Patriots’ Jabrill Peppers apologizes for comments he made about own team

New England Patriots defensive back Jabrill Peppers was caught on a hot mic last week making a very honest admission about his team, and it sounds like he regrets the comment.

Peppers is in his second season with the Patriots. He previously played for the New York Giants for three years, so he got to face his former team last Sunday. New England had another atrocious offensive performance en route to a 10-7 loss.

After the game, Peppers chatted with some of his ex-teammates. He made a brutally honest admission to Saquon Barkley, telling Barkley that the star running back is “lucky we a–.” You can see the video here.

The clip went viral, and Peppers was asked about it on Friday. He apologized for creating a distraction but seemed to stand by his assessment of himself and his teammates.

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

Peppers said his remark to Barkley was not meant as a shot at anyone, hence why he said “we.” He said it also was not a reflection of how hard the Patriots have worked this season.

“That doesn’t speak to the character we got in this locker room,” Peppers added. “We all come to work willing and ready to do whatever it takes to help this team win. The ball just hasn’t been rolling in our favor, and that’s on no one but us.”