Tom Brady's Postgame Press Conference Transcript
On how big Shane Vereen was today:
“Yeah, you know there were a bunch of guys that made good plays. Shane had a great game, just a huge growing up moment for him – very special. It was for everybody, a lot of guys made a lot of plays. We needed it. It was a good football team, a lot of good players but we’ve got another one coming in next week.”
On his thoughts on passing Joe Montana for most postseason wins:
“Well, I hope I’m around for a few more years. I know this was an important win for our team and that’s always the number one goal for me.”
On how hard it was to make the adjustments after Danny Woodhead and Rob Gronkowski went down with injuries:
“Well I think that’s been the mark of our team. We’ve won 11 of 12, we were down 31 to 3 at home and battled back. I think we’re going to be in it. We’ve got a lot of tough guys, mentally tough guys. You know, whatever happens, like what happened on the first play of the game, you’ve got to overcome it. We made some key plays when we needed to, Shane made them, Wes made them, Brandon made them, so it was a great effort. The offensive line was awesome, as usual.”
On his thoughts on losing Rob Gronkowski for the playoffs:
“I don’t know anything about that. I haven’t heard anything.”
On if he ever imagined passing Joe Montana as a kid:
“Well I love playing and I love competing, I love being a part of this team and this organization. It’s a lot of mentally tough guys and I think I’ve just been fortunate to play on some great teams over the years. I very much appreciate that. I never take it for granted and I’m always going to try to be the best teammate and leader I can possibly be.”
On if he’s disappointed that won’t be a Brady/Manning matchup:
“Well, you know I think the two best teams are in the finals. I mean Baltimore certainly deserves to be here and so do we. So it’s very fitting. We played them earlier in the year, they got us, we blew a pretty big lead there at the end but we’re going to have to play our best game this week.”
On if his mind’s already clicked forward a little bit:
“I’m tired man. There’s a lot of emotional energy spent. I mean it’s a big buildup to the week, four days of practice and you’re up and you’re down, you’re up and you’re down, I’m tired. I’m ready to go home.”
On if it was disappointing seeing Rob Gronkowksi leave the game:
“Sure. Like I said we had a whole plan built for him and for [Danny Woodhead] and we run the first series of the game and then all those plans change. I think a little bit was, ‘What are we going to do now? How are we going to adjust?’ But you know, we seemed to settle in there midway through the first quarter and put together a pretty good game. Obviously it’s a bummer to lose anybody, but somebody of Rob’s importance or Danny’s importance, we need guys to step in and fill the void whether it’s this game or any game hereafter.”
On how much they really changed the plans they had or if they just did it with different guys:
“Well, there’s adjustments. Like I said we have certain plays for certain guys. Rob and Danny are a big part of the plan but that’s what Josh [McDaniels] does best. He gets guys in the best position to make plays and always comes up with a way to adapt and scheme things up and third down, and red area, and there’s no one better in the league.”
On the explanation given to him late in the game on the play were Stevan Ridley was still fighting for yards but the play was blown dead:
“I wasn’t happy. He [the official] wasn’t happy either but that’s part of the game. He’s a good official, I mean all the best officials are working this weekend. So I think it’s just the heat of the moment. I get excited, but it’s always good.”
