Kyle Van Noy Took Some Shots at the Patriots and I Actually Kind of Like It

Maddie Meyer. Getty Images.

Kyle Van Noy is one of players who came to New England, enjoyed success that would've been virtually impossible at his previous career destinations, then cashed in. Bill Belichick has created more millionaires than the international cocaine trade, and Van Noy has been one of the many, many beneficiaries. He's also one of the (unfortunately) growing list of ex-Patriots who've been able to beat his former boss. And some comments he made in Monday Morning QB after the Dolphins' win have made some panties bunch with headlines about how he "rips his former team" and lead paragraphs about how he's "taking some joy in ending his former team’s historic run." 

So it sounded like he really went off, tearing into the Pats and biting the hand that once fed him, like a more talented and accomplished version of that insufferable ingrate Cassius Marsh. But before we go there, let's ignore the clickbait and look at exactly what Van Noy said. 

Source - “They kind of schemed us up the first time,” Patriot turned Dolphin linebacker Kyle Van Noy said from the Miami locker room postgame. “I’m going to keep it real. They thought everything was good … if that makes sense. They were all laughing and joking. We remembered that, and we’re in a different situation than they were. They were basically already eliminated. We just needed to basically finish it, and we did that today. 

“I think the honeymoon’s over. We got the job done.”

When I asked again about Miami being upset with how the Patriots carried themselves late in that win, Cam Newton’s Week 1 debut in New England, Van Noy didn’t skip a beat. …

"[T]his game was back and forth, smashmouth football, who’s going to break? And they ended up breaking before we did. We knew we weren’t going to break, and they just broke. 

“We knew that was going to happen, that’s what we practice all week, all year. That’s the mentality our coach has. We ain’t backing down from nobody.”

He went on to praise Brian Flores for being a genuine, no-BS guy who has that indefinable quality that makes you want to play for him. In other words, he said zero things that anyone in New England should take exception to. I mean, I've turned having US Navy-quality sonar for all objectionable disrespect aimed at the Patriots Dynasty into my profession. And I can't find a thing wrong in anything he said here. 

What he was doing after a big emotional win in Miami is exactly what he was taught in New England. He used a previous loss as extra motivation. An opponent's reaction to beating him as rage fuel to come back and wipe the smile off his smug, satisfied face. And said good things about the coach who signed him after years of working with him at his last stop. I'll be the first to fire back if Van Noy says anything that isn't true. But I'm not going to twist words just to gin up fake controversy. There's plenty enough real controversy diamonds to be found without having to manufacture the cubic zirconia kind. And I believed this as soon as I read this. Meaning before KVN clarified what he meant.

Yeah, that was unnecessary. Nobody who's actually got some experience at the rest of the league firing verbal shots at this team would mistake what he said for how it's being spun. Van Noy was - and remains - one of the good guys. There are plenty enough former Pats connections on the Dolphins to make them a rootable team in the postseason. He's just a two-time champion living his best life.

I just wish he was still here, but a guy's got to earn a living.