| |
(On Ty Law and what he meant to New
England...)
Ty had a great career, is having a great
career, and it's certainly not over, he's playing well. I saw Ty when he
came out of Michigan, went up and scouted him. He ended up here in '96. I
coached him as a defensive secondary coach. Ty has had a very consistent
career. He missed a little bit of time last year, but he's been durable,
been tough, he tackles well. He's got real good ball skills, he's already
got a bunch of interceptions this year and he's had his hands on a couple
other balls. He's around the ball a lot. He really bangs those receivers
around. He had a lot to do with our success here. He played a huge roll in
two of the championships, was playing well for us last year until he was
injured. I have a lot of respect for him as a player, for what he did for
this organization. Watching him play this year, he is still playing at a
high level. He's a very competitive guy. One thing, when you go out and line
up against him, you better be ready to go whether it's in practice or in a
game. It doesn't matter what the situation is, he's a real competitive
player and plays hard and he's tough.
(On injuries in the secondary and how he
copes with it...)
It's the NFL. You look at any team. Every week
you take what you have and put it up against what the other team has and try
to set it up the best you can. Every team goes through that. We're part of
the NFL, there's going to be issues to deal with every week. I've got
confidence in our players, I've got confidence in our team. I need to do a
better job. I need to coach them better and hopefully we can play a little
bit better and we can be a little more consistent than we've been the last
few weeks.
(On the defense and giving up yards...)
Like I said, we need to coach and play better,
that's all there is to it. It's a production league and a production
business. There's always room for improvement, and there certainly is in our
case. We've got to work harder and try to play and execute a little bit better
than we have.
(On Tom Brady being healthy and a crucial
component to the team moving forward...)
Tom's a good player, he's a good QB. Tom Brady
is very helpful, I would never dispute that. Tom Brady, there's no QB I'd
rather have. I guess in terms of QB, I just look at what I see. In (Brooks)
Bollinger I see a guy that handles the situation well. People have tried to
throw some different looks at him, as New Orleans did, different zone blitzes and
pressure coverages. I think he handles it well. He's accurate, he can make
all the throws, he can throw the ball down the field, can throw it outside,
can make plays with his feet. I thought he did a great job of getting the
ball to different receivers, whether it was the three receivers or (Doug) Jolley running the bootleg. I think he put his team in position to win and
they lost by a couple of inches. We both have been there before. I think he
played well and he's gaining confidence, and the receivers and the offense
are gaining confidence with him. We played New Orleans last week and that's a good
defensive front, a good defensive football team. They have good players in
the secondary and they've got a good scheme, and they've got a real good
defensive front. I thought the Jets played well offensively and were within
a few inches of winning. We played them a week before and New Orleans was a couple
inches away from beating us. That's how competitive it is.
(On ever having to work harder as a
coach...)
I don't know. I don't rank them, it's football.
That's what we do. You prepare a team and go out there and play a game. I
enjoy doing that. I enjoy the challenge, the competitiveness of it, going up
against competition we've seen in the National Football League and that's
what it is every week. I enjoy it. I think it's very challenging, but I
can't sit here and rate this game and that game, this year. I've been doing
it most of my life and I've enjoyed all of it. I'm not saying it's always
fun, but I enjoy the competition of it and the preparation and what goes
into the game and what goes into the job and the situation that I'm in. I
just got to do a better job of it, that's all.
(On if there is an aspect of Ty Law that
stands out...)
I think the biggest thing about Ty, whether
coaching him as a position coach or as a head coach, or even going to visit
him and work him out at Michigan, is just his competitiveness. I mean, Ty is
a great competitor. Again, it doesn't matter; it could be one-on-one at
training camp or practice and no one is really watching it, or it could be a
card game, whatever he is doing. He just wants to compete and he wants to
win. And I totally respect that. I'd say that if there is one thing that
he's carried with him throughout his football career, whatever level, even
if it is at Aliquippa High School, it's his competitiveness and toughness.
He's a tough guy that won't back down from lead blockers, will go out there
and challenge receivers whether the Marvin Harrison's or Chris Carter's or
whoever it is, and that's his style of play. It doesn't really make a
difference who the guy is or what his reputation is. He wants to go up
against the best, he wants to be the best and he plays hard and he plays
physically. He's tough. He's had a great career.
(On Ty Law impressing him at Michigan with
his toughness aspect...)
He had a good college career, as well. He came
out early as a junior, but he was still very productive at Michigan and I
know they thought a lot of him up there for the same reasons: for his
toughness. You can't go and play in that league and do what he did without
being tough. The big backs you see in the Big Ten and the big receivers,
guys you have to go up against. That's the nature of that conference. Again,
it goes back to Aliquippa High School, that's what that school is about and
that's what that program is about. You look at guys that come out of there
like Ty and Sean Gilbert and guys like that. They're tough, physical
football players because that's the way they were brought up to play in high
school.
(On Corey Dillon's status...)
We'll put out the injury report after practice
after we've had a chance to take a look at everybody. Everybody is pretty
much in that day-to-day category, the guys we had listed last week.
Hopefully they're all doing a little bit better. How good that is, or isn't,
we'll see after we go out there and work on the field today. |
|
