What Bill Belichick said about Jabrill Peppers’s hot mic comments about Patriots

Patriots

“We’ve all had that.”

Jabrill Peppers. AP

After the Patriots’ loss to the Giants in Week 12, Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers was caught on a hot mic telling New York’s Saquon Barkley “You lucky we [expletive].”

Bill Belichick addressed the video Monday morning during an appearance on WEEI.

“I think you have to talk to Jabrill about that. I think he made some comments on it,” Belichick said. “There’s things that get said in frustrating moments. We’ve all had that. Jabrill works hard. He’s a hard-working kid. He’s out there every day and he works hard to communicate well, be a good teammate, compete and help his team. I think everybody respects that. I certainly do.”

Peppers apologized for the comments in the locker room last week.

“First of all, I just want to apologize to my teammates and the coaches for having to even answer questions about this. We’ve got more important things to worry about than me being caught on a hot mic.”

Peppers noted the Patriots’ record at the time, saying that New England was in line for a top-5 pick that didn’t come via trade.

“We all know the standard,” Peppers said. “We know what it’s supposed to look like and it’s not that right now. It’s not a shot at anybody in the locker room. I said we. We own that, I’ll own that. We have great players in the locker room, but every team has great players. There’s great parity across the league.

“If those great players aren’t executing then that team isn’t a good team,” Peppers continued. “That doesn’t speak to the character of the men we have in this locker room. We all come to work willing and ready to help this team win. The ball just hasn’t been rolling in our favor and that’s on no one but us.”