Baltimore Ravens special-teamer Brendon Ayanbadejo has already apologized for his weekend outburst on Twitter, in which he tagged the New England Patriots' hurry-up offense as a gimmick scheme.
Ayanbadejo's comments reportedly "spread through the locker room faster than the flu virus travelling across New England," a source told Mike Freeman of CBS Sports, but publicly, Patriots players are remaining quintessentially Patriot-like on the matter:
»"No response to that," running back Shane Vereen told the Boston Herald. "It is what it is. We'll play on Sunday."
» "I don't think about those kind of comments," Pro Bowl special-teamer Matthew Slater said.
» Safety Steve Gregory pleaded ignorance: "I haven't heard anything about that. We're just focused on getting ready this week. We're going to hit this grindstone, get to practice and get focused on what we need to do as a team to go out there and win a football game."
Bank on the fact that every Patriots player is fully aware of Ayanbadejo's words, but don't expect anything juicier from this group.
The Patriots don't make a habit of responding to trash-talk, and Bill Belichick's players don't require a Ravens special-teamer to blow up on social media channels to build motivation for Sunday's AFC title game.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
