Davon Godchaux says Patriots’ underdog status vs. Bengals was ‘disrespectful’

"After we string a couple of wins, I still want everybody to stay on that side and keep us underdogs."

Expectations weren’t exactly high for the Patriots going into their season-opening game against the Bengals on Sunday afternoon.

With New England still in the midst of an extensive rebuild, the Patriots were listed as underdogs in every game for the 2024 season — including being labeled as 8.5-point underdogs against a Bengals team seemingly tabbed as potential Super Bowl contenders this year.

But on Sunday, the Bengals were far from formidable against a tenacious Patriots squad — with New England leaving Paycor Stadium with a 16-10 win in what stood as the top upset of Week 1 across the NFL.

It might have been just one game, but the Patriots defied plenty of initial projections of a team destined to mire at the bottom of the NFL standings, deploying a smash-mouth, run-heavy offense while making momentum-shifting plays on defense.

Even if the Patriots are coming off of a miserable 4-13 season in 2023, it became apparent after New England’s win that the team’s underdog status rankled some of the veterans in the locker room.

“Disrespectful. Very disrespectful,” defensive tackle Davon Godchaux said of New England being 8.5-point underdogs against Cincy. “That’s the people, PFF, they don’t know much about football. They’re going to say the Patriots are going to be 8.5-point underdogs, man, that’s why you still have to play the game.

“It doesn’t matter what somebody says, [it’s] why the game has to be played between the white lines. We don’t take it personally; it is what it is. Nobody’s giving us a chance. After we string a couple of wins, I still want everybody to stay on that side and keep us underdogs. Because we love to be that.”

As noted by Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, Sunday marked the first time in eight years that the Patriots have won a game as 8.5-point underdogs. From 2017-23, New England was 0-5 in those matchups against such a heavily favored opponent.

The Patriots had plenty of detractors entering the 2024 season, with most of those criticisms regarding New England’s offensive line and lack of proven playmakers validated by several lackluster preseason performances in August.

Even if it remains unlikely that the Patriots’ offense is poised to transform into a 30-point-per-game juggernaut, it’s clear that New England’s locker room has rallied around the narratives hovering over the team.

“We don’t really care about the outside noise,” Jabrill Peppers told Christopher Price of The Boston Globe. “We only care about what the people believe and think inside our building. We know the work we put in, day in and day out, the work that the coaches put in day in and day out. We’re here for one common goal, and that’s to win.

“People can say whatever they want to say. They can’t play for you. You still have to put that football down and line up. That’s our mind-set. We go about business the right way. We put in work. And I think we did a good job in all three phases today.”