When left guard Cole Strange was selected by the New England Patriots with their first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, several analysts and pundits mocked the selection, believing the guard from Tennessee-Chattanooga was selected too early.

Following the Patriots' win over the Steelers on Sunday, Strange shared with Go Long's Tyler Dunne how he felt about those who mocked New England for drafting him.

“No! [Expletive] no! I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’ I didn’t give a [expletive],” Strange told Dunne. “The coaches, the guys on the team, it’s all about culture and winning and just playing ball and working your ass off. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I love it.”

If Strange plays like the way he did on Sunday, the Patriots won't give a bleep, either.

Strange was part of a Patriots offensive line that didn't allow a sack in Sunday's win. He allowed just a pressure and a quarterback hit himself while mostly lined up against Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro defensive tackle Cam Heyward.

The rookie also stepped up in crunch time. When the Patriots were up three and had the ball with 6:33 left, they mostly ran to the left side behind Strange and left tackle Trent Brown. They had success, rushing for 36 yards on four carries (one of them being a five-yard scramble by Mac Jones). Two of those rushes resulted in a first down on a third down situation, helping the Patriots run the clock out to secure the victory.

Mac Jones has noticed the strong play Cole Strange has brought so far through the first two games of his career.

“He’s very stoic, but very competitive in his own way,” Jones said Sunday. “He’s always hustling to the ball and doing a great job learning the offense. He’s really done a great job. It’s hard coming in as a rookie and starting and he’s done a great job.

“He’s just got to continue to grow and improve what he wants to improve on. That’s what I tell him… He’s done a good job, and we’ve just got to continue to grow and let those guys mold with the five guys.”

Even though Strange played a big part in the Steelers' sackless performance on Sunday, Pro Football Focus didn't think as highly of his outing. The football analytic website gave Strange a 61.3 grade for his run blocking and a 40.1 grade for his pass blocking.

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Patriots coach Bill Belichick noted that Heyward got his way at times (the Steelers defensive tackle had five tackles). But he also thought Strange and the Patriots' offensive line held up well considering the Bengals gave up seven sacks to the Steelers' defensive front in Week 1.

“Certainly, a good test for Cole to go against a player of that quality,” Belichick said Monday. “I thought we were competitive. Heyward was disruptive, but certainly seen it worse, so we’ll probably take it. Less disruptive than he was against Cincinnati a week ago, that’s for sure, so that was a good thing.

“Generally speaking, our pass protection, again, was pretty good, width of the pocket was good, depth of the pocket was good. We had a couple of plays where we got edge, had a holding penalty, had a couple hits on the quarterback, but overall, I’d say the pocket was pretty clean.”

While Strange might not have had a strong performance by PFF's standards in Week 2, he did in Week 1. He recorded an 87.2 pass-blocking grade as he didn't even allow a pressure against the Dolphins. His pass-blocking grade was also the fourth-highest among all guards in Week 1.

The performance from Strange and the rest of the Patriots' offensive line in Sunday's game is certainly a welcomed development for New England and Jones. The offensive line struggled to protect the quarterback and get a consistent push in the run game during training camp and the preseason. They also allowed two sacks in Week 1, with one of them being a strip-sack.

Jones made sure to give credit to all of them following Sunday's game.

“I didn’t even really get hit,” Jones said. “So hats off to them.”