Vince Wilfork's Press Conference Transcript
Here's the complete transcript fromVince Wilfork following Sunday's win over the Jets:
On the fact they only gave up 150 yards passing:
"I think we stepped up big today, defensively. I think every week we've been getting better, and better, and better, and today was a good day to get back on track. I think a lot of guys took it upon themselves to actually go out and make plays and be in the right position, and not give up big plays. So I'm very proud of the defense. Is everything perfect? No, there's a lot of things we can do better. The penalties are down, not giving up big plays, stuff like that. That made it pretty impressive for us. So we have to continue to grow. We definitely have to continue to grow, continue to get better, but I think we definitely did a good job tonight."
On the fact Belichick thought they had one of the best week's of practice of the season:
"Yeah, it's two weeks in a row that we actually... from coming in here on Tuesdays on our day off watching film, all the way to Saturday night, meaning heading into the game, that I think we really nailed it. Bill didn't give up. I mean it was to the last second, I think we were in here at the 2:15 meeting still talking about some things that we had to do to win this ball game. And I think everybody took it upon themselves to make sure we'd be in pretty decent shape as the game went on. And we were. We executed the game plan. We knew it was going to be a tough game, both teams would want to slug it out, they were going to make plays, we were going to make plays. But we knew we just had to hang in their tough, play good solid football and we'd be O.K. I think we did tonight. I think third down was a plus for us tonight. The yardage, no big plays...I think that's probably the biggest impressive stat from us. Like I said, it wasn't perfect, but it's a step in the right direction.
On the fact they were able to string together three straight 3-and-outs:
"You know, every time that we did it, and the offense went out, and were right back on the field, I just remember guys saying to each other ‘Hey let's do it again' because we knew eventually our offense was going to get back on track and put some points up. Every week we have that offense. So, I think the better we get defensively, the better this team will be. I think it's starting to head in the right direction. That's one thing we are going to need to continue to build on. Especially going forward for this week with the Cowboys coming to town. We are going to need another great week of practice. I think everybody can see what two good weeks of practices, what it can do for us. I think everybody's momentum and confidence is up. We played good football, we just need to start stringing it together for 60 minutes."
On his thoughts after hearing an opposing coach say they want to go back to the "Ground and Pound":
"We knew that the Jets wanted run the ball. I mean, that's what they do best. Why wouldn't you when you have two good backs and a good offensive line? I was surprised they went away from that because that's their strength, is running the football. We knew coming into this game they were going to try to get the ground game going. At times they did, but at times we buckled down. I think you just saw two teams today that play each other all the time and it's always tough. When you play a division game, it's always tough. Especially with the Jets. But you just saw two good football teams go at it. We know one another. You may see a few wrinkles, but they do what they do. They want to play physical. Bill challenged us this week, and I think we rose to the occasion.
