Lane Johnson Can't Shut Up About the Patriots and Expects Fans to 'Raise Hell'

Source – Lane Johnson, like Marshawn Lynch, is about that action, so it is no surprise that the Eagles star right tackle isn’t shying away from statements he made about the New England Patriots.

With the Super Bowl champions set to arrive in Foxborough for a hyped preseason matchup on Thursday, Johnson is hoping Patriots fans are hostile when the visiting team arrives.

“Oh yeah. I hope so. I hope they raise hell,” Johnson said Tuesday when discussing the reaction he expects, per Tim McManus of ESPN.com. “They can cuss me; they can say whatever they want. … I know that I’m not going to be well-liked, this team is not going to be well-liked going there, so it’s going to basically bring out our best.”

Johnson has been in the crosshairs of Patriots fans after he said the team acted “like [expletive] robots” and called it a “fear-based” organization [Author’s note: On Pardon My Take]. Most of Johnson’s agitation stems from the Patriots’ lack of respect for the Eagles, who were underdogs when the teams met a little over six months ago in Super Bowl LII.

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Where do I begin to even sort out the giant mess o’ wrongness I just finished reading? I’m not really sure I can. There just so much bullshit piled on top of revisionist history it’s beyond saving. It’s like a waiter dropped a customer’s food and the plate shattered and the manager is asking me to pick it up off the floor and turn it back into a meal.

Let’s start with this: The Patriots never showed lack of respect for the Eagles. We’ve heard that same nonsense in all seven Super Bowls since the one against the Rams in 2001. They took the Panthers too lightly. Weren’t ready for the the pain the 2004 Eagles were bringing. Thought they were just going to throw their helmets across the hash marks and beat the Giants twice. And on and on. Yet I defy anyone to find one word of smack talk. One press conference answer that wasn’t all about how tough an opponent [insert NFC champs name here] will be. Each and every one of the Super Bowls they’ve been do have been brutal, merciless, Fight Club fights that have gone down to the final moments. But not because the Pats were looking past anyone. The way the Steelers have so often done. Like the 2001 AFC title game when they had their bags packed to leave right from the stadium but lost to the 10-point underdog Patriots. Or last year when they were publicly talking about facing the Pats before they got past Jacksonville. The Patriots did no such thing with Super Bowl LII or any other occasion.

Next, where does anyone get off thinking this is a “hyped preseason matchup”? Maybe it is in Philly. Maybe they see this as a chance to further give the Patriots a sweaty teabagging, but that ship sailed back in February. We’ve been at this business of defending championships a long time. “Hyped preseason” anything is an oxymoron where we come from. To us, these games are about nothing more than not suffering any catastrophic injuries, installing the offense and defense and getting a look at new guys under game conditions, period. Rematches and rivalries in preseason fauxball is a concept we do not recognize. Hell, we play the Giants in the final preseason game every year. And if you think we’re somehow triggered by those two painful, cosmic nurples they’ve given us, you’ve got another thing coming.

Finally, I hate to break it to Lane Johnson, but he’s obsessed with the Patriots and their fanbase, not the other way around. He’s got a ring and earned the right to pop off and that’s great. No one will ever take it away from him. And his team is about to get a dose of the reality that is trying to stay competitive in today’s NFL. Which is not as easy as the Patriots make it. Just ask the Panthers, Niners, Broncos, Ravens, Saints and Packers, just to name recent Super Bowl teams. But that’s a them issue, not an us issue. We’re just not that into Lane Johnson. He’s got an over-inflated sense of self importance if he thinks any of the 70,000 who’ll be in Gillette are going to give one second’s thought to what the Eagles’ right tackle is doing, much less “cussing” him. You can’t not like a guy you have no opinion of.

Now if Johnson could just keep the name “Patriots” out of his mouth and get back to making sure his teammates are having the right amount of fun, that’s be great.