New England Patriots special teams star Nate Ebner made his Olympics debut in Rio on Tuesday playing for the U.S. rugby sevens team. Despite being thousands of miles away from his professional team, he adhered to some of their principles.
Ebner played as the U.S. lost in its rugby sevens debut to Argentina 17-14, but he scored a try in the team’s 26-0 victory over host country Brazil later in the day.
If you thought he was going to be in a celebratory mood after the day, then you don’t know him at all. Ebner stayed true to the Patriots’ style of handling the media with neutral, diplomatic, team-focused quotes.
Ebner is still a Patriot. Post-game he said, "Things don't go your way all the time, but we got the job done. We're on to the next one."
— Christopher Gasper (@cgasper) August 9, 2016
Ebner credited US captain Madison Hughes for setting up his try. He said it was a good pass by Hughes, and the defender was hedging inside.
— Christopher Gasper (@cgasper) August 9, 2016
With a bunch of NFL talk. On Pats support: "I appreciate it. I haven't really looked at all that. I'm trying to stay focused."
— Christopher Gasper (@cgasper) August 9, 2016
Focusing on the next game, being grateful towards teammates, speaking in brief cliche-filled sentences … that was Bill Belichick-levels of quote mastery.
Of course, the Patriots did take a rare break from their goals of world domination to watch Ebner compete. They also wore Ebner shirts at practice:
#Patriots coaches showing support for @NateEbner & @USARugby today.
More practice photos: https://t.co/w7feThXWde pic.twitter.com/cQwwCf1MpN
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 9, 2016
Ebner is showing that while you can take the player out of Patriots’ training camp, you can’t take the Patriot out of the player. And if you want to know more about how the Patriots handle the media, read these four rules they follow.
Helmet smack to Shutdown Corner
