Unless you are the sister of fullback Jack Westover, who ended up winning $18,000 on a bet, you probably didn’t expect the New England Patriots to make it to the Super Bowl this season. That’s fine, you’re not alone.
In fact, several Patriots players themselves were surprised just how quickly the Patriots turned their fortunes around one year after going 4-13 and changing head coaches. It is precisely that underdog mentality that lies at the foundation of the team’s rallying cry.
We all we got. We all we need.
Where did it come from, though? According to defensive tackle Milton Williams, wide receiver Stefon Diggs was the one to first bring it up.
“Diggs just kind of said that and we just kind of went with it, to be honest,” Williams said earlier this week. “But, I mean, that’s what it is. Nobody was expecting us to make it this far. Nobody was really watching the Patriots, but we knew the guys we had in the locker room and we knew the work that we put in all year.”
The Patriots’ battle cry originated around the same time they introduced their “Zombieland” celebration, which also was shortly after they began embracing the “Road Warrior” mentality: in Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills, a pivotal point for the team this season. Its upset win over the undefeated division rivals was a statement from what was then a 2-2 club.
“We went into Buffalo, a very hostile environment with a great team and I felt like my teammates needed to hear that,” Diggs recalled. “Being here gave me the motivation, being here gave me that saying. I feel like I owed it to my team and I feel like in that very moment that nobody believed in us.”
The Patriots became believers quickly. After beating the Bills, they lost only one more game the rest of the way and are now playing the Seattle Seahawks for the Lombardi Trophy.
