FOXBORO — Devin McCourty wonders what it would have been like were Gillette Stadium filled to capacity this season.
All of those tailgate parties with all of Patriots Nation in their jerseys assembled in the parking lots before and after games and placing their passion for football behind the home team.
“Whether you’re in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, any of these states, Connecticut — when you’re in the New England area, that’s what you get — you get hard-nosed, hard-working people,” McCourty said after the Patriots closed out their season Sunday with a 28-14 win over the New York Jets.
For the first time in McCourty’s tenure at Foxboro, it’s January and the Patriots are neither atop the AFC East nor in the playoff picture.
“It doesn’t always go the way that everyone wants, but I think one thing you know is that it’s going to be a constant fight,” McCourty said. “You see that with every show or movie based in Boston, it’s all about fighters. I think we definitely missed the fans, just to send this team off the right way, to send some of these guys that won’t be back in Patriots’ uniforms off the right way.”
“I miss that, just having that and seeing that. It’s just a sad way for the season to end with no one there.”
The Patriots ended their campaign, and a three-game losing streak, by beating the three-win Jets, who have lost 10 straight games to New England and been swept in five straight AFC-East series.
“Obviously, it’s not the way we wanted it to go and we’ve known that for the last two weeks,” McCourty said. “You talk about character and building all these things that the Patriots are built on, and it’s a lot easier to do that when you have all the 10-win seasons, you’re in the playoffs every year.
“I think it showed a lot for these guys and I think it’ll mean a lot going forward for a lot of these young guys,” added the Patriots veteran defensive back, team captain and community activist. “Hopefully, they have extended careers. They’ll always remember this year, what we went through, what the coaching went through and what it took to go out there each day to just keep fighting.
“I think this (New England) area is a lot like this team. It (the season) didn’t go well, but from social media, people were reaching out and still supporting. The fans would have been happy with the effort and the character of this team. I feel like truly that is the character of this area.
“I was proud to be a part of this team.”
The Patriots produced a pair of second-half takeaways against the Jets on interceptions while allowing New York to convert just three third-down situations and cross midfield on just two of a half-dozen second-half possessions. Meanwhile, quarterback Cam Newton had his best performance as a Patriots, factoring into all four TDs with three TD passes and a TD reception.
McCourty scored a pair of touchdowns this season, returning a blocked punt 44 yards for a TD against San Diego and intercepting a Russell Wilson pass and taking it to the end zone 43 yards in loss to Seattle on the second weekend of the season.
“I think everywhere you looked this (past) week, the game didn’t matter, it was meaningless,” McCourty said of the defensive unit. “I just told guys to think about their journey, to have an opportunity to play here. Last game of the year, you know you’re not going to the playoffs, but at some point on your journey, you’ve been doubted, you got hurt, a certain school told you that they didn’t want you, a team released you, a team traded you, a team told you that you weren’t good enough to play.
“At some point, if someone asked you, ‘Would you take an opportunity to play in the last game of the season with no chance at the playoffs?’ We all would take it and give it everything we’ve got,” McCourty added. “I told guys to think about that.
“If someone tells you this is your last ever game to play, what would you do? I was proud of the way guys responded. I think guys already had the right mentality. I’m very fortunate and blessed to give this team different talks and to be a leader on this team because it’s a lot easier to lead a bunch of guys that don’t need much direction and were ready to go and hungry to learn.
“I’ve been very fortunate over the years I’ve been here to lead the group.”
New England had an NFL-high eight players opt out of this season due to the coronavirus, with the defensive unit being hit hard by the subtractions of safety Patrick Chung and linebacker Dont’a Hightower. In addition, the Patriots lost two linebacker stalwarts to free agency, Jamie Collins and Kyle VanNoy.
“I think that’s what 2020 meant for a lot of people, it was finding joy in the things that you take for granted sometimes,” McCourty said of relationships with family and friends and teammates. “I think for us, if you told me back in March that we were going to play 16 games, I would have told you that you’re a little crazy. So the opportunity to do that, the opportunity for guys to play through different losses, different adversities, the opportunity to play through big levels of success when we went out there and beat Baltimore on a Sunday night or go play the Chargers – to get through all of those things, the ups and downs, I think it meant a lot to take the field one last time for the 2020 season and to start off the year right.
“It meant a lot because I think no matter how you feel, what went wrong this year, you had things that you can count as blessings. I think those are the things that you need to hold tight and really show value in. For us as individuals, that will look different in each person’s life depending on what you went through.
“As a team, the bonds that we were able to make, some of the contributions we were able to make off the field. A year that for me, I was so proud to be a part of hosting Monday social justice events where we’re getting to learn about what’s going on. Guys asking questions, guys learning new things.”
McCourty finished the season ranked fourth in total tackles (68) with 45 first hits, two interceptions and six passes defended.
McCourty signed a two-year $23-million contract with the Patriots, which runs through next season.
“I’m under contract for next year, I plan on playing next year,” McCourty said. “I hope I’m here and I hope I can continue to try to lead this group and be around these guys and hope for a better 2021.
“What it’s (2020) taught us, what we’ve gone through – the good, the bad and most importantly, to grow from it,” McCourty added.
“That’s not to just say, ‘Man, I’m happy it’s over. Let’s move forward,’ but to actually take the lessons you’ve learned. I hope those lessons that I’ve learned from 2020, I can take forward and be an even better leader, be an even better player, better man and hopefully and ultimately, we all do that as individuals and have a better outcome next year.
“There’s so much to be grateful for and proud of with the 2020 season. Now it’s all about continuing those things into 2021 and most importantly, bringing some more W’s to the end of the season and getting back to the playoffs and doing those great things. I don’t want that to get lost, that’s obviously a part of the plan. But some of the things we were able to accomplish this year, in a hard year, I think meant a lot. It meant a lot to the community.
“There’s a lot of things that will be done in the offseason for this team. However it works out, I’ve been extremely blessed to be a part of this organization. I take a lot of pride in being here and being with this group of men day-in and day-out. No matter what, I’ve been very fortunate to be a New England Patriot.”
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