FOXBOROUGH – Matthew Judon made his way to New England at an interesting time.

The Patriots were fresh off their first season of not making the playoffs in 12 years. Despite the 7-9 season in 2020, Judon opted to join the Patriots, coming from Baltimore where he had played on a Ravens team that seemed to be a perennial playoff contender.

Judon's arrival to New England in 2021 helped the Patriots get back on the right track. He was arguably their best player on defense, recording a career-best 12.5 sacks to help the Patriots to a 10-7 record and get back into the playoffs.

Judon's arguably off to a better start this season than he was in 2021. He's already got six sacks through the first five games, recording at least a sack in each game to this point. Despite Judon's dominant play to open up the season, the Patriots' record hasn't reflected it. New England is just 2-3 to open up the year as questions linger if the Patriots have fallen back to being a non-playoff team again.

The three-time Pro Bowl linebacker was asked that now he's 25 games into his Patriots' tenure (even though it's really only been 23, including the postseason), how can New England get back to its consistent winning ways as it's gone 12-11 through his first 23 games with the team.

“I’m 25 games in and I think we could be 25-0, honestly, I think we could be 25-0,” Judon said. “We have a team and a unit that can do that. And we just have to continue to work our butts off, and continue to strive for greatness. And we can do it, we competed, but we got to show up to work every day. It’s not only on Sundays when the cameras are on and the lights are bright. We got to work every day.

“When nobody sees us and nobody cares, nobody’s tweeting about it and nobody’s here in our face with cameras, that’s when we’re really working. So when we all do that, when we all commit and strive for one thing, we will be dangerous. But right now we’re still striving for greatness. We don’t see what we read.”

The Patriots certainly took a step in the right direction in getting back to their winning ways in Week 5, and Judon helped lead the way.

New England shut out the Detroit Lions at home, winning 29-0 behind an all-around impressive performance. While Rhamondre Stevenson and Jakobi Meyers each had 100-yard games and rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe gave everyone Zappe Fever, Judon might have had the most impressive performance of the game. He recorded two sacks, three total tackles, four quarterback hits, and a forced fumble, which led to a scoop-and-score for Kyle Dugger.

Matthew Judon's strong play against the Lions earned him AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. Winning the award only meant one thing though for Judon.

“It means we won the game,” Judon said. “I don't think you can get it if you lost. That means we won the game and our defense played really well. I made a couple of plays. I enjoy every award that comes to me with the game. But it's a team effort.”

After dismantling the Lions, the Patriots next face the Browns, who have former Patriot Jacoby Brissett starting at quarterback. Brissett said earlier in the week that Judon is everything Patriots coach Bill Belichick looks for in a player. Judon said he didn't know why exactly he feels he meshes so well in New England.

“I'm going to give the credit to my teammates, man,” Judon said. “They always have my back. We fight like brothers. We get mad at each other. At the end of the day though, it's all love and respect for each other. With that, I can be myself. I can be a fan of the game. I can be a student of the game. And I can be a leader when I'm needed to be.”

Brissett also called Judon “a freak.”

“Thank you,” Judon said when asked about his thoughts on what Brissett said.

Matthew Judon's had some success against his former AFC North divisional rival, recording 1.5 sacks, 12 quarterback hits, 35 combined tackles, and two fumble recoveries in 11 games.