Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman is quickly running away from his Patriots trash talk

Robey-Coleman talked about stabbing the Patriots to death, but meant no disrespect, guys.

Nickell Robey-Coleman made headlines in the run-up to his Super Bowl 53 matchup with the New England Patriots by calling out Tom Brady and graphically comparing beating the five-time NFL champions to the bar fight scene in A Bronx Tale.

“We kick ‘em out of the bar, beat ‘em up—and the one thing he said, he looked down at a guy and said, ‘I did this to you.’ That’s how I want to feel: I did this to you. I did this to you,”Robey-Colemantold Bleacher Report’s Tyler Dunne.

“Stick a dagger in them. They’re not a team that you want to play around with. Stick the dagger in them and don’t leave it in them! Take it out! And let them leak. Let them leak slow. Put the dagger in them, pull it out, and let them leak slow. Just kill ‘em slowly. That’s how you do them.”

Now the Rams’ cornerback cannot fathom why the press thought his comments about stabbing the Patriots to death were construed as disrespect.

Tom Brady heard what he said, too

Robey-Coleman was less violent when it came to Brady, the 41-year-old quarterback making his ninth Super Bowl start.

“Yes. Yes. Age has definitely taken a toll,” the Rams’ cornerback said. “For him to still be doing it, that’s a great compliment for him. But I think that he’s definitely not the same quarterback he was. Movement. Speed. Velocity. Arm strength.

”He still can sling it, but he’s not slinging it as much. Whatever he was doing—because of his age and all that—he’s not doing as much of that anymore. He’s still doing the same things; he’s just not doing as much of it. And sometimes, it’s not the sharpest. But it still gets done.”

This was barely shade (and mostly accurate, at least in the regular season) but Robey-Coleman still felt the need to walk back those comments at the Super Bowl’s opening night media scrum on Monday.

“I could never talk about somebody that’s like the sensei of football. Can’t talk about the sensei of football. It’s a respect level. I feel a little bit disrespected that people think I would disrespect Tom Brady. I’ve got nothing but respect. I’m a class act when it comes to that.”

That confusing clarification may have come too late. When Brady was asked about the comments, he made a point to let the world know he heard them, but also wasn’t going to talk about them.

Robey-Coleman had no problem playing the villain after his uncalled pass interference penalty helped push the Rams into the Super Bowl. His ownership of his mistake and shrug towards one of the worst calls in playoff history made Los Angeles refreshing and endearing.

But that was after a win — and not in the week before a Super Bowl showdown against a team that thrives in the face of disrespect, whether it’s real or perceived. Brady has been batting away imaginary trash talk throughout the playoffs, even telling the world “everyone thinks we suck” after beating the Chargers as a home favorite in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

No one had explicitly called out Brady’s age ... unit Robey-Coleman made some realistic statements in between suggestions about how, metaphorically, one should beat New England by using lesser Robert De Niro films as a guide.

The Rams’ cornerback realized he gave New England the bulletin board material Brady and Bill Belichick will point to all week before practices. Monday gave Robey-Coleman the chance to walk back his desire to shiv the Patriots, but once that toothpaste’s out of the tube, there’s no getting it back in.