FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Members of the Philadelphia Eagles think that Patriots players hate playing in Foxborough. The most recent to voice that idea was Brandon Brooks.

On Wednesday, the Eagles guard said players don’t enjoy playing for the Patriots and used Reggie Wayne’s brief time in Foxboro as an example and said, “(expletive)’s not fun there.” His teammate Lane Johnson, who has bashed the Patriot Way all offseason, also chimed in: “All these guys talking about ‘I’ll take the rings.’ OK. You can have your rings. You can also have (expletive) 15 miserable years.”

On Thursday, multiple members of the Patriots were asked about the comments and if they were actually able to have fun.

“It’s been working. We’re all employed for the Patriots. We won games,” Devin McCourty said. “We were just in the Super Bowl last year. I wouldn’t say that was the most awful season ever. We got a couple guys here from Cleveland. They went 0-16. They told me that wasn’t fun. I’m going to try and stay on this side of it.”

Former Patriots defensive end Cassius Marsh backed the anti-Patriots sentiment last weekend, saying he hated his time in New England. Although McCourty and his teammates will admit that playing for Bill Belichick is hard, they also say that the end game is worth it.

Of course, a close-knit locker room also helps.

“I think you look at a team who beat us in the Super Bowl and now you’ve got guys talking about it, that’s front page news,” McCourty said. “Then Cassius leaves, he played here, so that’s another, but like Cassius had a frustrating time here so I don’t expect him to say that he had a great time. I think if you ask any guy on this team, the fun we have comes hanging with each other. … No one in Philly can say, ‘those guys don’t like each other. They hate it there.’ You don’t know that.”

Dont’a Hightower is used to being coached tough. In college, he was taught by Belichick disciple Nick Saban. He admitted that the long days are tough, but after the Patriots win, he usually thinks of all the extra work the team put in and how it helped.

“It’s not Bill’s job to make this fun. It’s the guys around it,” Hightower said. “Every guy in that locker room, I love like a brother. We have fun whether it’s we out here struggling together, blood sweat and tears or we’re back in the locker room or hanging out outside of football. There’s a time and place for everything, but we know whenever we walk in the building, it’s time to work.”

TEXANS: Five former Texans cheerleaders are suing the franchise, alleging the team failed to fully compensate them as required by law and subjected them to hostile work environment in which they were harassed, intimidated and forced to live in fear.