The Bill Belichick-era Patriots were all about ignoring the noise. Mike Vrabel’s Patriots handle things a bit differently.
In case you missed it, ESPN’s “NFL Live” panel unanimously picked the Houston Texans to beat New England in last Sunday’s divisional-round matchup at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots responded by earning a 28-16 victory and a road date with the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.
After the win, receiver Kayshon Boutte, who had one of the biggest plays of the game, used his Instagram story to troll Mina Kimes, Ryan Clark, Hannah Storm, Dan Orlovsky and Marcus Spears.
Take a look:
Boutte isn’t the only one who mocked ESPN for the bad predictions. The Patriots’ social media team had fun at the network’s expense, and defensive tackle Milton Williams admitted the now-infamous segment motivated New England’s defense.
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“It definitely fueled the whole defense,” Williams told reporters, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “Nobody has been talking about our defense all year. We’ll see what they say today. Every week, we’re trying to come out and dominate, knowing that they do have a great defense, but in our minds, it was our defense versus their defense. See who could make more plays, create more turnovers, stop the run and get the ball back to our offense.”
The Patriots will look to keep the good times rolling this Sunday when they kick off with the Broncos at 3 p.m. ET. The winner will face the Seattle Seahawks or Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LX.
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