Devonta Freeman...Tread Lightly

(Source)- How are defenses supposed to account for Julio Jones' physical route-running when doubling him means opening up seams for Taylor Gabriel? How will New England get an outside pass rush on Ryan and have enough linebackers to match up with the Falcons' tight ends? Most importantly, how is any unit supposed to defend the complementary running back styles of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman?

Freeman has a short and sweet answer to the last query.

"We can do whatever we want," Freeman told Pro Football Talk on Thursday. "Pick your poison. ... We've had the game plan. The game plan doesn't change."

I honestly just don't understand. When are people going to learn that talking smack to the Patriots is only going to fire them up more? Maybe if it was a Week 10 matchup I wouldn't make too big of a deal out of this. Let us take a look at those who have called the Pats out recently...

ANTHONY SMITH-PITTSBURGH 

A young safety calls out the greatest of all time. Interesting. Let's see what happened!

Ahhhhh yes. You call out the best and get torched. Could have seen that coming.

LITERALLY EVERYONE-DEFLATEGATE

How can we forget the incident that never happened! After the AFC Championship game, as we all know, the Pats were accused of tampering with the PSI of their footballs. Basic science eventually proved that this simply wasn't true (see: Ideal Gas Law), but this didn't stop the Patriots from getting ready to jam another Super Bowl win down the league's throat.

Mark Brunell crying about Tom Brady...seems legit. Let's see how this one played out!

Hahaha oh yeah wait...we won the Super Bowl. Ho hum. Next, please!

PETE CARROL-SEATTLE

(SOURCE) "OK," Carroll said during the "Brock and Salk" show on 710 ESPN Seattle. "It's not a great place. They weren't nuts. It's because they're so used to winning. There was a time when they kicked their last field goal to go ahead, and it was like a round of applause for the nice effort. Gosh, our guys would be going berserk. We're so hungry for it..."

Pretty good idea here by the coach of the Seahawks. It's not like the above example had anything to do with him or anything. That would be awkward. This was said after the Seahawks actually beat the Pats in Gillette, a rare feat. However, it is what happens AFTER someone calls out the Pats that we're worried about here. I wonder how they finished up the season...

from CBS.com

Yep. Looks like the Seahawks were eliminated in the second round this year. Seems like the Patriots are in the Super Bowl. Maybe Carroll should worry more about how his team plays than how loud Gillette is. Just a thought, though.

MIKE TOMLIN-PITTSBURGH 

This one was the most recent. Antonio Brown was Facebook Live-ing after their win in the Divisional round over the Chiefs. While on FB Live, Brown caught a speech by Tomlin, the head coach, calling the Patriots "assholes'. Let us see how this one went down.

Not looking too good for those who come at the Pats. Hopefully the same can be said this time next week about Devonta Freeman. I think that Tom & Co. will be pumped up as it is so they can win and shove it in Roger Goodell's smug, idiot face. Only time will tell.