Nickell Robey-Coleman and Aqib Talib are Playing the 'Taken Out of Context' Card

Well done, Rams coaching staff and PR department. Way to scramble the First Responders to try and put out the blazing wildfire Nickell Robey-Coleman started just a few hours before you had to face the biggest media horde in the long, storied, two-year history of your franchise’s reboot.

Of course there could be only one explanation for these verbatim comments:

He hates the Patriots to his core. That’s right: “Hate.”

Robey-Coleman, formerly of the Patriots-punching-bag Bills, repeats that word several times.

If you thought the wreckage he left behind in the NFC Championship Game was rough, you haven’t seen anything yet. Robey-Coleman wants everyone to picture the the bar fight scene in A Bronx Tale. That’s how he envisions Sunday going down. …

“We kick ‘em out of the bar, beat ‘em up—and the one thing he said, he looked down at a guy and said, ‘I did this to you.’ That’s how I want to feel: I did this to you. I did this to you.” …

It’s the little things, he explains. The “arrogance.” The fact that Bill Belichick is going to go for it on 4th-and-3 when he’s leading 17-0 in the fourth quarter. The Patriots love “antagonizing” teams, Robey-Coleman says.

“S–t like that. Little s–t to look down upon a team,” he adds. “Little assh–e stuff like that. That’s what makes you not like New England.” …

Asked if there are signs that Brady isn’t the same Brady, he nods aggressively.

“Yes. Yes. Age has definitely taken a toll. For him to still be doing it, that’s a great compliment for him. But I think that he’s definitely not the same quarterback he was,” Robey-Coleman says. “Movement. Speed. Velocity. Arm strength. He still can sling it, but he’s not slinging it as much. Whatever he was doing—because of his age and all that—he’s not doing as much of that anymore. He’s still doing the same things; he’s just not doing as much of it.”

It’s not that NRC is resentful for all the years he was on the receiving end of Patriots beatdowns when he was in Buffalo. It’s not that he thinks the Patriots and their coach are arrogant, antagonizing assholes who look down on teams. Or even that he avoided about a dozen holds and pass interferences he should’ve been called on against the Saints and is feeling 10 foot ball and bulletproof.

It’s that was taken out of context. Misquoted. His answers were in fact much more subtle and nuanced but, like Aqib Talib says, the reporter took the half sentences where he said – what? That Belichick is gracious and magnanimous? That Brady is in his prime and a formidable opponent? – and conveniently left those out. Impressive back pedal by both Robey-Coleman. And Talib. But it won’t be the sorts of backpedals that will prevent Brady from targeting him all night long next Sunday. In spite of what they’re hoping for, Brady doesn’t forget.