Patriots Brian Flores, Kyle Van Noy have risen above ‘clash’ to power New England's defense

ATLANTA – Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores admits this time it escalated.

He and linebacker Kyle Van Noy were entangled in yet another disagreement at practice ahead of the Patriots’ final regular-season game against the Jets.

Flores went home and vented his frustration to his wife, Jennifer.

Then New England’s lead tackler scooped a loose Sam Darnold ball and raced 46 yards for a touchdown.

Jennifer noticed.

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“Are you still mad at Kyle?” Flores remembers her asking.

“Absolutely not,” the coach replied. Flores said his tempestuous linebacker erupted in laughter upon hearing the exchange. “She’s the smart one,” Van Noy added.

“We get into it,” Van Noy told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. “We clash. He wants to be really good at what he does and I want to be really good at what I do [so] we kind of butt heads sometimes and that’s OK. It happens.”

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Then what happens after Van Noy succeeds a tense practice with game-time magic to the tune of a team-high 92 tackles, 10 quarterback hits and that 46-yard fumble-recovery return this season? The edgy linebacker doesn’t say a word.

“You don’t need to,” he said.

Van Noy’s success in New England, and the quirky traditions and stories his trade have since invited, contrast starkly his two-and-a-half seasons in Detroit. He joins receivers Cordarelle Patterson and Phillip Dorsett as high draft picks who have found second homes with the Patriots. Patterson became a Patriot in his sixth season after Minnesota selected him in the first round (he spent one intermediate year in Oakland). Dorsett suited up two seasons as the Colts’ first-round pick before joining the Patriots in 2017.

Van Noy, the Lions’ 2014 second-rounder, didn’t produce at their levels. He mustered 13 tackles and a sack in 23 active games through two seasons. In a breakthrough 2016 season, he exceeded his production with 23 tackles (21 solo) and a quarterback hit in seven games.

The Patriots dealt their sixth-round pick to Detroit for Van Noy and a seventh-rounder. They realized quickly his versatility to rush and cover, tackle in space and conceptualize changing defensive schemes.

But Van Noy’s attitude, like his understanding of Bill Belichick’s playbook, took time to mold, Flores said.

“The first week he got here, had been in Detroit, it was all new,” remembered Flores, then Van Noy’s position coach. “He was in a bad mood a lot of the time so he and I had a few conversations about that, got that straightened out. He’s been great since.”

Van Noy ramped up his production to 73 tackles and 5.5 sacks in 2017 before leading New England with 92 and 10 quarterback hits (3.5 sacks) this season.

In practice, coordinator and linebacker challenge each other with fire.

Each hesitated when asked Thursday how far the disagreements escalate. But each also broke out into a smile, and laughter, when tasked with describing their relationship. The same fire that fuels their disagreements, they realize, sends them into fits of laughter.

Take Van Noy’s traditions when he errs.

Miss a play? “I don’t want to be great,” Van Noy will tell Flores. If he did want to, he reckons, he’d make every play. No matter that he led the Patriots with 10 tackles and two sacks – one strip sack – in their 37-31 OT conference championship at Kansas City. Flores is quick to acknowledge Van Noy also missed a sack in the game.

Van Noy’s annoyance lingers even longer when he misses a turnover opportunity. He points to a divisional-round drop of what he calls a “buttercup interception Phillip Rivers threw.”

He mandates a self-imposed 10 pushups per missed interception. Make no mistake, Van Noy says, he counts off all 10, even finishing the set on the sideline to allow the game to play on.

“Man, Kyle gonna be Kyle,” fellow linebacker Elandon Roberts told USA TODAY Sports. “You never know what to expect out of Kyle. But he definitely holds himself to a high expectation.”

It’s a high expectation Van Noy takes prides in, teammates laud and Flores – through the angst it causes them – admires. That standard has helped Van Noy anchor three straight Super Bowl teams even if teammates aren’t yet adopting Van Noy’s traditions.

“I missed a couple picks and I’m not doing pushups,” Roberts said. “I be wanting to come back and make another play.

“I don’t need my arms sore from pushups.”

You can follow Jori Epstein on Twitter @JoriEpstein.