Devin McCourty Says What Everyone Is Thinking: I Don't Give A Fuck If You Think I'm A Cheater, As Long As I'm A Champion

CHANDLER, Ariz. (CBS) — Whenever the head coach or any player has been asked this week about DeflateGate, about reports about locker room attendants using the bathroom, or about any other story about the air pressure of footballs, just about every member of the Patriots has responded with some variation of Bill Belichick’s mantra: We’re on to Seattle. Belichick himself uttered those words on Wednesday morning, after a reporter asked if he’s bothered that many folks will consider the Patriots to be “cheaters” if they win the Super Bowl. Devin McCourty was asked the same question, and though he most certainly is “on to Seattle,” the fifth-year pro made an offer to anyone who would consider the potential Super Bowl champs as “cheaters.” “If I have a ring on my finger, not at all,” he said when asked if the perception would bother him. “Not at all. I’ll let ‘em look at the ring.”

Finally, someone has some sense. If the Pats win on Sunday you can call them whatever you please, but you have to call them champions. Who gives a fuck what other words you choose to describe them? You want to say they may have broken the rules (they didn’t)? That’s fine. Say they have a culture of cheating. But the only reason that sticks is because they’re perennially at the top of the totem pole. Every team is a bunch of “cheaters.” Every team has been caught at least once, as the Pats have. But the Patriots are the only ones who keep that title because they’re the ones who remain at the top of the mountain. The Colts piped in crowd noise, the Ravens are basically the team from Longest Yard, the Seahawks take more Adderall than a kingergarten class. No one calls them “cheaters” because they’re not king. So come Monday if you want to say the Patriots cheated to get where they are, that’s fine. Grasp whatever straws you’d like. But make sure you’re staring at the ring when you say it, because that’s all that matters.