'Lame (Bleep)!': Ex New England Patriots Star Criticizes Josh McDaniels
Despite spending a season in Foxboro and winning a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots, now-retired edge rusher Chris Long recently spoke out against the "Patriot Way."
During a recent edition of his "Green Light with Chris Long Podcast," the former Patriot gave his thoughts on the recent stories surrounding Josh McDaniels' stint as the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
While Long ultimately said he loved McDaniel from their time together in New England, the 38-year-old did not hold back his thoughts on how the former offensive coordinator reportedly conducted himself in Las Vegas.
"When you heard the story last week that they actually, Josh McDaniels was like, ‘Hey, my players don’t like me, Antonio Pierce, can you help me get better liked?’ And he (Pierce) nails it, he hits it out of the park by all accounts," Long said. "At the end of it, he makes some comment like about when they beat the Patriots.
"And Josh freaks out and is like, ‘you don’t talk to the Patriots like that!’ ... that is the lamest s*** in the world. And that is why some people don’t like certain New England people because it’s like it’s untouchable."
Dec 12, 2016; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels congratulates defensive end Chris Long (95) after defeating the Baltimore Ravens at Gillette Stadium.
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
It is no secret the respect and affection McDaniels holds for the Patriots organization and, specifically, coach Bill Belichick. After all, McDaniels spent 16 years working for the Patriots and arguably the greatest coach of all-time.
Yet, as other former Belichick disciples who have moved away from Foxboro for their own coaching jobs elsewhere have learned, you can't act like Belichick without winning like him; the same thing with the Patriots.
“When you walked into that locker room, you knew you were in a winning locker room," Long said about the 'Patriot Way.' "What about the Devin McCourty’s, you know? Matt Slater’s all alone in there. There’s just not a lot of Julian Edelman’s anymore. There’s not a lot of like Dont’a Hightower’s."
Long even went as far as to say that Hightower was potentially the "best defensive leader" that he ever played with.
However, to Long's point, attrition inside the locker room seems one of the biggest culprits for the Patriots' fall from grace in recent years.
There is no doubt about the impact of Tom Brady and the other great players around him, like Rob Gronkowski, Edelman, and Hightower, who essentially papered over the cracks that began to develop in the latter years of the dynasty.
The lack of leadership could also explain why former Patriots assistants failed when they got to be the head man. The locker room leadership continually seems to be the overlooked aspect of what made "The Patriot Way" work for nearly two decades.
