Tom Brady's Post Game Press Conference Transcript: 'It Was a Great Win'
 Brady and the Patriots won another division title on Sunday. (USA TODAY Images) |
Here's what Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had to say to the media following the Patriots 41-13 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
On how they could look so bad in the first half, and then come out and play the way they did in the second half, and how they were able to flip the switch:
"It's a great question. I wish I knew the answer, because we would have started that way then. We tried to start fast and got the ball down the field and then the ball got tipped and intercepted. Just didn't didn't quite go the way we wanted it to in the first half, but we did a good job responding. So it was a great win."
On the 17-yard run in the second half, it looked like it lit a fire under the guys and if that was the message he was trying to send:
"Well, I think it was a play we needed to make so it was good to make it at that time. I was going to slide, but I was pretty pissed off at that time, so I figured I wouldn't slide and wish I wouldn't have gotten knocked down, but that's the way it goes."
On if he thought getting hit like that lit the guys up a little bit:
"I think the touchdown did more so on the next play. That was a great run. But whatever it takes, I think that's what matters. I think all our guys responded the way we wanted to and it was good to go in there and finish them off the way we did."
On the fact he said he was pissed off and it seems he plays better when he's pissed off, and if it filters down to the rest of the offense:
"Yeah, and I think you're going to have times where you play less than optimum because if you played optimum all the time, you'd score seventy five points a game, which is impossible. So you're going to have stretches where you get stopped on third down or you don't convert plays you should have. I just think it's always good to come reassess where we're at and I know we were all pretty pissed off at halftime. It wasn't the that way we ... 25 plays on offense and terrible with time of possession and terrible on third down, just didn't do anything to help our team win. I thought we did a better job coming out there in the second half, aided by some turnovers by our defense, which our defense has just been playing incredible, which is what we're going to need. I'm glad we started to earn our paycheck there in the second half. It was good to be able to do that, that was a good feeling. We still left some opportunities out there."
On the plays to Gronkowski:
"I wish I'd make the other throws look like that too. He's a big target and he makes it easy for me. He's just awesome."
On the seventeen yard run and if he just didn't slide because he didn't want to:
"No, I could have slid. [Laughs] But I wasn't in the best of moods at that time. I think if it was a bigger guy I would have thought really hard about sliding, but once I was in the secondary ... things happen pretty quick for me out there, I'm not the fastest guy out there so things close down pretty quick."
On if anyone on the sideline told him to slide next time:
"Probably tomorrow. Yeah, probably tomorrow. But it was a big third down and I think we, it was at that time of the game where we needed to make some big third downs and the guys gave me great protection. They tried to ... what they've done to us a few times is tried to rush three and double-cover some guys and I think I was pretty keyed in on that today and tried to take advantage of when they did it. I thought we did a better job than we've done the last few times we've played them."
On how big it was for the defense to come up big, get a couple of turnovers and turn the defense into offense for them:
"It was huge. It was what really kept us in the game because we weren't doing very much offensively. They really did that last week too. We've got a really good defense, so it's good to see. It's good to see it. There's pressure to score each time we get the ball and that's what we're trying to do, but it's also a good feeling knowing that if you have to punt, you've got a defense that's not going to give up points too easily."
On his thoughts on winning the division so many times and if he thinks the fans have gotten a little spoiled:
"Well, I think it's a ... every year is a different year for us and every year we have a great opportunity to try to accomplish something. It doesn't start this morning, it started back in March. There's a lot of hard work that goes into it and I don't think you ever take winning for granted, I certainly don't because I know how hard it is to win. I think we appreciate it. I also know that we have big goals every year for our team. This is the one that is the first one to get and it was great to be able to do it against a team that we lost to earlier in the year. We had a great opportunity to go out there and play a lot better than we did the last time. It's great to win, it's a great feeling. That's why we play and I've been very fortunate to be a part of an organization where that's really what matters the most and to play with some really great players over the years. I think that's ...winning and experiencing it with the players and coaches, Mr. Kraft and Jonathan [Kraft] and his family, it's pretty awesome."
