Q: Coach, they're trying to change a
lot of things here – the culture, the talent
level, execution. One thing I was curious about, when you had all those
injuries in your secondary and you just start plugging guys in – Troy
Brown is playing defense – and things continue to work and you continue to
win, how do you get to that level both in just not using injuries as an
excuse and having the system so sound where that will work?
BB: I think the majority of
the credit on the success – any success we've
had as a team – goes to the players.
They're the ones that go out there and make the plays and prepare to play. I
think we have a group of players who work hard, they're unselfish, and they
try to do what we ask them to do, and for the most part we – well, sometimes
it's better than others, but they try to go out there and execute the gameplan to the
best of their ability. And they may not play to help us win. Sometimes you
get contributions from guys who haven't made them as recently or from one
phase of the game that offsets another. I think it's important that you kind
of are able to
play a complementary game so that you can emphasize your strengths as a team
and try to minimize the areas where you're not as strong.
Q: Does that mean teams that might be
2-9 don't have as much talent, or just aren't utilizing it?
BB: I'm not saying that, no. Really,
to me, I look at the Lions and there are so many games that they are
a play or two away from being on the other side of, so I think they're a
very good football team. They're very competitive. I mean, they can run it,
they can throw it, they have a very good group of weapons offensively and a
very experienced offensive line. Their defensive front is good and the
linebackers are fast, they're experienced, and they have some playmakers in
the secondary. They can kick it, they can return it, they block kicks. I mean, they show all the elements that you want a good football team
to show. I think it's a matter of consistency, or a turnover or a penalty or
a play here or there – that we all have – that unfortunately this season some of those
have come just at the wrong time for them. But I see a very competitive and
productive team out there.
Q: But that's the NFL, isn't it? I
mean there's so much parity, there are so many close games week in and week
out. What's the difference? What makes the difference between a team like yours and a team like this?
BB: Well, I don't know. We'll find
out Sunday. But I think this team is well-coached, I think that they're
sound, they have good players, good talent on both sides of the ball – both at the line and the skill positions – they're good in the kicking game, they're
aggressive, they have some playmakers, and they make plays. Sometimes it
just comes down to making one too few, or the other team making one more, or
whatever, but that can turn around in a week. It could turn around in a
quarter. Look, I'm just trying to prepare for them; I'm not trying to
analyze their whole season or anything. I'm just trying to prepare for the
team and that's what I see. And I see a lot of problems that we're going to
have to deal with on Sunday. I mean, they're going to be a problem, too.
Q: From your own team, what is it
about the makeup of your team, or the mindset, that it's able to just keep
chugging along? With the loss of key assistant coaches, players and
whatever, you're able just to keep focusing on what you do.
BB: Every team in the league goes
through transition. That's the National Football League.
Q: They don't all win through it,
though.
BB: I think that it's just something
that every team has to deal with; I don't think change is unique
to us. I mean, there isn't a team in the league that doesn't go through a
change in players and a change in coaches, at least over a couple year
period. You might not have one from year to year like [inaudible] this year,
but there are usually changes on the staffs and there is transition in
players. That's the way it is. So we just try to deal with it as it comes
and try to coach all the players on the team and make sure that they're all
prepared. You never know when somebody's going to have to step in and play
or when their role might change. We have some guys that are versatile that
have multiple roles, like a Troy Brown or a Mike Vrabel or
guys like that, that can fill in in different spots from time to time.
Sometimes we've needed them to do that and they've done a good job of it. So
I think it's a credit to the players that they prepare themselves for
situations, not knowing when they're going to come up or if they're going to
come up. But when we call on them, for the most part they've been able to
step in and do a pretty good job.
Q: You credit the players, but how do
you find players like that? When you're looking to acquire players, what do
you look for? Do you look for those characteristics, [like] versatility? What are
the things that you look for to find players who can do that?
BB: I think each player that you
bring onto your team has his own characteristics. Some players are
versatile, some players aren't. Some players are fast, some players aren't.
Some players are tough, [for] some players that's not their strong suit. So I
think when you put together a team you just want to try to bring players
onto your team that you feel will have a role and be
productive, and sometimes that ends up being a little more or a little less
than you think it is. But the guy has to be able to do something to help
you; if not, then what's the point in bringing him on there? So I think that
gives the players confidence when they come to your team, that they say
'Okay, here's what they want me to do and I think I can do it,' and 'I need to
learn how to do it' and all that. If they take that attitude and that
approach, then a lot of times it works out. But it's not perfect. We've
brought on plenty of players that haven't even ended up playing for us. But
we've had a number that have, and that's been kind of a common thread for
the ones that did.
Q: Coach, what about Tom Brady? [He]
seems to rise to every occasion. For example, the run for a first down last
week when he made the move on [Brian] Urlacher. What is there about him that's made
him such a good player?
BB: Well, Tom is very competitive.
He works
hard – as hard a worker as we have on our team – and prepares very well
from week to week, so it's unusual for a situation to kind of catch him by
surprise or [be] something that he hasn't really prepared for. He's a good
decision maker, he sees the field well and can utilize the different skill
players that he has offensively to work with. It's not about getting one guy
the ball or featuring one thing, it's about getting it to the player that's
open, making the adjustment or the check that's necessary at the line of
scrimmage to the play that's going to fit the best in that particular
situation. He does a real good job at all those things.
Q: How much of the team's success is
traced to the fact that the players believe in him, that they know he'll
come through?
BB: Oh yes, I'm sure they do. They
have a lot of confidence in Tom. He's done it many times and we all have a
lot of confidence in him. He's been a very dependable player for us and he's
made some critical plays in the biggest games to help our team win. So I
think there's a lot of confidence in Tom Brady, no doubt about that.
Q: How do you feel that Tom handles
all the pressure? For instance like the weekly news conferences, all the
attention [of being] sort of one of the poster boys of the NFL. How well does he
handle all that attention and pressure?
BB: I think Tom handles it real
well. He prioritizes the things that he needs to do, which are being
conditioned and prepared for the game, and know his assignments and know the
game plan. That always comes first. He's very diligent about his
preparation on all those things. In the end, that's the most important part
of his job. And then the other things, the other time demands, he does a
good job of managing. As I've told him many times, you have to learn the
meaning of the word 'no.' There are times when you just can't do everything
that you maybe want to do or feel like you'd like to do because there are
other priorities that affect your performance and those just have to come
first. I think he does a great job of managing that. He is, again,
one of our very best prepared and hardest working players.
Q: Can I ask you what you thought about the move he
put on Urlacher from the last game?
BB: Yes, you know one
thing about Tom, he doesn't run a lot, but when he does run he's a good
decision maker and he usually runs at the right time when he has an opportunity
to do something. A lot of times in man-to-man coverage
when everyone has their back turned and they're out shadowing their man,
that creates a little bit more space in there and I don't know, I think
probably on the play Urlacher thought he maybe was going to slide or wasn't
going to make the move that he made. We've all seen that before – sometimes you see a quarterback running out of
bounds and you
think he's going to go out of bounds and you don't want to hit him and get a
flag, and then all of a sudden the guy cuts it back. So I think Tom just...maybe he was going to slide and at the last second kind
of saw an opening and tried to move over there to his right and get by him
and get the first down. It was obviously a heads-up play by Brady. I'd
say nine times out of ten if I had to go Urlacher and Brady in the open
field I'd go with Urlacher, but [Laughter among the media] I'm not worried.
Tom got the better of it, so we'll take it.
Q: Does that kind of play make you
wince, thinking he got away with this this time but he
just could have gotten flattened and taken out of the game if he had taken
that kind of gamble?
BB: Well I don't know, I think really
a quarterback has a lot better chance to defend himself running the ball
than he does standing in the pocket throwing it and having somebody come and
blast him from the blind side or just as he's releasing the ball – I think that's
really where he's more vulnerable. But in any case, football is a game
that I don't think you can sit there and worry about what's going to
happen on each play. Anything can happen. Unfortunately there's contact in the game and there are going to be some injuries. We've all seen some of the hardest hits and guys
bounce right up from them, and then we've also seen some of the plays where
there's barely any contact at all and it ends up being a real serious
injury. Even going back to the [game] there in Detroit that we were involved in with the Jets. So there is no way to predict those.
Q: What about your secondary with
[Eugene] Wilson and [Chad] Scott and Rodney Harrison, when do you expect to
have them back?
BB: I don't know. We kind of shut
them down at the end of the week there last week on Saturday, and then we
give them another four days there – Saturday,
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – and then head out today. So we'll see how everybody is – what they're able to
do in practice and warmups – and
then give our injury report after we see. So we kind of wait and see how
those guys do this afternoon.
Full audio available at DetroitLions.com
(under Week 13 Conference Call audio) |
