Heard In The Patriots Locker Room...
FOXBORO - Quotes from Patriots players in the locker room after their 45-3 win over the New York Jets, as furnished by the New England Patriots.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Running Back
(On the offensive production in the game)
"We always want to score. Coach puts us out there as an offensive unit to put points on the board and every time we have the ball, that's what we're looking to do. We're looking to score."
(On the week of practice leading up to the game)
"That's ultimately what happens. What happens in practice is normally what happens on Sunday or nights like tonight - Monday. When you have a good week of practice, hopefully you can carry it over to the game and when you have a bad week of practice, hopefully it doesn't go like that in the game. But most times, it does."
(On whether he was surprised by the final score)
"The Jets are a good football team. They came out and played alright tonight and we just kind of got the better end of them.
(On what set the team up for this performane)
"We had a really good week of practice and it led out onto the field. We carried things over, we did things well at practice and it carried out on the field."
Aaron Hernandez, Tight End
(On how this win feels)
"It feels great. One of the biggest games, probably the biggest game I've ever played in, and it's just an honor to come out with this type of victory.
James Sanders, Safety
(On how preparation translated into success)
"We used our time wisely. We prepared extremely well. Like coach said after the game, we had our best week of practice of the whole year. And we put it together for 60 minutes. It was the first time all season we put it together for 60 minutes. And like we said, each week we're getting closer, we're getting closer, we're getting closer, and I think we went out there and made a nice statement tonight."
(On whether he thinks defensive statistics matter)
"The only thing that matters about us is getting wins and getting takeaways. And we've been doing a great job of getting the ball for our offense, and today we played a solid game defensively for 60 minutes. And, well you see what happened."
Dan Koppen, Center
(On the victory)
"It's just one of those that [we] came out and everybody played great. It's a big win. We knew it was a big game coming in, and [I'm] just proud of everybody in this locker room. It's a good win."
(On whether it's surprising how many points the Patriots scored)
"Yeah, we never expect going into a game and having it be like that. We got off to a good start and just kept it rolling. We didn't let up. Towards the end of the first half, I wish we could've gotten some more points out of that coming down to the wire there. But second half, everybody just got up and treated it like it was 0-0 and we kept going. Just, great win."
Rob Gronkowski, Tight End
(On his progression throughout the season)
"To grasp the offense it takes a lot of studying, a lot of film, a lot of practicing hard and making sure you know your assignments and going out and doing them and getting the memory down. I definitely feel a lot more confidence about the playbook, I feel great about going out there and knowing what I am doing, of course compared to the beginning of the year. It's coming around great, it's studying during the week, for sure."
(Do you consider this offense to be tight end friendly?)
"Oh yeah, definitely, we have three great tight ends here and we all have been playing and contribute a lot, it's awesome. A tight end is in there every play, so it's definitely a great offense to be a tight end in and it's a lot of fun."
Devin McCourty, Cornerback
(Is forcing turnovers something that is acquired?)
"I think the defense as a whole, we are trying to go after the ball every week in practice, we are trying to get interceptions, we are trying knock the ball off the guys on the offense. It's just having an awareness and a mindset of attacking the ball and that's what we are doing right now."
(How much of forcing turnovers is preached over the course of the week?)
"It's always preached, I remember it was preached when I got here in mini-camp and Brandon McGowan was the guy running around the field. Sometimes guys would act like the play is over and maybe it would be, but he's running you down and punching at the ball and punching it out. I think that is where it starts, just having an awareness of always attacking the ball, so then when it's in the air or if the guy is running it, you are trying to get it off of him. That's what we are preaching in practice and that's what we are doing."
(On Brandon Spikes' interception)
"Spikes did that a lot in college, I had talked to him about that before. He got a lot of touchdowns in college, so it was good to see him get his hands on the ball. He's just got work on his return skills."
(Thoughts on the game?)
"You never expect that, we know the Jets are a very good team and coach has been preaching 60 minutes of football, throughout this season we really haven't got that done. This is probably the closest we have done to playing 60 minutes, that is kind of showing our development and improvement as a team. It's good to win like that, we will take a win by one point or by how many points we won by tonight. That's big to come out and play like that on Monday night."
(On creating turnovers every week and what is putting you in the position to do that?)
"Practice, my coach, Coach [Josh] Boyer, always harps on the little things I do in practice, where I am in position to get turnovers, I get them in practice and then I'm showing them in the game. Each week we have done a certain drill where it showed up in the game, weather it's going up at the high point of the ball or keeping eyes on the receiver and the ball pops up in the air and I get an interception vs. Minnesota. Just the little things like that have been able to help me make some big plays and turnovers."
(As a rookie, not being through a December, how do you build on this and hold onto the No. 1 seed in the AFC?)
"I think right now as a team to follow a guy like Tom Brady or Vince Wilfork, those guys know what it is to play in December and that's what I am going to do as a young guy. You see them here later now, here earlier, I think that is important right now. There is not much of the season left, each game is very important, so I am just going to follow those guys and get on their case."
(On the defensive performance tonight)
"We just came out and executed. Every time I get interviewed I say the same thing. We're trying to improve week by week and we're improving in practice, today it showed on the field. We're not worried about what anybody says about stats and all that, we're just trying to improve and play."
(On how much easier the defense's job is when the team gets out to an early lead)
"That's big. The offense comes out and they get points on the board right away. As a defense we're saying we've got to go out and get off the field and get the offense back out there and that's what we would do. We got out there, they had a little bit of a drive, we were able to get off the field and we were able to put a touchdown in there. When you're able to go up 10-zip early it gives you a little edge."
(On if this victory makes up for the first loss to the Jets)
"Yeah, you play a team twice in one year, you definitely don't want to get swept. It was important for us as a team. We knew this was a big game and we knew we lost the first time. We didn't want to come out here and lose again."
Kyle Arrington, Cornerback
(On if the Patriots had confidence that their defense could play as well as it did)
"Yeah, that's something we've been talking about since the beginning of the year, '60 minutes.' And I think today we finally put it together, a complete game for 60 minutes. We had one of the best weeks, the team felt, of practice all year. If we keep practicing like that and playing like that, we'll be in good shape. "
(On if that was what Coach Bill Belichick was stressing in the fourth quarter when he addressed the defense)
"Yeah, it was fourth quarter and he said basically 'Don't let up.' Then he said [that] we had 60 minutes and we finally wanted to put one together. A lot of credit to us, we went out there and we did our jobs."
Deion Branch, Wide Receiver
(On if this was the most complete game the Patriots have played this season)
"I would say it does this far. I think we've got to have four more games like this if we want to stay on top."
(On what to led to that)
"Preparation. Great week. Every day was good, every day was positive. Even the days that we had a lot of wind, we still were able to go out and do what we had to do in practice. The days Tom [Brady] didn't practice, [Brian] Hoyer stepped in and we didn't miss a beat. We didn't miss a beat at all."
Vince Wilfork, Nose Tackle
(On how good this win feels…)
"Great to go play at home, beat a divisional team like the Jets, [a] pretty good football team. I think we probably had our best practice all year this week from Tuesday on throughout the weekend. You just feel that everybody in this locker room was gelling out in practice. We weren't surprised with the outcome today. It just goes to show that every one in this locker room, if we come to work and do what we need to do in practice it'll show up on Sundays, this case on Mondays. Hopefully we can have a lot more practices like that now that we're in December and we need to play our best football. Feels very good. This win, home against the Jets and to only give up three points. I think all three phases played very well, and when you play as a team like that it makes you feel even better – us playing together, us feeding off each other. We actually put 60 minutes of good football together, and the outcome was in our favor. Hopefully we can continue to do that around here and win in December."
