Tom Brady Post Game Transcript: 'We've got to keep fighting'
On how proud he is of his team being able to make plays when they needed them:
"We made plenty of good ones in the fourth quarter to come from behind, so that was great. Defensively we played great again and I'm glad it came out the way that it did, makes for a better Christmas. It's always tough to get a win here. They're a good team. They always play us pretty hard and we got their best today. We obviously didn't do a very good job there in the first three quarters. We found a little rhythm there in the second half and got some points on the board, made some plays at the end. So it's about making the critical plays and we found a way to do it."
On if he thinks he's becoming too bold with running the football himself:
"I just hope I can keep doing it. If I can make one or two of those a game, it helps. I thought I had an opportunity to make a couple more that I just missed on...kind of scrambled out there and I had Shane [Vereen] in the end zone open and I threw it at his feet. I would have loved to have hit that one. But they're a good team. They challenge you in a lot of ways and certainly they have a good rush, they've got some real good guys, some good match-ups, they always do every week, they get a lot of pressure. Kind of kept us off balance early and we figured a way to settle it down a little bit in the second half and we played a little bit better."
On what it does to a team to be able to keep winning close, division games:
"Yeah, they're slim margins and I think it always comes down to the last play. I can't ... I just wish we'd play better for 60-minutes and we just haven't figured out a way to play against these guys as well as we possibly can. So we've got to keep fighting. Sometimes you've got to grind them out. It's tough to win games in the NFL, certainly on the road against Division opponents, Divison Rivals, but we've got a big one coming up next week. We've got to finish strong at home in the division, it'd be great to get to 5-1, especially after losing the first division game, to win four straight has been great. Five straight, it'll be good to have four straight, got to win the fifth one. I didn't add too many times."
On what they did by keeping a couple of guys in to slow them down in the second half:
"That was good. We got into a little rhythm there, I think it settled a few things down. But we've got to sustain it and get it in the end zone down there. We kind of came up short on that 3rd and one, or 3rd and two, whatever it was. We've just got to finish those drives, especially with key drives like that where you finally can get a little momentum, a little rhythm, but we just ... You know, it was a good defense. They challenged us, had a long field all day, we got a couple good short fields that we took advantage of but the defense really stepped up when we needed it to."
On if it's stylistic in terms of what the Jets do in how they attacked them:
"It could be. I think this is a team that is, they do a lot of things well. They've got a good scheme. They've got good players. They've got a good rush, good in the middle of the defense, good middle linebacker, good safeties. The corners played good today. So I just think we got their best and I think we kind of sputtered there, got out of rhythm, finally found a little rhythm there in the second half and scored enough points."
On if the fact they doubled Gronkowski was part of the problem:
"Yeah, we just weren't very productive in the pass game in general. So whether it was really Gronk, or JoJo [Brandon] LaFell, or Danny, we didn't really find a rhythm all day."
On what Amendola was able to provide without Julian Edelman:
"Did a great job. He's really been looking forward to this opportunity. I thought he did a great job in there in the role that he played and he's a very good player for us. He did a good job returning some great kicks and punts. It will be good to get Jules back next week. Hopefully he can get back next week."
On the interception he threw to LaFell:
"It's a come back, we just couldn't hit it. Hate to do that, hate to have those things come up. I'm glad our defense held. Ended up working out for us in a weird way, but I wish those things didn't happen."
On the fact they have so much success going up tempo and why they don't do it more:
"That's a good question, and I think there's definitely times where we do a good job with it. I don't know. That's a good question. We do it at different times and sometimes it works and... I don't know."
On if after all the sacks if he's still concerned about the protection:
"I think they're giving good protection, I just think our communication wasn't great with a lot of things where we just all weren't on the same page. And when you do that, especially against a team that moves a lot of guys in and out of their defensive front and they blitz linebackers and safeties and, you know, they've got a lot of guys coming, our communication has to be on point and it's kind of sputtered. We've got to be able to do a better job of that, especially here down the stretch."
On how happy he was to see Vince Wilfork's hand get in the way of that kick:
"Awesome. He's always a big time play-maker for us, so he's a great player, and he always makes great plays. You really count on those guys, especially when the offense wasn't doing as well, to get plays like that from Vince, Jamie Collins, Hightower, Revis, Browner, I mean all those guys in there are doing a great job."
On his thoughts on Brandon Bolden's final run to close it out:
"Just a phenomenal run. I mean, he's a great back. Just great to give him the ball and he's got such great explosion, he can turn the corner, his role on special teams is huge so he's just a great player for us whenever he gets the opportunity and his number gets called, he always takes advantage of it. He made some, just great runs tonight."
On how many of these games are just him versus Rex Ryan mentally:
"It's a smart defense, it's really ... quality players on the defensive line and the linebacker level. They've played together for a long time, they get pressure on you, they kind of get you off balance early and then you're thinking about things all day and it just keeps you out of rhythm. I think we did some good things with the tempo to settle that down to kind of find a little rhythm, but we just didn't score enough points, or a lot of points. We've got to be able to do a better job than what we did."
