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BB: It was a good win today. It's
always tough against the Dolphins. It always is. And it was a hard
fought game. Luckily, we were able to come up with a couple turnovers and
able to capitalize on them offensively. But they are a hard team to move the
ball against and they can move it offensively as you saw there, especially
in the second quarter. We had a hard time with them. It's a good football
team and it was a tough game. And I am proud of the way our players played.
We came back off a couple of tough weeks here with Denver and Cincinnati and then Miami in town. They worked hard, they prepared well and I thought
for the most part we got a competitive level of execution. It certainly
could have been better, but it was pretty competitive. So it is good to win.
It's good to win in the division. And we've got a little break here coming
up so, hopefully, we can get some things improved and corrected, we need to,
and be ready to play a better football game against Buffalo because
it looks like from what I've seen in the last couple weeks they're improving
pretty quickly too. So that's where we're at.
Q: What was it that Miami was
doing defensively that made it hard to move the ball?
BB: Oh, they're just good. They've
got a lot of good football players and they pressured us. They mixed it up
like they always do. They pressured, they covered, they blitz zoned. They
have a lot of good football players. The front seven are good. They were
jamming the whole game. It's hard to get away from them. It's a good
defensive football game. They've given hardly any points to anybody. We had
a couple turnovers that set us up in good field position. Nick does a good
job with his players. [Kevin] Carter, you know, [Keith] Traylor, [Dan] Wilkinson, they're all tough.
Q: Mike Wright had a good day
on special teams. Can you talk about his performance a little bit?
BB: Well, I think it might have been
marred by one penalty, if I'm not mistaken. But otherwise Mike has
done a good job for us. Didn't really play in the kicking game at all as a
rookie. This year we put him on a couple of different special teams. We know
he's a physical guy, plays with great effort. He is tough. The rules being
what they are now, people that are big like Mike and can run and are
physical, you know, it's hard to block them, you know, without cutting them.
So he really uses his size to his advantage and he is aggressive and,
surprisingly, for his size pretty agile in the open field. It's been good.
Q: [Tom] Brady struggled a little bit, obviously. How big was it for Asante [Samuel]
to get those picks for you guys to be able to get in the end zone with him
too.?
BB: It was huge. We have been going
with too many games here the start of the season and it came in spurts here
and there. And we got a few last week and we got some this week, and we
really had four today with the punt situation at fourth down. We were able
to tackle the punter and that gave us good field position, not that we were
able to convert it though, but we got the ball at midfield instead of
further back. That is huge. Turnovers are huge. It puts you on a good field.
There are opportunities there. That was big. The blocked field goal was big,
keeping them off the board. And [Olindo] Mare missed one there
at the end, but it could have easily been a one score game. But again, our
special teams on that field goal rush, that was big getting the kick there
early. I mean it it’s tough kicking conditions out there. I am sure part of
it…it wasn't a perfect kick. But it is good to keep them off the board.
Q: [Joey] Harrington/ [Daunte] Culpepper, how much if any difference was there for you?
BB: I think they basically ran their
offense, I think both of them are good quarterbacks and I thought that Culpepper played well last week at the end of the Houston game
and brought them back. I thought Harrington made some good throws
today. He hit [Wes] Welker down the middle. They are both good
quarterbacks. They have got a good offensive team. They've got good skill
players, good receivers, good runners. And with Harrington in there, they
are a tough team to match up. You have got to try to get some pressure and
force the ball out early. And at least we were able to get some of the
completions for relatively short yardage. Harrington, we have talked about
him all week. You know, it looked like he was getting more practice time, we
thought there were preparations, but we always have to be ready for back up
guys.
Q: Was there anything different on [Wes] Welker in the second half?
BB: You know, we doubled him a little
more in the second half; doubled him some in the first half. We tried
to double him. [Eugene] Wilson and Artrell [Hawkins],
those guys that were on him, we just tried to mix it up a little bit. He is
tough to cover. I am sure he's probably the lead receiver now. He is a hard
guy to handle. He is quick and he is fast and he catches the ball well, and
he is tough after the catch so you don't want to give him too much room. You
get up there tight on him, and he can run by you. So he is tough.
Q: Did they make more of an effort
today to get the ball out quickly?
BB: I think they do that anyway. They
like to run the ball for quick passes and take shots down the field. You
don't want to give up any big plays on those shots. Whether it is the three
stud game to the receivers, a little shallow crossing route, they hit a
number of those too, but that is what they do.
Q: Stephen [Gostkowski]
had a little bit of a rough couple weeks. Was it good to see him not only
hit those field goals, but also hit them and kind of reverse field
positions?
BB: Yes. I think Stephen has
really kicked the ball well all year. He has had a couple like everybody
that could have been better than others. He kicked off great last week and
had a couple good field goals. Maybe the kickoffs were not quite as good. He
has been a good, consistent player for us since all the way back in the
preseason games. We have a lot of confidence in him. He is just getting
better, he and Lonie [Paxton] and Josh [Miller],
that operation is just getting better. Hopefully, we need to build on it.
Those conditions get tougher here as the year goes on with the wind and the
weather and all that. We have had some pretty nice days, those aren't going
to last around here. More challenges ahead.
Q: Was it pretty tough footing for
the kicker out there today?
BB: You saw the field. Very tough
footing for everybody. We did that, you know, try to kick on the surface
that we are in during the games. So if we are playing like last week, we
played Cincinnati, we were kicking the ball off our indoor surface,
sure.
Q: Bill, going for it on fourth down,
that last couple minutes here, 10-point lead, what was behind the decision
there?
BB: Well, we tried to kick the field
goal against the Jets and really, in thinking back on it, I mean that
was probably a poor decision on my part. It's about the only way we could
lose, was to get a kicked block and get it run back. So they are a long way
away with no time outs, and really one play iced the game for us. So we were
able to make that play. I mean we got another chance at the Jets situation
after all. We would have gone on that one too. That is really the only way
we could lose the game, was to give them the ball, get a long return. And
you don't really have a 10‑point lead at that point or a two‑score lead, it
doesn't really help you because if they score an on‑side kick they are right
back at it again. So it is not like you could never have the ball and they
could still come back and get you. So that is kind of the reverse of what we
did against the Jets.
Q: Can you comment on Troy Brown's
performance? One week he is playing defense for you and then this week a
leading receiver.
BB: Yes. Returning punts. Troy is amazing. He kind of splits up the week in practice and meeting times. He
does the offensive stuff and then he comes over and does the defensive
stuff. He is ready to go on everything. But that is the guy you just count
on. It doesn't matter what it is, offense, defense, special teams. You know,
I am always happy to see him, as I said, because I think if anybody deserves
it, it's him. The work he does, as hard as he works and as competitive as he
is and as tough as he is, you love to see things work out for a guy like
that. He's a great team player.
Q: Is there any message that you
leave the team with here heading into the bye week?
BB: I think we are at the same place
as we have been every week. There are still things we need to do better. We
need to keep improving as a team. We made progress here with the first five
weeks of the season, but we have got a long way to go. We are not there yet.
There are other things that we can improve on and that is what we have to
work for. Everybody else in the league is improving just like we are. We
have to try to do it at a faster pace than our competitors. But I think
there were some positive signs and things that came up on this game. You
know, they're tough plays. If you get them executed, they can help you win a
game. So that is, those are the kinds of things you just have to keep
working on. You don't know when that situation is going to present to us,
but when it does, if you can get it right, you've got a chance. That short
yardage play, I think that was the only play Russ [Hochstein]
played in the game. He made the key block on that and we were able to run
out the clock. That's what situational football is. And one play, if you do
it right at the right time, it can make a big difference in the game. So we
still have a lot of work to do on all those things. But like I said, I think
we at least made some progress. |
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