Fresh Battle Cry for New England Patriots?
Many a wearer of New England Patriots garb, be it a coach, fan, or player, has likely uttered some semblance of the phrase "Do your job" over the past two decades, quoting the team's stoic head man of few words Bill Belichick.
It appears that the team's mantra-makers have taken that message to heart.
As the Patriots (1-2) continue to prepare for Sunday's crucial interconference matchup against the Dallas Cowboys (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox), receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster revealed one of the team's newest happenings in the form of a new mantra that's set to define the road ahead.
In a photo from Mike Reiss of ESPN, Smith-Schuster was clad in a hoodie bearing the beloved "Pat Patriot" emblem that served as the Patriots' full-time identity from their inception in 1960 through 1992. The logo remains popular among Patriots fans and recently returned during the team's nationally-televised Week 2 game against Miami.
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But Pat had eight new friends on his threads, a mantra that accurately describes what the Patriots are facing.
"No one is coming," the shirt reads. "It's up to us."
Smith-Schuster said that each member of the team received such a hoodie from assistant head coach Joe Judge.
The quote is often attributed to German philosopher and founder of the Illuminati Adam Weishaupt. While there's no realistic way he was talking about the 2020s' Patriots, his quote does put them in an eerily similar spot: after years of more or less bullying their 31 NFL brothers behind the efforts of Tom Brady and others, no one is going to feel sorry for the Patriots, who have struggled to retain the luster of the last two decades.
It's certainly quite a message and battle cry for a team featuring several players working through potential do-or-die seasons. The most prominent is undoubtedly that of Brady's latest successor Mac Jones, who is working through his third year as the Patriots' primary quarterback. It'll be up to those players, and those players only, to pull themselves out of any supposed ruts and press the gridiron issue further.
Smith-Schuster could possibly be among that group as well: while he's working through the first stages of a three-year, $25.5 million contract bestowed to him last spring, this could be one of Smith-Schuster's final opportunities to prove his mettle as a primary receiver at the NFL level. He has underwhelmed thus far, picking up 66 yards on 10 receptions over the first three games.
