Ex-Patriot Rodney Harrison still pretty passionate about his old team

MINNEAPOLIS — Old habits die hard. Just ask Rodney Harrison.

The former Patriots safety turned NBC Sports analyst, who retired following the 2008 season, still dropped an “us” when it comes to talking about his old team with reporters on Tuesday, even though he hasn’t put on a uniform in almost a decade. And he'll get plenty fired up when you think they might be getting disrespected: Just ask him about the conspiracy theory that the league has made it so the Patriots get more calls than other teams.



“It’s dumb. Everywhere I go, people hate us,” he said. “I walk into the gym after the (game against the Falcons), and it’s ‘Oh, look at them.’

“When you’re a Patriot, you’re just an enemy with everyone else. It’s the Patriots and everyone else, because everyone is trying to be like the Patriots.”

Harrison also had some very definite thoughts on the ESPN report of strife between Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft.

“It happens sometimes when you’re in a long-term relationship. It happens. That’s a relationship. That’s a partnership,” he said. “The thing I see with those guys is that they respect one another. Belichick knows how to push Tom Brady more than anybody. It’s a healthy respectful relationship. Do I agree with my wife all the time? Did I agree with Mike Vrabel and all the calls he made? No. But it happens, and you learn how to work through it.”

In many ways, Harrison defined what it is to be a successful strong safety in the New England defense. The two-time first-team All-Pro, who was with the Patriots from 2003 to '08, said the rotational elements New England have utilized at safety this year with Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon started on his watch.

“I love them. I love them,” Harrison said of the trio, sounding like a proud father. “I love Chung’s versatility. McCourty, I had one kind of mindset about him, but when I got to spend some time with him last week, he really changed my mind — just the way he looked at me and talked to me. These guys are focused.

“(Chung is) competing. I think his technique is better. He got beat (against) Jacksonville. That drives me crazy. Your read is the tight end, and he takes a peek inside, and Marcedes Lewis, I watched that this morning — (had) a touchdown,” he added.

“It’s those little things that you cannot do against this Philadelphia offense, because they have so many different options — whether it’s a crosser, a screen, a screen to Nelson Agholor. A run, a run-pass option. So many different things. But if I’m Matt Patricia, I keep the game-plan simple: I play a lot of man-to-man coverage, I make sure those corners press them, play inside technique, and force (Nick) Foles to beat them down the field.”

He also has some thoughts on cornerbacks Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore. In Butler, he sees a guy who is putting a lot of pressure on himself because he’s in a contract year.

“I’ve been a guy who has played for a contract. I think he put a lot of pressure on himself to perform, at a high level," he said. "The plays that he was making, he was making plays a $12-million or $15-million cornerbacks as making, like a Patrick Peterson. I think this year he came in and he knew he was a free agent. But when you evaluate him, he’s a guy who competes. He’ll get in your face. He doesn’t point the finger at anybody. He accepts blame. I still think he’ll get his money. He’s playing in a very difficult system as well. A lot of scrutiny all the time. I think he’s a tremendous young player and I think someone is going to pay him."

As for Gilmore, he sees a guy who has found a way to make it work in New England after a rocky start where he appeared to struggle.

“I asked him that, and the thing that he told me was that he’s a lot more comfortable,” Harrison said of Gilmore’s up-and-down season. “He’s comfortable now. I think they simplified a lot of different things.”