Devin McCourty Postgame Press Conference Transcript
Here's a transcript from Devin McCourty's postgame press conference
On what he was thinking when he saw the ball coming right to him:
“Yeah that was one of those, right place, right time moments right there – the ball thrown right to me so just making the catch and ending it was my focus at that time.”
On if there is anything specific going on during the last drive and the fact it was pretty close:
“Those last drives are always tough. You know the offense is thrown out, whatever they haven’t called - their best stuff - they’re going to whatever works at that point in the game. So when we get on the field defensively it’s all about just getting a stop. We need either a turnover or try to make them go four and out. At that point we’re just moving on to each play trying to get the stop. That play’s gone, were trying to focus on the next play. Those two minute drives are always tough it went right down to the last second so that was big just being able to go through that and get the win at the end.”
On the fact turnovers aer something they’ve been preaching all year:
“We know, no matter what happens in the game there’s nothing bigger than turnovers. I think throughout any level of football, turnovers always have been a big part. A lot of times if you can just win that turnover ratio, you end up winning the game. So we know each game we’ve got to go out and win the turnover ratio no matter what happens in the game, we’ve got to come out on top of the turnover ratio.”
On if that’s what the defense thinks about, not to worry about how many yards they’re giving up, just make the play?
“We worry about that, but we also know you can’t fix them. Like on that run, we don’t want to guy running through the defense and getting to the 2 yard line. But at that point we had two guys on him and the next thing is trying to get the ball out. I think our guys defensively just fight each play and try to do whatever we can, whatever happens within the game and making big plays.”
On the last pass if he read anything:
“At that time in the game you know you could come really anywhere and you’re just trying to focus on where the guy’s are that they like to throw to. WithChandlerbeing a big target in the middle of the field and Stevie Johnson,Chandlerlined up right in the middle so I knew it was a good chance it could be some type of play in the middle of the field. But he just threw it and I happened to be right there.”
On what he thinks about the defense and the fact they’ve been able to make big plays at the right time:
“That’s a good question. I think it’s just the guy’s awareness. You know our guys are fully aware of wherever the ball is, whether it’s in coverage and the ball’s in the air, or if a guy’s holding the ball, we’re trying to get it out. We almost got one at the end with [Brandon] Spike’s big hit on [Fred]Jackson. So guy’s are just having an awareness of the ball and just trying to get to it.”
On what he sees with Danny Woodhead when they’re practicing against him:
“He’s tough, he does so many things well and the biggest thing is like you said, it’s hard to see him. I make fun of him all the time for his height, but he uses it to his advantage a lot. Whenever we see Woody with the ball in his hands, we know he has a chance to make a big play. Whatever it comes out of the backfield usually has is a matchup that he can win. The good thing for us is he wins a lot of them. He does a great job”
On if it’s more frustrating that it was closer of if he’s just happy they got out of it with a win:
“The first thing I learned when I got to the NFL is, it’s hard to win. We never take that for granted. It’s big to come out and get a win especially against a division team. Like any other game we’ve got to go work on the things we need to work on. So we’ll break the film down. We’ve still got seven more games to go and it’s all going to depend on how well we improve over this time. If we can keep improving all the way down to the end of the season and string good games together and string wins together, we’ll be in good shape.”
On if he’s seeing an improvement:
“I think there’s some improvement out there, that’s the good thing. But I think there’s also some plays that we know are happening and we know we’re hurting ourselves more than anything, so I think it’s a little frustrating. But I think it’s something you have to just keep attacking. I think the photos that way. I think a lot of teams go through the, everyone has different problems on their teams, offensively, defensively, you have to just keep working and keep improving on those things each week.”
On the fact that Vince Wilfork was trying to fire them up at the end of the game:
“I think Vince, he’s a guy that echoes that a lot. He always says that if we can get one big play out of everybody in the game, we’ll be in great shape. Towards the end of the game he looked at all of us in the huddle, he brought it up, and he said Devin, you just made a play, who’s going to make the next one? We know when the game gets toward the end those big plays, they change the game, they end up winning games at the end. So as well as we want to play with yards and everything, we know at the end of the game if you can make a big play, get a big turnover, get a big stop, then it changes the game.”
On if it’s better to be in a position where you don’t have to make a big play the end of the game:
“Oh, definitely. I think every team wants to be in that position but whatever way the game goes, you’ve got a pull out the close ones. I think that shows its characteristics of the team when you’re in a close battle and you’ve got a fight down to the fourth quarter with two minutes to go and you’ve got to win. Someone has to make a big play, someone has to play and play great.”
On the fact they had the other team first and 20th on the 10, first and 10 at the six and they got out of the hole both times and what it says about the defense:
“Those two situations were bad defense. That’s what we want defensively. We want teams backed up in that situation. We’ll watch the tape and dissect what happened on those certain plays. But we just look at it as bad defense. We’ve just got to play better and take advantage of those situations. We work on those and I think there was times where we did take advantage. We got turnovers, they had to punt a couple times. If we could’ve just played more consistent and get those things to happen, we’ll be in good shape.”
“I want to say thank you to all the veterans out there who represent our country. Today was big for us.”
