laughed about it that twenty twenty season because it was chaos. Obviously,
(34:24):
there was COVID, Tom had just left, Cam came in
and I remember the year we won the Super Bowl.
It was the most games he had lost in his season,
it was five games. It was the most I had
ever won. It was double digits for the first time
in my career. He did, he definitely did. And then
I won him a super Bowl that Craft mentioned, so
I got I gotta make sure I send that check
(34:45):
to Craft for that. And I remember laughing with him
at the end of that season because in New England
a lot of people don't realize it, but even throughout
losing seasons, there's moments of laughter. There's moments of joy.
You find the way to get through the adversity, and
it builds the relationships amongst the guys. And I remember
saying to Dev at the end of that season, I
(35:06):
told you, losing sucks, but it's not that bad because
as we went through that season and he didn't make
the playoffs, he was going through it and I was
happy to be here to be able to kind of
pick him up and pick the other guys up. Was like, Yo,
we just got to keep swinging, and uh, those three
years were awesome. So Jason, I want to give you
an opportunity to talk about that play too that Robert
mentioned at the ceremony, because he's only talked about at
(35:30):
but he's never talked about it here in the Patriots studio.
So I want to give you an opportunity of what
you saw, what you remember, um, you know standing, you know,
being in the in the press box one hundred miles up.
It just Brandon Cooks all by himself. Yeah, So it
was a beautiful Sunday evening, not that that just to
(35:51):
lead up to that game, and Dev kind of alluded
to it when he said in twenty eighteen he realized
the secondary could be used as a weapon and more
specific to the back room, had built a bond and
I think had reached a certain level. I remember our
Corners coach Josh Boyer after the bye week, we were
a meeting and he said, we went through a self
Scott and we realized one of the strengths of our
defense is we can cover anybody on the field. He says,
(36:13):
I'm just letting you guys know, stretch, get your hamstrings ready,
whatever you need to do. But we're playing man to
man for the rest of the season, press and we're
gonna cover everybody. And it was like okay. So from
that point on, all the way up until the AFC
Championship game, myself, Stefan Gilmore, JC Jackson, Jonathan Jones, we
played man to man against everybody, and we all four
(36:35):
of us played and whatever form or fashion had happened.
And we get to that week of that Super Bowl,
and I remember before that game, Josh Reynolds, Brandon Cooks,
Robert Woods, all of them talked about if they play man,
if they played the way they've been playing, like, we're
gonna get at them. And they had no reason not
to think we were gonna play man. And when you talk.
(36:56):
They definitely thought we were gonna play man, he's still
I mean the next year he figured it out when
we went to LA But that's good a story for
another day. So in that game and that play, we're
playing Cover four, and anybody that's watched kind of the
miked up portion of it, that play happened earlier in
the game where Brandon Cooks runs a post on the
front side and we'd drop them and I think, no,
(37:19):
Gilmore runs with him, but I don't drop off to
help him. And Gilmore is looking at that play like
there's a lot of space back here for Cooks to
run away from him. Man, we're playing Cover four and
there's a post and over from the other side, and
when we get on the sideline. Something that had become
a really good habit for us is obviously the coaches
would go over to the lou Blue Microsoft service that
everybody has seen Tom Slam before, Bill Slam before. We'd
(37:42):
sit down and we'd go over those things, and as players,
we didn't get it, and we talk about it, and
Dev's holding the surface on the sideline and he's like
Jay Jay and he shows the play. They're gonna come
back to this play. You have to make sure you
drop off and you come back. And I'm like, I know,
I know, I saw the play. I talked to stuff
after I get it, but that was a communication necessary.
Everybody talks about halftime adjustments. A lot of those adjustments
(38:05):
go on on the side right after the play, series
by series, and we make that adjustment and then the
play comes up and Dev always says it, I'm probably
two steps late in my recognition to be able to
get there and on the front side between Dev Gilmore
and I think Killy dropped it. Killy dropped the route.
(38:25):
The rule that we said after that game is we
never say who was supposed to So Brandon Cooks is
wide open and I recognize it, probably two seconds too later,
and probably two seconds earlier. He probably doesn't throw the ball,
or maybe I do intercept it, but who knows. But
either way, Um was able to get back there and
make that play, and that was special for me to
(38:46):
make that play. Had another pass break up. Man, it
was so important to me to play good in that
game because it took ten years just to get to
the playoffs. So being able to get to a super Bowl,
like I firmly believe when I got in that game,
like this is the only super Bowl I'm playing, right,
There's not gonna be another. I can remember coming home
and obviously here in New England, Titletown Boss, and everybody
(39:09):
be like we gotta get seven, but like seven, Hell no,
I'm built with one. I don't know. I don't need
a second championship. So it was, it was it was
so important to me to play well in that game.
So to have a play that everybody still talks about
or it gets mentioned and very proud of. And I've
gotten a chance to be around Cooks quite a bit.
And uh, what's the quote like with Kobe Bryant. I
(39:29):
hate it had to be Cooks because he seems like
a really good guy, But I hate it had to
be be Cooks because he's loved and every single building
that he's ever been. Interesting. We're talking with Jason and
Devin mccordy, and as we kind of wrap things up
here a little bit is we just we're listening to
Jason Jason's the TV Star and again talking about how
competitive you are. You probably don't have anything signed yet,
(39:49):
but my guess is there's a line outside the door.
I hope. So I've been on a couple of interviews,
so you've had some auditions. Haven I'm waiting for them
to slide that offer sheet across the table, like how
does that look to you? But now it's been a
lot of fun, I think, and I think that's what
kind of got led me to even retirement, to being
able to do some of those things during the bye
weekend and after the season of like actually enjoying it
(40:13):
like that. Like I talked about earlier, I didn't used
to enjoy watching football because I would watch football and
get angry about maybe I missed the play or us
not playing in the playoffs, but doing that and you're
now you got segments that you're talking about, so you
got to watch the film. You're breaking it down again.
I was enjoying just the game of football at its core.
(40:36):
Didn't matter that I was watching Buffalo and Cincinnati were
about to play like that didn't matter that, you know,
we should have beat both We had a chance to
beat both of them. At the end of the year,
I kind of had that out of my mind and
I started talking about the strengths and what we talked
about playing them, and I was like, uh, I kind
of like this, like this is fun. I do this
during the season. This is how I break down the
(40:58):
game and look at the game. So to talk about
it and then talk about it with guys like Kurt
Warner a couple of times, Michael Irvin, coach KAO or
like sitting in a CBS production meeting and talking to
coach KAO or about fire zones and how to cover
it in how he talked to Bill about it. I'm like,
so I got coach about Bill Belichick and I'm sitting
(41:18):
here with Bill Kauer and We're talking about fire three defense.
Like I was like, when would that ever happen? And
that's when I knew. I was like, I think I'll
enjoy doing this and I might be able to get
paid for it, exactly right. And so Jason, I'm sure
you'd been able to help him a little bit. You know,
like you, what's your brother's lifestyle doing it like he's
on early in the morning. You've done drivetime morning radio
(41:39):
and being on with guys at six o'clock in the morning,
and so you know how hard that could be. It
might not all be just it's not all glitz and
glamor exactly yeah, but do you get enough of advice
baby from Jason where he can give you some Hey,
don't do this because this stinks, but you know if
you can do that, And do you have a preference
Devin studio? Would you ever want to do games? Anybody
(42:00):
approached you about you know, doing color or do you
like being in the studio? Hello, It's not just advice
I give him. I gave him. I gave him a
week audition on the show too. I booked him so
he didn't get me paid. It's easy to book somebody
for free. As I also had a decision over my head,
so you know, they were like, all right, if he comes,
(42:21):
maybe he'll decide if he's gonna retire or not. That
seems to be pretty good news for seven to ten
A go up on the show. It helps, But I
would say, obviously the advice, and so far I've done
the studio analyst stuff the most. So if you're actually
what I'm comfortable it would be that, um what I'd
be willing to do everything like a college studio analysts, uh,
at games, like anything, because I want to just try
(42:43):
it all. But the biggest thing that I got from
him was his joy this past season. Um, there were
times will we jump on FaceTime and we would talk
about a team in their offense because he was gonna
call a game on the radio, and he was like,
what do you what do you see when you watch
this team play? Or what did y'all? What did Bill
talk about when y'all played against the Jets? For their
(43:04):
defense and what their defense does well, So little things
like that. When I would talk to him, I'll be like, man,
he's really enjoying this. And then we have a group
chat with kV Vanoy and durn Harman and Dude was
always like that well thought out guy and he was like, yeah,
you miss it though, and he'd be like, dude, I'm
not lying you. I'm having so much fun. He's like, like,
(43:27):
he said, I go to the games for radio. He said,
I walk on the field, I'm dapping guys up, I'm
talking to guys. He said. I went to Germany and
London with the show. He said, like, I'm just having fun.
I didn't know I would have this much fun. So
just seeing that side for him of I think for
all of us as players, the scariest thing is like
what do I do after football? Like everything sounds good.
(43:48):
Everybody's like being entrepreneur, start a business, go on TV,
do this, to be a stay at home dad. But
it's like, what is gonna fulfill me? What is gonna
help me have a new purpose at life? Getting to
see just his joy, flat out joy daily, um, and
that in me everything was perfect what he was doing.
But the fact that he had joy, I was like,
(44:08):
all right, there, there's hope out there for me. You're
a Jersey guy, so I imagine Jersey. I would think
Jersey is gonna be ultimately where the mccardies are going
to reside at some point in time. Please tell the
fans that this is gonna be your second home. I mean,
I think the people in New England feel like you're
one of us, you know. And um, it's gonna be
really different for people around here, not seeing number thirty
(44:31):
two on the field and not it just you were
You're always there. Yeah, we're gonna keep always there. We're
gonna keep our house in Foxborough, New England, is a
huge part of who I am. Um. Obviously I grew
up in New York and lived in New Jersey. Um,
but since I was twenty three years old, like I've
(44:52):
been a Massachusetts resident. You know, I'm now thirty five,
Nash Like I got I got married while I was
living here. I had all three of my kids, and
then we came back up here. So everything I've kind
of done as an adult and a parent, it was here,
and it's what my kids knows, what I know. UM,
So this will always be a home for me. Um.
(45:13):
I'm gonna stay connected to all the things I do.
Right now, I'm on the board at BMC. UM I'm
looking I'm probably planning on joining two more boards that
are based up here. UM. So obviously be here for
all the Patriot stuff and things like that, but I
also will have the same off the field things, um,
continuing our mccordy Bowl and the tackle sickle cell stuff
(45:34):
that we do. UM. That's why it's important we stay
on TV so we have like people has a reason
to steal come to the event. Yeah, and I'll be
able to still like invite those guys and offer them
like some decent stuff for coming to our events. So
I'm excited. You know, Massachusetts will always be a home
for me. Devin mccordy. Uh Robert Kraft said it today,
(45:54):
and he said it best. He's a real true Patriot.
You represented everything that this organization teams should be important,
and you did it better than anybody else. Thank you,
guys for being here today. Congratulations on an unbelievable career.
Appreciate it. Thanks guys, Thank you. Thank you for downloading
this podcast. Subscribe on Apple, Google Play, and everywhere else
you listen. Like the show, Please rate and review us.
(46:17):
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