BB: That was a long game. It seemed like it took about eight hours. That
was, I thought, a good effort by our football team. I am really proud of the
way they played. I thought that all three units came together and performed
well. It's a tough assignment coming down here in Philadelphia and playing a
good football team on the road. But I thought our players responded to it
well and I was really proud of the way they played. We gave the game ball from this game in memory of Ron Burton who as you know
passed away last night. Our hearts go out to his family and we recognize him
as kind of the first Patriot. In any case I thought that it was just a good, solid effort all the way
around. A lot of guys showed a lot of toughness. We kept our poise in a
couple of tough situations, but made some plays and there was a big
difference in terms of turnovers and penalties and scoring in the red area
and playing better defense in the red area and all those kind of things. It
obviously had a lot to do with us winning today, as it usually does.
Q: How do you explain such a big turnaround from last week?
BB: We played better. We executed better. We scored in the red area. We
played better defense in the red area. Our third down defense was better. We
got turnovers. We didn't give the ball away. It's not that complicated.
Q: Did you notice any difference during the week in terms of preparation
in practice from last week?
BB: We've moved on. I think that we had a good week of preparation. I
thought that it was a normal week of preparation. There were some things
that we screwed up in practice that we had to try to get right and that
happens every week. I think we played a lot better. I think that was the big
difference.
Q: Can you use this game to turn the page on what's happened?
BB: I think you have to move on every week. We have to move on from this
one. We have the Jets coming in. They won the division last year and they
beat us at the end of the year to basically win the division. And as quickly
as we forgot about last week in terms of getting ready for Philadelphia, we
have to forget about Philadelphia and get ready for the Jets.
Q: The three touchdown passes came on play-action fakes. Were you
surprised that Philadelphia didn't pick up on it?
BB: Philadelphia was a good football team. We were fortunate. We just
happened to have a good play on. Tom [Brady] made a good throw. Christian
[Fauria] made a couple of good catches and Tom hit Deion [Branch] on the
post on the short-yardage play. I think we probably did a pretty good job
executing, but again Philadelphia is a good football team and they make you
work for every yard, every play you get. We were just fortunate to be able
to hit them.
Q: Did you see Deion as a weapon you could go to when they focused on
[Troy] Brown short and [David] Patten?
BB: I think we have confidence in all of our receivers out there and tight
ends as well. There were a number of plays when they doubled Troy, as a lot
of teams do, and Tom recognized that and went to where the coverage was not
quite as heavy. That is something that we have dealt with frequently, but it
was handled well today.
Q: What makes Christian so effective down on the goal line?
BB: I think it is just the way the plays go for him. Charlie [Weis] did a
nice job of calling the play action and setting it up with the running game.
But again, it just comes down to execution. It's getting people in the right
places, getting good distribution on the pattern, having good protection and
the quarterback seeing the picture and being able to throw the ball to the
guy that is open. Anytime you run guys out in play action you never know for
sure how the defense is going to react to the run fake and how they are
going to match on the pattern. You just have to read it and try to find the
open guy there.
Q: Willie McGinest seemed to have a big day today and be in a lot of
plays...
BB: Willie is a good football player and this is one of those games where
the score was in our favor in the second half. It became basically a heavy
passing game for the Eagles. They were trying to catch up and get back in
the game. They were throwing a lot and going no huddle for a whole quarter
and all that. That's a good situation for your pass rushers to tee off on.
It's always easier to rush in that situation, but Willie did a good job.
Willie is a good player and this is not the first time he's come up big for
us.
Q: How much more aggressive were you with the passing game with the
Eagles having new faces in the secondary for the injured Brian Dawkins and
Bobby Taylor?
BB: Again, Philadelphia is a real good football team so we just tried to
spread them out, tried to pick our spots in there. It wasn't designed to
necessarily go after anybody in particular as much as it was to just try to
move the ball. They blitzed us a lot. They put a lot of pressure on us and a
lot of times with those blitzes you just try to pick them up and get the
ball out of there before they get you on the blitz. There was a lot of that.
We threw some screens. We threw some plays to try to slow them down, but
they are tough.
Q: How much of their offensive problems was what you did and how much was
just them shooting themselves in the foot?
BB: I don't know, what I do know is that last year the Eagles scored 415
points and set a franchise record for offensive production. They have a lot
of really good players on offense starting with the quarterback. They have a
very experienced offensive line, good running backs, good tight ends and
good receivers. Certainly I give a lot of credit to our guys for what they
did today. They played hard. They were well prepared for the game. They were
physical. That's a good football team. Believe me they'll win their share
this year. We are fortunate that we were able to come up with some plays at
the right time.
Q: How nice was it to finish off with Tedy [Bruschi's] touchdown
considering the day the defense had?
BB: It was a nice play for Tedy. But the most important thing is we won and
we played well and we played on the road. That's really what is the most
important thing to me and I think our team. The individual accolades and all
that will always come when you do well and win, but the most important thing
is for us to come down here and get the W.
Q: Anything on Rosevelt Colvin's injury?
BB: Not at this time. We'll take a look at it. We'll just have to take a
closer look when we get back.
Q: Why was Tom Brady so successful today?
BB: He was well prepared. He did a good job reading the different coverages,
some blitzes that the Eagles ran. The receivers made some nice catches. I
thought Charlie [Weis] did a nice job with the play calling to try to keep
them off balance. Tom went out and executed the offense and he executed it
pretty well. I think it just came down to execution. There is no magic wand
or anything that you can wave for it. It's just trying to execute the plays
against a good defensive team.
Q: How would you say his attitude was coming into this considering what
happened last week?
BB: Good. I think his attitude is good. I think it was good last week. I
think Tom always has a pretty good attitude. He likes to play.
Q: What was the thought behind Eugene Wilson at safety?
BB: We used the three corners because Philadelphia uses a lot of three
receiver sets. |
