Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported earlier this week that Roger Goodell remains miffed about Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia’s choice to wear a T-shirt mocking the Commissioner upon the team’s return from Super Bowl LI. Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich says get over it.
“Everyone has the right to wear whatever shirt they want,” Ninkovich said on Boston Herald Radio’s “The Rundown.” “Everyone has to wear a shirt, right? You can’t just wear no shirt. I think someone threw it at [Patricia], and he said, ‘All right, nice shirt, it’s cool, it’s blue, so I’ll put it on.’ I thought it was a funny shirt.”
Goodell hasn’t returned to Foxboro since the Deflategate controversy began but is expected for the regular-season opener there Sept. 7. He could bump into Patricia, who wore Barstool Sports Goodell-with-a-clown-nose T-shirt as he deplaned after the return from Houston in February.
Ninkovich doesn’t expect Patricia’s choice of T-shirt to hinder the defensive coordinator’s chances of getting a head coaching job.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Ninkovich said. “People want to take it how they want to take it. If you really think about it, everyone has to wear clothes, so you just put a shirt on, and you know, it is what it is. I think it’s a nice shirt. It’s blue. I love blue. My favorite color is blue.”
