FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — In the aftermath of the Patriots’ release of troubled receiver Antonio Brown on Friday and then his barrage of comments on Twitter on Sunday morning, a few Patriots players reacted.
Mostly, they followed their coach, Bill Belichick, and stayed away from the radioactive topic.
Belichick, before his team whipped the Jets 30-14, was asked by CBS reporter Dana Jacobson why he released Brown, and, after a non-answer, the Patriots coach shot her a long death stare on camera.
Asked the same question after the game, Belichick delivered the same non-answer, saying, “Yeah, we’ll just focus on today’s game.’’
“We talk about ignoring the noise and we really believe that,’’ Patriots safety Duron Harmon said. “When you ignore the noise and just focus on what’s in house and focus on the opponent and focus on how you’re going to win, you win. That’s what came through. It’s a tough week, obviously a lot of media, a lot of stories but the only thing we focused on was the Jets and I think it showed through today.’’
Asked about Brown ripping Robert Kraft by dredging up the Patriots owner being named in an investigation for soliciting a sex act in a Florida massage parlor, Harmon said: “I can’t speak on AB and I can’t speak on Mr. Kraft. The only thing I can speak on is the win today.’’
Receiver Phillip Dorsett said, “I can’t really speak on’’ the Brown issue because “I really don’t want to.’’
“Honestly, I don’t want to speak on it because … we’re all about ball,’’ he said. “We can’t really worry about the things we can’t control. Obviously, we’ve got to control what we can. That’s out of our control. It [Brown’s release] was definitely not my decision. It was not any of our decision in the locker room.’’