Martellus Bennett's Description of the Patriots Super Bowl Halftime Locker Room Gets Me Right in the Feels
Martellus Bennett said there was no epic comeback speech in the Patriots locker room during Super Bowl LI https://t.co/6ksPS7pY1d pic.twitter.com/yXwsFRukZ4
— Boston.com (@BostonDotCom) May 18, 2017
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As Super Bowl LI gets smaller in time’s great rear view mirror, we’re slowly learning more. Like with the Ring of Power, history becomes myth. Myth becomes legend. And a more detailed, insider picture of the Comeback of the Ages emerges. We’ve gotten the NFL Films official Super Bowl DVD. Kraft Productions released 3 Games to Glory V, which has some behind the scenes footage of the coaches and advance scouts doing game prep and DVD commentary by James White and Trey Flowers. And yesterday Martellus Bennett gave us his boots-on-the-ground perspective.
Talking to INC.com (thanks for not making your video embeddable) Martysaurus gave a look inside the halftime locker room and the 3rd quarter huddle that will give every Pats fan a Flying Elvis in his/her crotch:
“The Super Bowl, we’re down, we’re getting our ass kicked. When we came into the locker room at halftime, there was no bickering, there was no bitching, there was no complaining, there was no moaning, there was no throwing chairs.”
“There was none of this epic ‘We’re going to come back,’ ‘Rudy,’ ‘Remember the Titans’-type speech. There was none of that TV shit. When you looked around the locker room, you didn’t see anyone that was discouraged, you didn’t see doubt in anyone’s eyes, and that’s like all 53 guys. You looked around and you could see that everybody was determined to figure out what they could do to help us win.
“So we went back out there at halftime, we kind of got up, coach gave all the coaching points, all the changes. Everybody was like, ‘Alright, coach. This is the plan you have, coach. I trust you. This is what you think is going to win. That’s exactly what we’re going to do. And I’m going to do my part, my small equation of the 11 that’s on the field at the time.'”
[In the huddle before their first play of the 2nd half, the offense] “put our hands up, ‘Hey, this is going to be written in the history books. Patriots on three. One, two, three, Patriots, break.’ And the rest is history.”
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Annnd, I just finished. Clean up in aisle Jerry. Add this to the footage of a mic’d up Julian Edelman repeatedly saying “It’s gonna be a hell of a story,” and you’ve got the perfect perspective on how the Patriots organization operates. The mindset. The mental toughness. Preparation. Situational awareness. All of it. All that stuff the head coach talks about starting with rookie camp, through OTAs, every day of camp and all season long. It’s the same approach whether it’s a Tuesday prepping for the third preseason game or hearing Lady Gaga through the walls while the whole world is watching you get your dick kicked in the dirt by a sky-high Falcons team.
It’s No Days Off and Do Your Job and all those mantras Bill Belichick drills into their heads but aren’t just platitudes. They live by them. It’s 53 guys playing for each other and being accountable in ways that a lot of teams try to emulate but can’t because guys play as individuals. (Just ask Matt Forte.) Seriously, that “This is going to be written into the history books” line might be my favorite since Kevin Millar was taking warmups down 0-3 in the 2004 ALCS doing his “They better win tonight” rant to anyone who’d listen. And both came true.
Now I just hope that every player on the team takes a turn giving us his version of the events because I don’t know anyone who can get enough of this stuff. And Martellus Bennett is welcome here anytime.