FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — No one embodies the Patriots’ remarkable resiliency on defense this season better than Devin McCourty.
The Rutgers product is only in his fourth NFL season, but McCourty already has ridden quite the career roller coaster going into New England’s appearance in the AFC Championship game on Sunday in Denver.
McCourty made the Pro Bowl as a rookie cornerback, but struggled in his second year and was eventually moved to safety, then emerged as the Patriots’ most reliable and productive player there.
That might look like a struggle to most people, but McCourty likes to call it “being versatile.”
“I’m a guy that’s played a lot of football here,” McCourty said. “It’s all about having some versatility and the more you can do, the better it helps the football team out. I think that’s been huge.”
McCourty hasn’t made many huge plays in the Patriots’ march to the third conference title game appearance of his career, but he has been a rock for them amid a hurricane of critical injuries on defense this season.
New England lost Pro Bowl nose tackle Vince Wilfork and key front-seven contributors Jerod Mayo, Tommy Kelly and Brandon Spikes, yet the Patriots haven’t really missed a beat on defense thanks in part to McCourty’s steady presence at a position that had been a weak spot for them recently.
Even coach Bill Belichick, who isn’t known to fawn over his players to the media, can’t say enough good things about McCourty.
“Yeah, he’s done a good job for us — he always does,” Belichick said. “Nobody works harder or prepares harder than Devin does. He’s always in good condition, he’s tough and he really works at his job whatever you ask him to play, whether it’s nickel, corner, safety, kickoff coverage, kickoff returners, gunner, vice on the punt return.”
The Patriots will need every bit of McCourty’s savvy, insight and preparation this week, considering their task is trying to slow down Peyton Manning and the Broncos’ seemingly unstoppable passing machine.
Manning threw for a record 55 touchdowns in the regular season, and Denver comes in averaging 38 points a game. That’s an even more imposing assignment for the Patriots’ defense, considering New England ranked just 18th in the NFL in passing yards allowed.
The Patriots gave up a lot of yards, but actually were quite good in scoring defense, finishing 10th in the league by giving up an average of just 21.1 points a game.
New England surrendered nearly 400 total yards to Andrew Luck and the Colts in the divisional playoffs last week, but the Patriots forced four turnovers that led to a 43-22 victory.
Manning, however, isn’t likely to be victimized anywhere near that often this weekend (he threw just 10 interceptions in the regular season), which is why McCourty and the rest of the Patriots’ secondary know they will have to be disciplined and stick to their assignments if they expect to have a chance against the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
“We can’t be freelancing,” McCourty said. “For us, it will be kind of sticking to what we have planned, what we’re doing or whatever particular play we’re in or whatever defense we’re in and sticking to that and not trying to outsmart ourselves and guessing things and doing our own thing.”
McCourty, a native of Rockland County who grew up in Montvale, N.J., along with his twin Jason (also an NFL defensive back with the Titans), excelled as a rookie in 2010 and saw it pay off with a Pro Bowl berth after he recorded seven interceptions.
McCourty struggled the next year, when Belichick went to more man coverage with his cornerbacks, and the move to safety was considered a demotion until he flourished there.
The Patriots could use another strong contribution from their newfound defensive mainstay Sunday.
“We’re all lucky to have Devin,” safeties coach Brian Flores said. “I don’t say that lightly. We’re all very lucky he’s here.”