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Patriots: McCourty twins set for first-time showdown Sunday – Metro US

Patriots: McCourty twins set for first-time showdown Sunday

Ask any NFL player – no regular season game gets them as amped as the regular season opener does.

But for two players – one on the Patriots, and one on the Titans – Sunday means just a little more.

Cornerback Devin McCourty will play against his twin brother, Jason, also a cornerback, in just a few days. It’s a matchup that has surely been the talk of the McCourty household since the schedules were released.

Together since birth, the McCourty’s are practically one in the same. But the last week or so has been all business.

Brotherly love? Forget about it.

“I actually told him to delete my number from his phone,” Devin McCourty said smiling. “Not taking any of his text messages or phone calls this week. I’ll probably start talking to him right after the game on Sunday.”

Sunday marks the first time the twins play football against each other. Both went to Rutgers before Jason was drafted in the sixth round a year before Devin was drafted in the first round. Playing together through college helped evolve their games.

“It’s been huge,” Jason McCourty said. “Always having someone next to you to be honest with you and push you. I can remember some of our college workouts, just getting out there and it being hot and you feel like slacking off. Just to have that person to the side who wasn’t afraid to tell you that you were slacking off or to step it up. Things like that, having that person to push you and motivate you to get you where we are today.”

That isn’t to say the two didn’t push each other over the edge at times. Competition between them was fierce.

“[Laughs] Oh man, you can ask my mom about that,” Jason McCourty said. “Basketball games and video games always ended in a fight. We’d play basketball, not keep score and just go at it.”

Speaking of Mom, who will she be pulling for on Sunday?

“I believe she’s going to wear a half-and-half jersey, but rumor is she’s going to wear a Patriots t-shirt under,” Devin McCourty said.