Exclusive: Devin McCourty Talks Interceptions, Momentum, and Nicknames

Thanks to Devin McCourty for taking the time to speak with us. Readers, please venture to TackleSickleCell.org to donate to a good cause. Devin is barely beating his brother in donations, so please help out and make it a clear victory!

PP: Devin, you had a fantastic interception early on in the game, but when we asked readers to vote on the best play you only received 10% of the vote, compared to 75% for Chandler Jones. If you were campaigning for your play, what would be your selling point?

DMC: I thought [the interception] was a big momentum shift. So much of the game is momentum, or how you started. I thought [the Vikings] got off to a good start with our defense not playing particularly well on the first drive, as [Minnesota] went 80 yards and scored a touchdown, and [then their defense] got a three-and-out.

We always talk about playing off each other and I thought [Minnesota] did a good job, and I thought that interception gave us a chance to play off each other.

Me going out at the one yard line, and then the offense scoring, that was huge. That helped us get rolling and really changed the game. But [Chandler Jones] scored a touchdown, so it's hard to compete with a touchdown.

I should've probably scored on that chance (laughing).

PP: [Since you went out at the one yard line], do you have [Patriots running back Stevan Ridley] on your fantasy team?

DMC: You know me and Ridley have the same agent, so we're together watching out for each other (laughing). So hopefully people that have Ridley will put me on their fantasy team since I went out and got them a touchdown.

PP: The Patriots are leading the league with seven forced turnovers- and five are interceptions. Logan Ryan, "Instant Offense", has two forced turnovers." [Darrelle Revis] Revis Island has picked up two more turnovers. How is the defense going to sustain its success and when do you get a nickname?

DMC: (laughing) I don't know when I get my own nickname, but I think I was one of the guys who started calling Logan "Instant Offense" back last year.

I think for us in the secondary, we want to hunt the ball each week. That's our goal: to go and hunt the ball. We're going to play teams that will do a good job of not giving us the chance, but that will continue to be our focus.

I think that's winning football for us; getting takeaways and getting the ball back in the offense's hands. If we can do that, then we can win games. That'll be a key for us [as a unit] and that'll continue to be a key for us.

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Thanks to Devin for answering a few questions about the game. We'll have more points from our conversation posted later today.

In the meantime, I think that Devin McCourty needs to have an official nickname. He's currently "Dev", which, quite frankly, can be improved upon. Please put ideas in the comments and upvote the best.