The name ‘Bernard Pollard’ doesn’t bring up happy memories in the minds of New England Patriots fans.
The now-retired safety spent nine seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens, and Tennessee Titans. During that time, Pollard was known as a hard-hitting strong safety who punished guys coming across the middle.
When it came to his matchups with the Patriots, Pollard put a lot of guys on the sideline.
It was Pollard who hit Tom Brady’s knee in the 2008 season opener, causing a torn ACL. The following year, Wes Welker was carted off the field after cutting to avoid a hit from the safety.
When Pollard joined the Ravens, he met up with the Patriots and took out superstar Rob Gronkowski in the 2011 playoffs, and just a couple years later, knocked out running back Stevan Ridley in the postseason again.
So, fans dubbed Pollard as “the Patriot Killer.”
On Sunday’s episode of “Double Coverage,” Jason and Devin McCourty’s podcast, Pollard, who was teammates with Jason in Tennessee, joined the program and discussed the nickname.
“I played the game hard,” said Pollard. “For me, I just played tough. It was crazy that a lot of the injuries happened to the Patriots when I played them. But I think it’s a team where the fan base is excited about what they do. They are excited about the product on the football field.
“When I played New England, it was Tom Brady, it was Gronkowski, it was Wes Welker, it was Stevan Ridley… it’s one of those things. It was tough,” he continued. “The Super Bowl was lost because Gronkowski wasn’t 100 percent. A season was lost… but the playoffs [were] missed when Matt Cassel had to step in. So they’re looking at two more Super Bowls the organization could have potentially had.”
Pollard’s name has an extremely negative connotation in New England and with all those injuries to important players, it’s not hard to understand why.
At least the “Patriot Killer” can’t hurt them anymore.
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