Patriots Blog: Game Ball, Special Photo For Mr. Kraft
FOXBORO (CBS) - There was a touching moment in the Patriots locker room after Saturday's 27-24 win over the Dolphins.
Bill Belichick handed the game ball to owner Robert Kraft. He gave it to him in memory of the late Myra Kraft. Players gathered around and gave an applause.
The players also presented Mr. Kraft with a photo with Myra's initials on it, with the team holding their hands in the air.
Matt Light presented to photo to Kraft, and said the following:
"We all know how important this team is to you and your family," Light said in presenting the photo. "We know how important this season is. We know who it is dedicated to, and the lasting memory she left on each and every one of us. As a way for each guy in this locker room -- coaches and players -- to show that appreciation, we asked that a custom piece be done that really shows that dedication."
Mr. Kraft thanked his team, and was clearly touched.
"Thank God for you guys because this has been the roughest period of my life," Kraft said. "I'm blessed with four great sons, eight grandchildren, but having his team has been like an extended family. Every one of you I'm happy to have at my dinner table. You're something special. I hope she's smiling, I know she is. This means a great deal to me and my four sons and I thank you all for your kindness."
Mr. Kraft has been a rock this season and the players in the locker room acknowledged that.
BRADY AFTER THE GAME
After the game against the Dolphins, Tom Brady said the reason for the turnaround was the defense and turnovers. He thought Vince Wilfork's fumble recovery was the key to the Patriots turnaround in the game.
High & Lows: Another Comeback
"That was huge, huge," said Brady. "We didn't turn it over today. I thought that was important. We got turnovers. Really the last seven games that has been a huge key for us. It's hard to win games when you turn it over. We were the benefactor of some good plays by our defense that I thought the offense capitalized [on] when we got those plays. When we got short fields we did a good job of getting the ball in the end zone."
The Pats struggled in the first half but came out firing in the second. The turnovers got them the ball more they were able to right their wrongs.
"I thought we executed better in the second half," Brady said. "We just had a hard time getting going. We obviously didn't play very well in the first half. I think we made a pretty big commitment at halftime to each other to go out and everyone do their job and quit worrying about everybody else. [Just] go out and play better and we did that."
BELICHICK HAPPY WITH THE RESULT
If you think about how the Pats got the victory on Saturday and what they were up against, they have to be very fortunate. They lost Matt Light before the game and Logan Mankins, who was filling in at Light's position, during the game.
That was the reason the protection schemes seemed to be way off. Tom Brady was getting beat up and the Pats offense could not get on track. They persevered though, and turned it around.
Bill Belichick said at halftime, he told them they have to get better at everything.
"We need to do everything better, there wasn't really one thing we were doing that was, I would say, overall good enough," Belichick said when asked about his halftime peptalk. "Just got to do do a better job of coaching, playing. Like I said, I just gave you a list of everything -- we just didn't do a good job in any phase of the game in any area. I know we're capable of more than that, and I think the players showed that. They responded. It wasn't perfect in the second half and we got a couple breaks, but we made a few plays on our own. That's good. And we were able to come out on top, but we dug ourselves a big hole there."
Tune in to the Patriots final regular season game against the Buffalo Bills Sunday at 1pm on WBZ-TV and 98.5 The Sports Hub. Pregame coverage begins on 98.5 at 10am, with Patriots Gameday on WBZ-TV at 11:30am. After the game, tune in to The Postgame Show on 98.5, and Patriots Fifth Quarter over on MyTV38.
