BOSTON (CBS) — For someone who spouts nonsense on a regular basis, ESPN’s Max Kellerman sure does wield a lot of power. At the very least, he’s gotten inside the ears of many, many people. And that list of people now officially includes at least one member of the Patriots, as linebacker Kyle Van Noy called out Max Kellerman by name on Wednesday in an interview on Zolak & Bertrand. Unprompted, Van Noy commended Scott Zolak for his tweet mocking Kellerman’s opinions of quarterback Tom Brady. The conversation went like this. (SI’s Albert Breer was also in studio.) Van Noy: First, I want to start this show off with Mr. Scott Zolak with his little tweet at Max Kellerman. Zolak: You liked that, didn’t ya? Van Noy: You went after him. I liked it. I respect that. I just wanted to commend you for that. Breer: So there’s an awareness of what Max Kellerman’s been saying in the Patriots locker room? Van Noy: Well maybe since everybody says we need to stick to football, he needs to stick to his boxing whatever he does, his commentating. It is what it is. We enjoy being the underdog. We hear people — guys are old, the linebackers are slow — but at the end of the day, we believe in the guys that we have in our room, we just want to play as one unit. Offense, defense, and special teams, we know what we’re capable of. We just want to play as a team. Breer: So do you guys suck? READ MORE: Massachusetts Reopening: 10 Things You'll Be Able To Do Starting May 29 Van Noy: Oh, you did your homework, huh? Honestly, that’s just a joke. Because we’ve been hearing it all year, #wesuck. So it’s kind of just fun, just playing around with people, because we know what we’re capable of, and we just want to play. Like guys have been saying all week in the media, give us a ball, give us some lines, some field goal posts, and let’s play. Van Noy was referencing this tweet: Marc Bertrand alerted Van Noy to the fact that the Patriots are legitimately underdogs this week, with Vegas and many experts picking against them. Van Noy: I like that. I like when people tell us we can’t do anything or win anything. We just keep proving people wrong. We’re excited for this challenge. It’s hard to go into Arrowhead Stadium and come out with a W, but we’re gonna do our very best. And I’m excited for this challenge, I’m excited to play Patrick Mahomes again, I’m excited to play under the lights with all the pressure, I’m excited to play with the guys again, another week to play with the group of men we got. We’ve got a good group of men here. Keep counting us out. Breer asked Van Noy if hearing from outside doubters actually does motivate players. Van Noy: I mean, at the end of the day, you don’t need motivation to play in the AFC championship. We know how big of a blessing it is to get here. But we earned the right to get here, and I think that’s what people forget. We battled our asses off all year to get to this point. So what better way to just go and grab what’s ours? MORE NEWS: Full Time In-Person Learning Required For All Massachusetts Schools This Fall The AFC Championship Game will kick off Sunday night in Kansas City.<doc-sep>Kyle Van Noy doesn’t have time for Max Kellerman’s brutal sports takes. The New England Patriots linebacker talked about the ESPN talking head Wednesday morning during his weekly appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak & Bertrand” show. And it’s safe to say that Van Noy is as sick of Kellerman doubting the Patriots as everybody else is. Check out this tweet from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer: Some gold from @KVN_03 on with us on @ZoandBertrand, he went right at @maxkellerman: "Maybe since people say we need to stick to football, he should stick to his boxing commentating." — Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 16, 2019 That’ll do it.<doc-sep>Kyle Van Noy seems intent upon holding ESPN’s Max Kellerman accountable for his hot takes. Van Noy took a jab at Kellerman on Wednesday while making an appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak and Bertrand.” Kellerman probably drew Van Noy’s ire because he has been asserting for months that Tom Brady is falling off a cliff which will mark the end of the Patriots’ dynasty. Most recently, Kellerman picked the Chargers to upset the Patriots in the AFC divisional round — which didn’t go in Kellerman’s favor. Some gold from @KVN_03 on with us on @ZoandBertrand, he went right at @maxkellerman: "Maybe since people say we need to stick to football, he should stick to his boxing commentating." — Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 16, 2019 Kellerman, who also serves as an analyst for HBO during boxing matches, admitted he was wrong to pick the Chargers, but stuck with his opinion on Brady. Kellerman went out of his way to praise Bill Belichick on Sunday — but in the process seemed to be trolling Brady, who finished the 41-28 win over L.A. with a 77 completion percentage, 343 yards and a touchdown.<doc-sep>Maddie Meyer/Getty Images New England Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy took Max Kellerman to task for Kellerman's second-guessing of Tom Brady and the Patriots. In addition to his work for ESPN on First Take, Kellerman has served as a boxing analyst for ESPN and HBO. In an interview on 98.5 The Sport Hub's Zolak & Bertrand, Van Noy suggested Kellerman should focus more on the latter sport (h/t The MMQB's Albert Breer): Throughout the 2018 season, Kellerman has maintained Brady is beginning to decline. He stuck to his guns even after the Patriots' 41-28 divisional-round victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, a game in which Brady threw for 343 yards and a touchdown: If anything, Van Noy and his teammates should welcome the criticism. After all, Brady essentially said in his postgame interview the Patriots were the underdogs ahead of the AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs. A franchise that has five Super Bowl titles and eight conference championships since 2001 has to capitalize on any slight—real or perceived—as a source of motivation.<doc-sep>
There may not be a bigger Patriots detractor on the national stage than ESPN's Max Kellerman. The First Take host has beaten the drum that Tom Brady is set to fall off a cliff for years to no avail, has repeatedly picked against them and even noted that Brady was the worst remaining quarterback heading into the Divisional Round. And now the Patriots are starting to take notice and take aim at Kellerman. While appearing on 98.5 The Sports Hub's Zoklak and Bertrand program on Wednesday, Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy commended host Scott Zolak, a former Patriots quarterback, for calling out Kellerman on social media and then gave a few shots of his own. "Well maybe, because everybody says we need to stick to football, he needs to stick to his boxing or whatever he does, his commentating," Van Noy said, via NBC Sports Boston. "It is what it is," he continued. "We enjoy being the underdog. We hear people (say), 'Guys are old. The linebackers are slow.' But at the end of the day, we believe the guys in our room that we have. We just want to play as one unit -- offense, defense and special teams. We know what we're capable of and we just want to play as a team." Van Noy's jab back at Kellerman comes off the heels of the Patriots official Twitter account also taking a shot at the First Take host after the beat the Chargers in the AFC Divisional Round. More so than in recent years, the Patriots have been pretty vocal about being the underdogs heading into Kansas City this week and haven't by shy at calling out the doubters. Tom Brady kicked things off after beating the Chargers and speaking with CBS' Tracy Wolfson on the field about the upcoming AFC Championship saying that he knows people think they "suck and can't win any games." Devin McCourty also carried over that chip in his postgame presser. "I think for us, we were going to prepare and be ready to go, whether you pick us or you don’t pick us. But, we see it," McCourty said Sunday. "We see our quarterback’s too old, we’re not good enough on defense, the skill players aren’t good. We see it, but it doesn’t affect how we prepare. We love practicing and we love playing with each other, preparing. We’re going to take advantage of that and come out ready to go no matter what. So, like I said earlier, we have a team of great character, a lot of guys in there with really good character that are going to keep fighting and have already been counted out multiple times, so that never affects us." Clearly this team has a chip on their shoulder.