When the New England Patriots say they block out all of the “noise” from the media during the season, don’t believe them.
On Sunday night, Tom Brady and company taught ESPN’s Trent Dilfer a valuable lesson. If you remember, Dilfer pronounced the Patriots dead after they were blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4.
“You come to a bully’s house and you get the snot beat out of you,” Dilfer said at the time. “We saw a weak team. The New England Patriots, let’s face it, they’re not good anymore.”
After his team won Super Bowl XLIX, Julian Edelman made it clear that the Patriots drew motivation from Dilfer’s criticism.
“What did Trent Dilfer say? The Patriots are the worst team. They can’t win,” Edelman told reporters, per Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald. “It’s unbelievable to hear that man say that. It’s embarrassing for him.”
To Dilfer’s credit, he basically admitted he was embarrassed and that he made a mistake by tossing out a knee-jerk reaction.
I totally agree w/ @Edelman11 it was embarrassing of me to write you off after wk 4, lesson learned. Congrats on the win.Onto 2015 #KneeJerk
— Trent Dilfer (@TDESPN) February 2, 2015
Between Dilfer’s comments and all of the cheating talk leading up to the Super Bowl, the Patriots could not have been more motivated.
