Eagles Flying High; Patriots No Fun? New England Ex Defends Belichick Culture
Further fueled by Thursday night's victory over the lowly Houston Texans, the Philadelphia Eagles are flying high. Undefeated. And, dare we say, having fun.
It was Eagles' offensive lineman Lane Johnson who in 2018 famously called the New England Patriots a "fear-based organization", claiming coach Bill Belichick programmed his players to "act like robots."
We'd argue that winning is fun, and Belichick and his boys have smiled more than a couple times in winning six Super Bowls. And now a player who spent time both playing with Johnson in Philadelphia and with Belichick in Foxboro is pushing back on the notion of the No Fun Patriots.
“Lane opened his mouth," Chris Long said this week on Tom Curran's "Patriots Talk" podcast. "Lane got walked into that and it just stuck. And of course, everybody was like, ‘Oh, Lane is best buddies with Chris. Chris is the one who said it.’ That always bothered the hell out of me, because all I’ve ever said is positives about New England and my teammates there."
While the Eagles beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII, New England won Super Bowl LI in Long's lone season.
"We did have fun," said Long, who started seven games at defensive end for the Pats in 2016. "I put on a Jules (Julian Edelman) mask. We were drunk as hell at the parade. We would enjoy the plane rides. Bill would let us sit in first class, which was awesome. We had a tight-knit group. So I hated being misrepresented by association with that thing, because I did have fun up there."
The 2022 Patriots have endured a quarterback controversy, but also light-hearted moments such as rookie special teams star Brenden Schooler attempting to gift a ball to Belichick during a game. Fun, no?
While the Eagles sit atop the NFL at 8-0, the 4-4 Patriots hope to find more joy Sunday at Gillette Stadium when they host the struggling Indianapolis Colts.
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