FOXBORO — Aqib Talib still has nothing but love for the Patriots. In fact, Talib nearly re-signed with the Pats last offseason before landing a six-year, $57 million contract with the rival Denver Broncos.
“I definitely came close, man,” Talib said yesterday by phone. “It was a negotiation, and it came down to the language of the contracts. I just went with what I feel was best with me and my family. I can’t remember the logistics and everything. It wasn’t bad at all. The offer wasn’t bad. It was just the language of the offer, how the payout comes. It was some language that I wasn’t trying to hear.
“Me and my agent went with what we thought was best for us and my family.”
That spawned an intense offseason arms race that included the Patriots’ counterstrike of Darrelle Revis, and it all led to Sunday’s monumental showdown between the AFC Championship Game contestants at Gillette Stadium, where the conference’s top seed is on the line.
Talib, who is thrilled in Denver, was admittedly geeked up for the clash, as he couldn’t stop gushing over his career revival during his season and a half with the Patriots. The Pats acquired the 2008 first-round pick in a November 2012 trade with Tampa Bay, and Talib restored an uncertain reputation with an organization that harnesses one of the greatest spotlights in sports.
Bill Belichick and the players adored Talib, and he reciprocated the infatuation. He was a model teammate and shutdown corner who erased the likes of Jimmy Graham and A.J. Green on any given week. The Patriots were 20-7 during Talib’s tenure and went to back-to-back AFC title games, which offered a stark contrast from his playoff drought with the Bucs.
“It was great,” Talib said. “When I got traded, I kind of was mad and sad at first. But at the same time, I knew I was getting a chance to play with a great organization in New England. And once I got there, the locker room was sound. It was a tight locker room, a group of good guys. I just relished the opportunity to get a chance to go compete on all those TV games. It’s like a stage. You get Monday night after Sunday night, playoffs, so it was just a great opportunity with a great organization.
“It makes you appreciate your job more when you’re winning games like that. You want to wake up and come watch the tape from the game before. If we played on Sunday, you want to come to work on Monday because there will be a lot of positive energy in the building. Everybody is going to be happy. You can watch the plays. You won the game.
“It makes you appreciate the job more when you can come to work happy.”
Talib said the mixed emotions from the trade quickly evaporated.
“It didn’t take long at all,” Talib said. “I actually got the call from the personnel guy in Tampa, and maybe five minutes later, I got the call from my brother. And my brother called with a whole different (perspective). I’m thinking he’s going to call and say, ‘Man, forget the Bucs, to hell with the Bucs.’ But he had nothing to say about the Bucs. All he had was positive things to say, and he was like, ‘Man, you get to go play with Tom (Brady). You get to go play on the stage. You got a Sunday night. Your first game back will be a 4:30 game against the Colts.’
“He was just excited. He saw it as an opportunity immediately, and he kind of made me realize that.”
Talib was a reputable cover corner with Tampa Bay, but a forgotten man in the smaller market. He believed people got to finally appreciate his talent playing in New England.
“I played local football in Tampa. I played good football,” Talib said. “I’d been doing it in the shadows, but since you can’t make it on local TV since the fans in Tampa didn’t sell out the games and the owners didn’t buy the tickets, you can’t even get on local TV. They didn’t have prime-time games, so it kind of gets overlooked in Tampa. That’s how I feel.”
Talib did say he cleaned up his technique because Brady exposes anything less than perfection at practice, and Belichick honed his skills, too.
So on Sunday, Talib will seek out all of his former comrades who made his time with the Patriots so special.
“Bill makes you want to impress him,” Talib said. “He makes you want to watch film. He doesn’t bite his tongue for nobody. If he feels like you’re not putting the stance at the line or something like you’re lacking in your technique, he’s going to tell you. A lot of coaches will kind of let you mess up and keep messing up, but Bill is going to correct you every single time that you do something that you’re not supposed to do. So that criticism and that critique, that makes you a much better player.
“It’s exciting to get a chance to go back there and play against a lot of good friends in that great atmosphere. It will be fun. It will be a lot of fun.”
