‘I’ll own that’: Jabrill Peppers apologized for quote criticizing Patriots to Saquon Barkley

Patriots

Peppers was caught on a hot mic saying, “You lucky we [expletive],” following the Patriots’ loss to the Giants.

Jabrill Peppers apologized for his hot mic moment following the Patriots’ loss to the Giants. Elsa/Getty Images

Jabrill Peppers issued a lengthy apology for the quote he gave to Giants running back Saquon Barkley following their Week 12 loss on Friday.

The Patriots safety, who was caught telling his former teammate, “You lucky we [expletive],” spoke for over three minutes to reporters about his quote and the state of the team.

“First of all, I just want to apologize to my teammates and to my coaches for even having to answer questions about that,” Peppers said. “We’ve got more important things to worry about than me being caught on a hot mic. But at the end of the day, we’re 2-9 and we’ve got a top-five pick in the draft that didn’t come via trade.

“We all know the standard. We all know what it’s supposed to look like — and it’s not that right now. It’s not no shot anyone in the locker room. I said, ‘We.’ We own that. I’ll own that.”

Peppers emphasized that while the Patriots have “good” and “great” players on their team, every other team does as well, noting they just aren’t executing right now.

“That doesn’t speak to the character we’ve got in this locker room,” Peppers said of his quote and the team’s play so far this season. “We all come to work willing and ready to do whatever we can to help this team win. The ball has just not been rolling in our favor and that’s on no one but us.”

While the players haven’t been exempt from blame this season, they arguably haven’t been the ones that have received the brunt of it. Bill Belichick has been scrutinized more than ever as he’s on track to have the worst season in his 24 years as the Patriots’ head coach, leading to rumors that his time in New England could be coming to an end.

But Peppers stood up for Belichick and the rest of the Patriots’ coaching staff, explaining why the onus falls on the plays for the bad season.

“The coaches do a hell of a job, week in and week out, the gameplan, putting us in the right position, to make plays,” Belichick said. “When the opportunity comes, we just don’t do that at a consistent enough level in all phases of the game. We’ve got one of the best coaches to ever coach. He comes in week after week telling us what we have to do to win this game, who we have to stop, and how we have to go about business.

“And time and time again, week after week, it comes up in the game, exactly how he says it, and we don’t capitalize on our opportunities.”

In the video, Peppers was seen chuckling as he embraced Barkley and said how poor the Patriots are. But he said he was coming from a place of frustration, adding that “all of the guys” are frustrated on the team.

“I’m a professional, so things like that should never happen,” Peppers said. “There’s no need to blame anyone but myself. This is my seventh year in the league, I’m 28 years old, and I know better. There was a little frustration. I know I was smiling, but I was very, very angry. That’s one that I wanted. At the end of the day, we’re not doing enough to get it done right now.”

The clip of Peppers’s interaction with Barkley surfaced on social media on Thursday as it was part of an NFL Films video that showcased the best mic’d up moments from Week 12. Peppers wasn’t mic’d, but Barkley was.

The Patriots’ safety was upset by the inclusion of that clip in the video, though kept focus on the team’s performance and they’ve got a chance to turn things around against the Chargers on Sunday.

“I didn’t even give Saquon a chance to tell me,” Peppers said with a laugh. “I don’t think it’s right that they put that out because a lot of things that’s said on that football field, and I know there’s multiple people mic’d up game in and game out that they’re gonna put out, I was kind of taken aback by it. But at the end of the day, I’ll own that and I’ll own everything I say. I’m not running from it.

“This Sunday, we’ve got a chance to go out there and build momentum and get this bad taste out of our mouth. And that’s what we’re gonna do.”