Maybe the Patriots weren’t soft in their ugly loss to the Jaguars in London. Maybe they just had a hard day’s night.
On Friday, however, coach Jerod Mayo downplayed a suggestion from receiver Kendrick Bourne that the players had a little too much fun in the time preceding the game in England.
Here’s what Bourne said Thursday, via Mark Daniels of MassLive.com: “I have a story in San Fran. We went to the Super Bowl. We were going out all week and we ended up losing the Super Bowl. So, OK, we made the decision to go out. We made these decisions and we go to the football game and we lose. Not that, that’s the reason we lost, but the decisions we make during the week to get ready, to get locked in, and focus [on] our end result. So going out overseas, we have to be locked in. I’m not trying to point nobody out, but it’s just we have to focus on what matters. You can go out, but what really matters while we’re here?”
How can players control this?
“That’s personal decisions,” Bourne said. “Rather than staying up all night, or eating whatever. . . . I can’t be trying to go out and club because it’s taking away from my internal goal — winning football games.”
On Friday, Mayo was asked whether players stayed out too late in London.
“No, there wasn’t an issue,” Mayo told reporters. “I think it was taken out of context. I had a conversation with Bourne, and it was taken out of context. Those guys did a good job traveling and they did a good job adjusting to the time difference.”
The next question was an obvious one. What was taken out of context from what Bourne said?
“I’m not going to get into that,” Mayo said. “Like I said at the beginning, our main focus is really just about the Jets.”
Sorry, but “out of context” has become the all-too-common synonym for “why are you talking about that thing that I said?” Whenever someone claims words were taken out of context, it’s fair to press for specifics.
Isolating a quote isn’t taking it out of context. Context only becomes a problem when the words as lifted from the broader quote end up having a different meaning.
Here’s a simple example. Consider this context: “If I were to end up on death row because I killed the pope or something, I’d want my last meal to be a T-bone steak (medium rare), french fries, and green beans.” If someone focuses only on “I killed the pope,” that would be taking the quote out of context. (Or, similarly, “I shot the clerk?”)
Bourne’s comments don’t seem to be out of context or confusing. He’s questioning whether the players are truly preparing themselves the way they should, using the London trip as a specific example. And it makes sense for Mayo to maneuver around that, since that becomes a direct reflection on him.
