Devin McCourty Can #*$^ Himself

Kenny F'ing Powers

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Catchy title, yeah?

Its the offseason - and I really don't feel like discussing anymore octogenarian HJs - so I'm taking a little leniency with the substance of this post.

I love Devin McCourty. You love Devin McCourty, too. Guy's got it all. The rookie phenom turned sophomore cornerback bust turned safety mainstay. He leads the secondary before the game with his fiery speeches, has the respect of the locker room, is considered a high IQ football player, is cool as shit, and even has a cool twin brother (that made a fucking huge play to win us our 6th SB). So...

Why doesn't this man get more love from Patriots fans?

And don't you dare tell me he does. He has as many SB's as Rodney Harrison. Hes going into his 10th year as a Patriot - as many as HoF Ty Law.

But when people talk about accolades - even the ones as mundane as Patriots HoF - the mans name never comes up.

So...what the fuck?
 

rodderick

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Catchy title, yeah?

Its the offseason - and I really don't feel like discussing anymore octogenarian HJs - so I'm taking a little leniency with the substance of this post.

I love Devin McCourty. You love Devin McCourty, too. Guy's got it all. The rookie phenom turned sophomore cornerback bust turned safety mainstay. He leads the secondary before the game with his fiery speeches, has the respect of the locker room, is considered a high IQ football player, is cool as shit, and even has a cool twin brother (that made a fucking huge play to win us our 6th SB). So...

Why doesn't this man get more love from Patriots fans?

And don't you dare tell me he does. He has as many SB's as Rodney Harrison. Hes going into his 10th year as a Patriot - as many as HoF Ty Law.

But when people talk about accolades - even the ones as mundane as Patriots HoF - the mans name never comes up.

So...what the fuck?
I love Devin and think out of all the non-Brady players that were part of this latest 10 year run he's probably the biggest slam dunk for Patriots HOF. The thing with him is that he's very good at what he does, but he lacks the playmaking skills and the big moments that generally are associated with fan favorites. I think he's been a much more consistent player than Hightower, for instance, but Dont'a has made highlight reel plays in three Super Bowl wins, so he gets the spotlight. Same with guys like Rodney and Ty Law who also had their fair share of individual playoff moments. Devin doesn't really have those. When he eventually gets voted into the Patriots HOF, what goes into the highlight reel? That's an easy question to answer for Rodney and Law.

I'd argue out of the early 2000's Patriots Richard Seymour was their most consistently dominant defender and yet he isn't part of the Patriots HOF and isn't remembered as fondly as those other guys, and I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of marquee moments, just like McCourty.
 

Bergs

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I love Devin and think out of all the non-Brady players that were part of this latest 10 year run he's probably the biggest slam dunk for Patriots HOF. The thing with him is that he's very good at what he does, but he lacks the playmaking skills and the big moments that generally are associated with fan favorites. I think he's been a much more consistent player than Hightower, for instance, but Dont'a has made highlight reel plays in three Super Bowl wins, so he gets the spotlight. Same with guys like Rodney and Ty Law who also had their fair share of individual playoff moments. Devin doesn't really have those. When he eventually gets voted into the Patriots HOF, what goes into the highlight reel? That's an easy question to answer for Rodney and Law.

I'd argue out of the early 2000's Patriots Richard Seymour was their most consistently dominant defender and yet he isn't part of the Patriots HOF and isn't remembered as fondly as those other guys, and I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of marquee moments, just like McCourty.
Lock the thread.
 

pappymojo

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I think that McCourty's contributions to the team's success are hard to quantify for casual fans. I think this is similar to how defensive lineman don't rack up the sack numbers on the Patriots the way they would if they played on another team. McCourty has bought in to the 'do your job' team building that, to an observer, he doesn't seem to be doing as much when really he is an ideal Belichick guy in that he is dependable on covering his responsibilities. In addition, he was drafted as a CB and converted to a Safety and that may have diminished his perceived value as well.
 

Van Everyman

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Needless to say, I clicked on this thread expecting something along the lines of Men Behaving Badly.

I suspect the reason that D-Mac does not get the same kind of love as a Rodney Harrison or a Ty Law is in part due to his glue role on the team and probably the fact that he doesn’t have a signature play or two. And maybe because the team’s secondary has not always been a strength during his time here.

But yeah, this guy is an all-timer.
 

ragnarok725

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I love Devin and think out of all the non-Brady players that were part of this latest 10 year run he's probably the biggest slam dunk for Patriots HOF. The thing with him is that he's very good at what he does, but he lacks the playmaking skills and the big moments that generally are associated with fan favorites. I think he's been a much more consistent player than Hightower, for instance, but Dont'a has made highlight reel plays in three Super Bowl wins, so he gets the spotlight. Same with guys like Rodney and Ty Law who also had their fair share of individual playoff moments. Devin doesn't really have those. When he eventually gets voted into the Patriots HOF, what goes into the highlight reel? That's an easy question to answer for Rodney and Law.
This is definitely the case, and probably a large part of it. But the same could be said for trench guys, like Matt Light and Vince Wilfork who are probably both much bigger names in the consciousness of Pats fans despite not having signature highlight reel plays (minus Wilfork and the butt fumble...)

I think the other two things that contribute to McCourty being less of a hero are that (1) he's a pretty soft spoken guy, and doesn't have the personality of someone like Vince, and (2) he failed at CB before finding his position at Safety. Patrick Chung is another guy who had some high profile early failures, and even some wandering in the wilderness, before becoming a huge cog in the recent Super Bowl runs. High profile failures, especially early in the career, are a lot to claw back from perception-wise.
 

Ralphwiggum

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I love Devin and think out of all the non-Brady players that were part of this latest 10 year run he's probably the biggest slam dunk for Patriots HOF. The thing with him is that he's very good at what he does, but he lacks the playmaking skills and the big moments that generally are associated with fan favorites. I think he's been a much more consistent player than Hightower, for instance, but Dont'a has made highlight reel plays in three Super Bowl wins, so he gets the spotlight. Same with guys like Rodney and Ty Law who also had their fair share of individual playoff moments. Devin doesn't really have those. When he eventually gets voted into the Patriots HOF, what goes into the highlight reel? That's an easy question to answer for Rodney and Law.

I'd argue out of the early 2000's Patriots Richard Seymour was their most consistently dominant defender and yet he isn't part of the Patriots HOF and isn't remembered as fondly as those other guys, and I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of marquee moments, just like McCourty.
I agree with all of this and would just add that the defense was more responsible than the offense for the first three Super Bowls. During most of Devin's tenure the defense has far and away been the worse of the two units, and at times has been flat out bad, including in last year's Super Bowl. I think some of why we remember Law, Harrison, Seymour and Bruschi so fondly is that those defenses were legitimately great, championship caliber defenses. McCourty's generally have not been.
 

BigSoxFan

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I think the Seymour comp is perfect. McCourty really is a glue guy and hasn’t had the high profile playoff moments that you’d expect for a guy who’s been in so many games. He has 2 INTs in 22 playoff games. I could recall his first one, which was against Balt in 2014 where Flacco basically dropped an INT into his lap, but had to look up the other (Houston 2016). Pretty crazy and funny that Jason has the most memorable playoff moment in the family.

Some people may also remember that it was Devin who was roasted by Ertz for the SB losing TD last year. Obviously, that was a tough play and he certainly wasn’t the reason for the loss but that may be where some minds go.

Either way, he’s had about as good of a career as the rest of the top tier Pats players in franchise history. Just a great player who deserves far more accolades than he receives.
 

InstaFace

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Definitely a Patriots HOFer.

There's always room for more sploogefests around here, of the non-octogenarian variety. If anything, we're not grateful enough to enough players.
 

BornToRun

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Fuck you for this thread title you sadistic monster. Scared the shit out of me. And yeah I won’t argue that Devin seems like he doesn’t get the love that he deserves but I don’t think he’ll be overlooked like Seymour seems to have been. Devin is one of those prototypical Patriots that would have fit right in on those teams with Tedy, Willie, Ty, Rodney, and the rest. He’s one of those elder statesmen types that really seems like he buys into this idea of The Patriot Way.
 

Ed Hillel

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I was at this game in 2011 - Gronk had an incredible game and DMC had maybe the worst a Patriot has had this decade. Like with Chung, it’s amazing to see what a difference switching roles has done. I thought DMC was in decline last year, as he seemed to struggle, but this year he turned it around and had a fantastic season. Yay him!

 
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Seymour should be Patriots HOF already and one of the primary reasons he's not is that he was traded. That and the lack of eye-popping plays/stats. Not his fault, that wasn't his role. He was THE guy on D that other teams had to game-plan for. It's ridiculous that Matt Light is in before Seymour. And I like Light.
 

OurF'ingCity

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But when people talk about accolades - even the ones as mundane as Patriots HoF - the mans name never comes up.
Not sure who exactly you are referring to when you are talking about Patriot "fans," but I know DMac gets tons of love on this board and among my Pats-fan friends that aren't on this board. Maybe we/they are more discerning than the average Pats "fan," but a quick Google search suggests his accomplishments aren't lost on media members either, as the below essentially random sampling shows:

Chad Finn listing DMac as a sleeper for the NFL HoF

NFL.com saying DMac not quite "Hall of Fame good" but "more than solid"

Jeff Howe last year saying DMac is a "lock" for the Pats HoF

Worcester Telegram noting DMac is "bound for the Patriots Hall of Fame"

To the extent it's actually true that the average Pats fan doesn't think highly enough of DMac, I agree with the others who have noted he doesn't play a "flashy" position, doesn't really rack up stats due to that fact, and doesn't have an outspoken personality.

But yes, there's no debate he's an all-time Patriot and, from everything I've seen, heard, and read, just an all-around great guy to boot.
 

IdiotKicker

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He doesn't get more love because he's not usually on the screen for most of the play. That, and his skillset is preventing big things from happening before they happen, so it's tough for fans to objectively measure the absence of those big things. In theory, you only really notice him when something goes wrong. He's a more important long-snapper whose primary actions take place off-screen.
 

Euclis20

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Comparing Seymour (7 pro bowls, 3 all pro nods) to McCourty (1 pro bowl since switching to safety) is insulting to Seymour. The D line's job in that era was to soak up blockers, close the holes and let the linebackers get all the glory, and Seymour/Wilfork/Warren were the best at that, and a good reason why McGinest/Bruschi/Vrabel looked so good.

Devin McCourty is an excellent leader and captain, he's versatile and stays on the field (5 games missed in 9 years is incredible). On the field he's merely been above average on a unit that, on average over his tenure, was 19th in defensive DVOA. Tons of value in that, but it's not the biggest shock that he's not mentioned among the biggest players of this part of the dynasty. And this is coming from someone who owns exactly two Pats jerseys, Troy Brown and Devin McCourty.
 

TheoShmeo

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McCourty is steady, consistent, extremely good, not flashy and not controversial. He is also not a crazy, menacing hitter. That he has not become a mega star among mainstream fans is not surprising.

But I'm damn glad he's on the Patriots. And that he helped recruit his brother, who undoubtedly made one of the key plays in SB 53.
 

pokey_reese

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He doesn't get more love because he's not usually on the screen for most of the play. That, and his skillset is preventing big things from happening before they happen, so it's tough for fans to objectively measure the absence of those big things. In theory, you only really notice him when something goes wrong. He's a more important long-snapper whose primary actions take place off-screen.
I was just scrolling down to post this, but you beat me to it. A few people have made the comparison to 'in the trenches' guys like Seymour and Wilfork, or Light and other people who don't necessarily get a lot of 'signature plays' in the Pats scheme (or positionally in general), but the reality is that Wilfork was still in the center of the viewable action on every defensive snap. We got to watch him blow up double teams and collapse the pocket, which in turn allowed us to make the 'sure, he doesn't always show up on the stat sheet BUT...' argument. A lot harder to do that for safeties playing off the line of scrimmage, and in particular ones whose biggest contribution on a given play may simply be discouraging a QB from throwing to a receiver in their area of the field in the first place. DMC might not be a ball-hawking safety or a thumper, and he has played on a defensive unit that was frequently in the bottom half of the league against the pass over the last decade, so measuring his individual contributions is naturally hard for fans.
 

rodderick

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Comparing Seymour (7 pro bowls, 3 all pro nods) to McCourty (1 pro bowl since switching to safety) is insulting to Seymour. The D line's job in that era was to soak up blockers, close the holes and let the linebackers get all the glory, and Seymour/Wilfork/Warren were the best at that, and a good reason why McGinest/Bruschi/Vrabel looked so good.

Devin McCourty is an excellent leader and captain, he's versatile and stays on the field (5 games missed in 9 years is incredible). On the field he's merely been above average on a unit that, on average over his tenure, was 19th in defensive DVOA. Tons of value in that, but it's not the biggest shock that he's not mentioned among the biggest players of this part of the dynasty. And this is coming from someone who owns exactly two Pats jerseys, Troy Brown and Devin McCourty.
The comparison wasn't the caliber of player, but how they were undervalued by the fanbase. Seymour has a shot at Canton while McCourty won't ever sniff it, of course he was on another level of talent.
 

8slim

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Others can speak more authoritatively about his on field accomplishments. Personally, McCourty became one of my all-time favorite Patriots when he gave the most thoughtful commentary I heard from any player about his decision to kneel pre-game in the wake of Trump’s comments 2 season ago. It was moving and genuine.
 

Jimbodandy

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Lock the thread.
Agreed. Rodderick nailed it.

DMC is the backbone. Generally unspectacular but indispensable. Never badly out of position, makes a lot of big plays, but doesn't take the ball away very often. Savvy fans appreciate how the defense works 100x better with him out there.
 

BigSoxFan

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Others can speak more authoritatively about his on field accomplishments. Personally, McCourty became one of my all-time favorite Patriots when he gave the most thoughtful commentary I heard from any player about his decision to kneel pre-game in the wake of Trump’s comments 2 season ago. It was moving and genuine.
Agreed. He is a fun player to root for. Obviously very good player on the field but appears to be a very quality individual off of the field. He's clearly reached that Brady, Edelman, Gronk, Bruschi, Seymour, Harrison, Hightower, Slater, etc. level of respect with Belichick. That's a very, very difficult group to join.
 

BornToRun

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Agreed. He is a fun player to root for. Obviously very good player on the field but appears to be a very quality individual off of the field. He's clearly reached that Brady, Edelman, Gronk, Bruschi, Seymour, Harrison, Hightower, Slater, etc. level of respect with Belichick. That's a very, very difficult group to join.
If I remember correctly, Devin had agreed to sign with Philly in the offseason after SB49 and Belichick called him to say thanks and wish him well and they ended up getting something done over the course of that phone call.
 

Reverend

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I think that McCourty's contributions to the team's success are hard to quantify for casual fans. I think this is similar to how defensive lineman don't rack up the sack numbers on the Patriots the way they would if they played on another team. McCourty has bought in to the 'do your job' team building that, to an observer, he doesn't seem to be doing as much when really he is an ideal Belichick guy in that he is dependable on covering his responsibilities. In addition, he was drafted as a CB and converted to a Safety and that may have diminished his perceived value as well.
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