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“Lifesaver” is the nickname Todd Gurley dubbed teammate Nickell Robey-Coleman after he committed an egregious pass interference against the Saints that was inexplicably ignored by the refs, and turned him into a hero rather than a heel.
The 27-year-old slot cornerback was extensively interviewed by Tyler Dunne of Bleacher Report, and talked about everything from the blown call heard ’round the world to how personal tragedy has fueled his success to his unwavering hatred from Tom Brady and the Patriots.
The 5’8″, 180-pound corner turned on the WiFi on the plane from New Orleans to L.A. after the NFC Championship and was flooded with messages, many of which were threatening.
There was a Saints fan promising to burn his house down. Another vowing to “f–k you up” at the airport. Another telling him he better leave the city ASAP or he “might not see tomorrow.” There were countless death threats from what he presumed to be fake names.
Robey-Coleman almost relished in the hate: “Wolves,” he said, “don’t concern themselves with the opinions of sheep.”
The undrafted USC shifted his focus to the Super Bowl matchup against the Patriots, a team that has dominated him his four years with the Buffalo Bills before Sean McDermott released him in March 2017 and the Rams picked him up.
Robey-Coleman vividly described the bar scene in A Bronx Tale as a metaphor for how he plans to dismantle the Patriots–
“We kick ’em out of the bar, beat ’em up—and the one thing he said, he looked down at a guy and said, ‘I did this to you.’ That’s how I want to feel: I did this to you. I did this to you.”
Clenching his firsts, he continued to describe why the Patriots enrage him:
“I’ve got Buffalo blood running through my veins, so you know I hate these guys,” Robey-Coleman says. “I naturally hate them. I never liked New England.”
It’s the little things, he explains. The “arrogance.” The fact that Bill Belichickis going to go for it on 4th-and-3 when he’s leading 17-0 in the fourth quarter. The Patriots love “antagonizing” teams, Robey-Coleman says.
“S–t like that. Little s–t to look down upon a team,” he adds. “Little assh–e stuff like that. That’s what makes you not like New England.”
Robey-Coleman also echoed the statements that have been floating around the media for years now–Tom Brady is a shell of his former self and exploiting that is the key to the Rams’ success.
“We have to stay connected,” he says. “And he will slowly start to reveal himself.”
Asked if there are signs that Brady isn’t the same Brady, he nods aggressively.
“Yes. Yes. Age has definitely taken a toll. For him to still be doing it, that’s a great compliment for him. But I think that he’s definitely not the same quarterback he was,” Robey-Coleman says. “Movement. Speed. Velocity. Arm strength. He still can sling it, but he’s not slinging it as much. Whatever he was doing—because of his age and all that—he’s not doing as much of that anymore. He’s still doing the same things; he’s just not doing as much of it. And sometimes, it’s not the sharpest. But it still gets done.”
Don’t poke the bear, bro.
[h/t Bleacher Report]