Tom Brady Post Game Press Conference Transcript
Here's the complete transcript from Tom Brady's post game press conference:
On the fact they at least got out healthy:
"Well, I'm sure we'll learn quite a bit of lessons from tonight's game too. We just didn't play good and this is what happens when you don't play good - or play well. My dad would probably correct me."
On how much tonight's performance had to do with trying to acclimate themselves to their new players:
"I mean, I think we all played pretty poorly. Anytime you lose the way we lost, it's really...as a collective team effort we didn't do anything in the first half except turn the ball over. You're not going to score points in the NFL if you don't string together a bunch of good plays, and we'd make one or two, but then we'd shoot ourselves in the foot. So we've got to figure out how to correct that in a couple of weeks, or else it's the same result."
On how much of what went wrong was them shooting themselves in the foot, or if it was the Lions defensive front making plays:
"They have a good team, they have a great front. I mean they've got some guys that can really rush the quarterback and put a lot of pressure on the ball. They're a good football team and if you don't play well against a good football team, you get results like we got tonight."
On if the fact the Lions defensive line gave them so much trouble was due to the fact it's something they really haven't seen this preseason:
"I think they just have some really good players. You're not going to have time to sit back there and survey the field the whole time. They've got guys that can rush the quarterback that are disruptive in the run game, in the pass game, and they've got a pretty tough scheme. It's never been easy against the Lions. I mean, we've played them a bunch over the years and they're always very challenging. They'll have a very good team this year."
On how he keeps his guys up when they're dropping passes from him or they're fumbling:
"There's certain big plays in every game and we all have to realize that it could happen at any time, especially when you a good team on the road. When they get the momentum, they're tough to stop. We've just got to play better football. You know, we had a couple good weeks against Tampa and Philly, good practices, and then you have a week like this where you figure out, look, we're not anywhere where we need to be. If we're going to kick off in two weeks, we've got to play a hell of a lot better than we played tonight. That's a good lesson for all of us. I don't care who you are. It's the NFL, it's a very humbling game and if you don't bring it every single night, every week, you get your butt kicked because there's great players on the other team. We've got to do a lot better, at all positions. That's, I'm sure, going to be a point of emphasis for us."
On if there's a positive, as in the play of Kenbrell Thompkins:
"Yeah, he's always, since he got here, he's been so willing and eager to do whatever it takes and whatever the team asks of him. He made a lot of good plays down the field, we really needed that. He's done a great job. All those guys are really working hard, it's not perfect, it's not going to be perfect, it's not perfect with guys that you've played with for a long time, there's a learning curve that we're going to have to go through."
On what happened on the interception:
"We had a slant route and I threw it, and the corner made a good play. We've got to learn from that one."
On talking to the kids at Michigan Thursday morning:
"It was a great experience for me and I hope those guys enjoyed it too. I wish we would have played better tonight, that would have really made the trip great."
On the fact they were saying "that's all right" after the turnovers - and the fact it's never really all right:
"Not against good teams. When you lose the turnover battle 4-0, you have like a 2 percent chance of winning a game. I mean, it's like, it's impossible. We always talk about turnovers and protecting the ball and we had a couple games there where we did a pretty good job protecting it. Then you have a game like this where, we don't. These are the ones you lose. We've always been a team that does take care of the ball, always good in the turnover ratio and we've got to be that way this year, or else this is the result. I think this is a big point of emphasis for our team that you can never...it's just you're always on 'high alert'. You start giving the ball up - and our defense did a great job keeping them out of the endzone, they were so competitive in the first half. But offensively, in order to score points we're going to have to string a bunch of good plays together and we're going to have to play a lot better than we played tonight."
On the fact Belichick brought up a similar game like this from a few years ago and if it's worse that they repeated it tonight:
"Yeah, I think he's the best coach for a reason. He's been coaching for a long time, he sees things coming. He's almost foreshadowing it, telling us, 'Look, this is what we're getting ourselves into. They got beat by Cleveland pretty bad last week. We're going to come in here and we're going to get their best,' and we did. We weren't prepared for it, and it's a good lesson for us, I hope we learn from it. I mean, these games are tough. It's hard to win. It's hard to win when you don't play well. We're not going to win if we don't play well so we've got to figure out a way to learn from this and play better than we did tonight."
On if he has a close relationship with Michigan coach Brady Holk:
"I was there his first year as well so we've always had a great relationship and I've always followed him. I'm always cheering for the Wolverines, it's nice being back in this state I haven't ever had an opportunity to go back to see the school. The fall's always a pretty busy time, I'm happy it worked out. Like I said, I wish we would have played a little better to cap off the day."
On if being named a captain at Michigan was more satisfying than winning Super Bowls (referencing a quote from this morning where he said, " In my fourth year and my fifth year, I was named team captain. To this day, that is the single greatest achievement I’ve had as a football player."
"What I said was very private to those players. I've had a lot of great achievements both collegiately and professionally and I'm been very blessed. I've had a lot of great things like that. Being a captain here is really a satisfying thing for me."
