The New England Patriots are on Lane Johnson's brain. He can't stop talking about them. And he doesn't have nice things to say.
"Here's what pissed me off," Johnson told ESPN Tuesday. "The Patriots, obviously, I respect their coach, I respect Bill [Belichick], 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 talking s--- to our owner. 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 built up to that, and I just got tired of hearing about it, man, to be honest."
Johnson has been on an anti-Patriots tear since the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. He first spoke out against Bill Belichick's methodology on Barstool's podcast, "Pardon My Take." Johnson called New England a "fear-based organization" on Feb. 9. He wasn't done. After Patriots players -- like NBC Sports Boston's Jerod Mayo -- defended Belichick, Johnson refused to believe players actually want to play for Belichick.
“They kept interviewing ex-Patriots players,” he said on “Pardon My Take” on Feb 16. “What do you think they’re going to say? ‘I [expletive] hated it there’? No. ‘I won Super Bowls. We had a great time.’ They’re not going to bad mouth their coach. They’re not going to say what they really want to say. Do you think that’s going to happen? Hell no, it’s not going to happen.”