Eagles tackle Lane Johnson takes more shots at Pats' 'arrogance'

[May 16, 2018]    Philadelphia Eagles tackle Lane Johnson hasn't been shy about criticizing the New England Patriots, and he elaborated on what spurred many of those comments on a Steve Austin podcast published Tuesday.

Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson during a press conference in advance of Super Bowl LII against the New England Patriots at Mall of America. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

"Here's what pissed me off," Johnson said when asked about his previous coments. "The Patriots, obviously, I respect their coach, I respect Bill , I respect Tom Brady. But just because the way that they won the Super Bowls, the Patriot Way, is that how everybody else is supposed to do the same thing? No, it's not. And that's what I got mad at, the arrogance by them.

"There was obviously some stuff behind closed doors. Their owner (Robert Kraft) talking s--- to our owner (Jeffrey Lurie). Bill talking s--- to our head coach (Doug Pederson) before the game. I'm not going to say it, but a lot of s--- kind of built up to that, and I just got tired of hearing about it, man, to be honest."

After the Eagles secured their trip to Super Bowl LII with an NFC Championship victory over the Minnesota Vikings, Johnson called Brady a "pretty boy" and added, "there's nothing I'd like to do more than dethrone that guy."

Then, a week after Philadelphia's victory to claim the Lombardi Trophy in February, he called New England a "fear-based organization" with players who "act like f---ing robots."

Reflecting on the comments in Tuesday's podcast, Johnson added that he wanted to show his teammates not to fear the Patriots, something he thinks happens often as the result of the team's history of success and the resulting aura.

"I got in a lot of trouble running my mouth, but my thinking was, they give too much respect to these guys, everybody's half-ass scared of them before they get on the field," Johnson said. "... A lot of times before a game, a lot of guys are beaten mentally."

"I saw a defense that wasn't overly talented," Johnson later said. "It was all really about containing Tom Brady. We had a hard time doing that -- he had 505 yards. But that was really it, man. Going into the game, I'm not going to be shell-shocked by it. That was kind of our thing going in. I think we had the upper hand on that."

--Field Level Media

[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.