Patriots former rival not completely sold on team ahead of 2026 season

Former All-Pro linebacker and current ESPN commentator Bart Scott wants to see how the New England Patriots perform when they're "the hunted" in the 2026 NFL season. Scott has been viewed as a longtime rival of the team due to his stints with the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets as an NFL player. When appearing on ESPN's Get Up on Wednesday, he explained that the Patriots caught teams by surprise by winning 14 games last season.

However, he expects them to get every team's best shot in the 2026 season after last year's run as AFC champions. "With the Patriots, it's intriguing because usually when you have a year that's unexpected, sometimes you have a course correction because now people aren't used to being the hunted," said Scott. "They're used to being hunters.

Now, let's see how the Patriots handle that. The [Buffalo] Bills are going to be coming for redemption, and everybody is going to start eyeing and circling those games. " "[The Patriots] aren't used to being the hunted, they're used to being the hunters...

Let's see how the Patriots handle that. " @BartScott57 on the Lions-Patriots Week 10 matchup in Munich 🍿 pic. twitter.