Patriots' Devin McCourty regrets Joe Judge-Brian Daboll comparison

New England Patriots safety Devin McCourty regrets the way he recently compared offensive assistant Joe Judge to New York Giants first-year head coach Brian Daboll. 

"I probably shouldn’t have mentioned his name, because as soon as you mention someone’s name, I feel like the worst things are always thought about," McCourty explained Wednesday about what became somewhat controversial comments, per Zack Cox of NESN. 

According to Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post, McCourty seemed to unintentionally shade Judge, who served as Giants head coach across the previous two seasons, while speaking about Daboll during CBS' "NFL Today" program that aired this past Sunday. 

"He's a players' guy," McCourty said of Daboll at that time. "I actually saw (safety) Xavier McKinney, and he talked about having [Daboll] in the building – easygoing, fun time, different from when Judge was there. And I think all of the players are enjoying it, and they’re playing hard for [Daboll] right now." 

Judge accumulated an overall record of 10-23 with the Giants before he was fired in January, while Daboll has thus far guided Big Blue to a 7-2 mark. Meanwhile, McCourty attempted to clear the air on Wednesday. 

"Like, I was just talking about two guys, two different personalities, and talking to McKinney, he just talked about — again, whenever teams get new coaches and they’re opposite of the coach before," the 35-year-old said. "Kind of like in Miami. Like, Mike McDaniel is probably different than (former Dolphins coach Brian Flores)." 

McCourty continued: 

"I learned a lesson. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned a former coach and a guy that’s here, because now I’m sure headlines are running wild with what I said or didn’t say that came across in a certain way." 

Retired cornerback Jason McCourty, Devin's twin brother, currently works as one of the hosts for the "Good Morning Football" show that airs on NFL Network. Devin hopes to eventually pursue a career in media once he calls time on his playing days, but he may first have to deal with a displeased Bill Belichick at some point before the 5-4 Patriots host the 6-3 New York Jets in a pivotal matchup this coming Sunday.