Q: Is the priority for you this
week trying to make sure you get your team through this game and ready for the
playoffs in as good a shape as possible?
BB: No. The priority
for this week is to prepare for Tennessee just like we do
everybody else, and go down there and try to play our best
football.
Q: How important is it to play a good game to carry into the playoffs?
BB: We're going to approach this game just like we do all the rest of
them.
Q: Coach, I don't know if you've ever been in a situation like this, but
the way the Titans are, needing to win and getting help, do you prepare any
differently, or would you try to tell a team to concentrate on just the task
at hand, if they're in a situation where they're going to be doing a little
scoreboard-watching?
BB: Are you talking about how the Titans would prepare?
Q: Yes. Have you ever had a team that's been in a situation where it
needed help...
BB: Believe me, I have enough trouble
trying to get my team ready to go. I
think Jeff [Fisher] will do a great job. He's won six in a row, won 8 out of
the last 10, I don't think he needs any help from anybody getting the team
ready. He's a very experienced and knowledgeable coach, [has] done a great job, and
I'm sure he'll have his team ready to play. I'm just trying to get our team
ready, and believe me, we have our hands full trying to get ready for Tennessee. So that's all I'm worried about. I can't even be thinking about
what Jeff needs to do.
Q: The Titans run game may be working especially well with Travis Henry and the line in sync right now, from what you can see?
BB: Absolutely. Absolutely. Their running game is outstanding — good as any
we've seen all year. Travis is...we know him from Buffalo. He's a great
back. He has good vision, he runs hard, he breaks a lot of tackles. Their
offensive line has done an excellent job. I know [Benji] Olson was out there for a
couple weeks, but they've really gelled and come together. [They've] gotten a lot of
production from the tight ends and from the fullback — I think [Ahmard] Hall has done a real nice
job for them. Their receivers block. And of course Vince [Young] gives them some
other plays in the running game, bootlegs and things like that, that
help complement those stretch and zone plays that they run. So they do a
great job in the running game, and that sets up a lot of opportunities for
them in the passing game, bootlegs and things like that. So yes, they're
very hard to stop on offense. You can just see that by the number of points
that they are scoring.
Q: I know you guys made a decision to change your turf in the middle of
the season, was there a time early in your career where you would have thought there'd
never be a day where you'd prefer even the best turf over the worst grass?
And has that time passed maybe for the whole week now where FieldTurf might
be a better option than bad grass in some places?
BB: I can't really comment on any
other situation. We just felt
organizationally that that was the best thing for the New England Patriots,
our situation and our climate and so forth. We've had grass we've played on
for a long time, resodded the field a number of times, as I'm sure you
remember coming up here for the playoff game. So we tried to make it work
and just got to the point this year [where] we'd kind of done all we could do
and it just wasn't up to the standards that organizationally we wanted it to
be at. So that's why we made the change.
Q: What do you think about Vince Young when he first came out of college
and what do you think about him now you've seen him on tape some and seen
how he's performed?
BB: I think he preformed very well in college, was a proven winner in college
and I think that's what he's shown this year. To be honest with you, I
didn't study him in great detail in the draft; there was no way we would
have a shot at him. Given our quarterback situation, I don't think it
would make sense for us to draft a quarterback in the first round anyway. So
that wasn't a player that I spent an inordinate amount of time on. But in
scouting a player like David Thomas who we did end up drafting out of Texas,
you can't help but notice him and the things that he did — the way he performs and
carries himself and how explosive of a player he is. But he's certainly
shown that more in his performance this season. He's hard to deal with, he
does a lot of things well, and he's difficult for any defense to stop. We've seen that
from some of the best defenses in this league already. Baltimore is a good
example. All the teams have had trouble with him. Jacksonville. So we know
we have our hands full with him and that entire Tennessee offensive unit.
Q: Is he maybe as difficult to spy as any mobile quarterback because he
can outrun most of the big guys and run through most of the DBs?
BB: Well, that's right, he's hard to tackle. Even if you've got him, you
still might not have him. That's true of Travis [Henry], too. Both of those
guys break a lot of tackles, they avoid people, but they're strong enough to
run through tackles. Certainly, tackling and our ability to get the
runners on the ground in this game will be an important part of it for us
defensively.
Q: [Stephen] Gostkowski has made a lot of field goals, been on a roll for you, has made some big
kicks here. How tough is it as a coach to learn to trust a young kicker and
to put the game in their feet, I guess?
BB: [Laughter] I think that as a coach, you have to trust that player. If
you don't, then it's hard to coach. Then you have to get
somebody that you do trust. You can't coach the game and make the decisions
that you need to make for scoring and field position and things like that if
you don't have somebody at that position that you have confidence in. I'm
sure Jeff feels that way about Rob [Bironas], and I feel the same way about Steve.
When they go out there, we have confidence in them. Steve's not perfect
but I have confidence in him, I have confidence that he can do what he needs
to do, just like I do with the other players that I put out there on the
field.
Q: Has he gotten to the point where you trust him like you did [Adam] Vinatieri?
BB: Well, yes. I mean, I trust him in any situation that I put him out
there for now. That's why he's our kicker.
Q: Asante Samuel's interception numbers are obviously way up. Is that a
reflection of his overall production? And are you in a spot there where a guy
is maybe peaking just in time to go get a contract
somewhere else and leave you?
BB: Asante's had a good year for us. He's made a number of big plays and
he's had some turnovers that have been very important for us. Right now
we're just focused on Tennessee, this game, and getting ready for the
Titans. We're not really worried about whatever else happens after
that, in the offseason and all that. We'll have plenty of time to deal with
that later. Right now the main issue at hand is getting ready for Tennessee.
Q: How interested were you guys in bringing David Givens back?
BB: I talked to David right up until the day that he signed.
Q: [Were] you sorry to see him go and
[do] you feel bad for a guy who has had such
difficulties with injuries this year?
BB: Well, look, player movement in the National Football League is nothing
unique to our team or Tennessee's team or any other team. You've seen plenty
of players down there leave the Titans over the past few years. We're
going to see it again and you're going to see it again, everybody in the
league's going to see it. There's player movement in this league — that's
free agency and that's the National Football League. I understand that. I understand that players make decisions based on what's best for their
future, and we have to do the same thing. But I have a good relationship
with David and I have a lot of respect for what he did here. I understand
the way that the league works and what the opportunities are in the league.
Q: Is it fair to say that your ability to replace guys like that who
leave has been one of the keys to sustain success for your franchise?
BB: I think the main reason for any success that we have is attributable
to the players who go out there and make the plays that enable us to win.
Without good football players, players who play well and who play in tough
situations, and being consistent, you can't win in this league. So I give the
credit to whatever games we've won, whatever success we've had, to the
players that have gone out there and made those plays to enable the team to
be successful.
Q: Why do you feel like your team has had so much success in converting
third downs? You're among the top teams in the league at keeping the chains
moving there.
BB: Well, you know, that kind of comes and goes sometimes. It varies from
week to week, depending on your matchups and how you do against the other
team that you're playing. But in the end, third down has a lot to do with the
distance. As we all know, it's a lot easier to convert third-and-short
than it is third-and-long. It just gives you more options, the shorter
the yardage. A lot of those third down conversions are a function of how
much you have to pick up, and then of course it comes down to execution by
the players. That's a critical down. That really is what it boils down to,
is what the individual matchups are, when in one-on-one on a route, or being
able to pass protect or pass rush, in order to win that particular down.
It's a lot of one-on-one matchups across the board in that situation that
the players have to individually and collectively step up and win for you to
be successful in that situation. Offensively, the quarterback, that's the
guy who's pulling the trigger on a lot of plays in that situation. There's
no question that [Tom] Brady does a good job for us. |
