Christian Gonzalez sat down with Mike Florio and Chris Simms of Pro Football Talk with NBC down in New Orleans, and here’s the full transcript of that interview:
MF: We continue Super Bowl Week live on Radio Road. Joining us now, a guy who, in his second NFL season, was named a second-team All-Pro first-round pick in the New England Patriots in 2023. Christian Gonzalez, welcome.
“Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it.”
MF: Great having you here. Congratulations on your success last season.
“I appreciate it. It was fun to be back out on the field.”
MF: How hard is it to have a great year for a team that just isn’t doing well? How do you balance that? Because you’re doing great and you feel good about yourself, but the bigger picture is things aren’t going the way we wanted to go?
“Yeah. I mean, it was tough, but honestly, I was looking more of it as just going out there and having fun. I mean, I got hurt in my rookie year, so just being out there, just playing the whole year was great for me and having fun. Obviously, you want to win. That’s the main goal. But we were in a lot of close games.”
MF: You were, yes.
“I think we had seven one-point, not one-point, one-score games. So, we’re not far off.”
CS: You just enjoyed being out there and playing and getting in the NFL and doing that. I hear that. All right, so the NFL is about to change for you a little bit. The head coach, the new one. Have you talked to him yet? How much have you had contact with Vrabel?
“I haven’t talked to him yet.”
CS: No, not yet?
“No.”
CS: You know a little about him? Have you heard? Have you seen some stories? Anything about him that way?
“I know he’s a Patriot. He’s in the Patriot Hall of Fame. They talk good about him”
CS: He’s a big, intimidating sucker when you see him in person. You remember Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick a little? He’s got that blend about him. You know what you’re in store for. You’re kind of in store for some old-school New England Patriot stuff, really.
“I’ve heard it’s going back to what they call the Patriot way.”
The Patriot way. Okay, I like it. You’re ready for it.
“Oh, yeah, for sure.”
MF: In those games last year, you mentioned there were seven one-score games. Do you see the seeds of what could maybe develop and grow with the right circumstances, right additional player here, a little improved coaching there. You guys could be contenders as soon as next year?
“Yeah, it all starts with Drake. Everybody’s seen what Drake can do. We got full faith in Drake. He is a superstar. Being able, as a defense, to get more turnovers, get back to the Patriot defense everybody knows, just getting the ball back because we do that. We get the ball back to Drake a lot more times, I feel like we could have won a lot more of those games.”
MF: We always hear stories about the competition in the old Patriots practices between Tom Brady and the defense. How’s it gone with you and Drake, your defensive teammates and Drake? Does it get heated? Does it get loud?
“We started to see a little bit of it towards the end of the season. I think we’ll see a lot of it in OTAs, so I’m excited to get back. Me and him are right next to each other in the locker room. There’s always friendly smack talk and telling him to throw my way during practice. But I mean, he’s a great dude, and he’s a great leader, so we’re excited for it.”
MF: I don’t know much, but I know this. Mike Vrabel will stir that up. He’ll press those buttons, and he’ll get you guys going even louder and hotter than you would have expected, won’t he?
CS: I would think so. I would think your practices are going to be a little more intense for sure. You’re going to have a coach that’s hands-on with you out on the field a little bit, too. That’s what’s going to be interesting.
“Yeah, that’ll be fun.”
CS: I love what you’re talking about. You had an amazing year, obviously, second-team All-Pro, but I always like to hear the young guys and their new experiences. And I told you before, before we started the show, who was the receiver that you covered where you were like, ‘Damn, I didn’t realize he was this good or a problem like this?’
“Back to my rookie [year], it was A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown, I think, doesn’t get enough credit as to what he puts out there. He has all the tools. He’s big, fast, strong. He’s extremely smart. You can see him processing, looking, scanning the defense, things like that.”
CS: Everybody always talks about his strength. You play a physical man-to-man corner type of style, right? But was it a shock the first time he tried to push him around a little bit?
“Yeah.”
CS: He pushed you around?
“Yeah, he did get me a couple of times. It was a fun match-up going against him.”
MF: You’re going to have a book on the sideline this year with you reading during the game? You’re going to do that? A little emulation?
“Me personally? Not a big reader, but I mean … I won’t have no book.”
CS: You haven’t got to play Mahomes yet, right? Do you hear stories from people in the league? Anybody in your locker room that talks about him?
“We played him last year. I was hurt, but I got to see a little bit of it. But it’s a whole different feel when you’re out there, when he’s throwing the ball. I don’t know if we see him next year, but I’m excited whenever I do.”
CS: Is it different playing quarterbacks like that? Is it a different week? Do you feel it? Him, Lamar, Josh Allen, right? Is there a different intensity in the defensive side of the meeting rooms those weeks because of those guys, because of what they can do?
“Oh, yeah, for sure. Anytime we got the Bills, seeing them two times a year.”
CS: What’s the talk? What’s the theme?
“It’s Josh [Allen] is going to make plays. You want to stop him, you want to do it, but he’s going to make plays. He’s up for the MVP for a reason. It’s just containing him as much as we can. Don’t try to let him make as many plays, but like I said, he’s going to make a play. When it happens, just watch it, move on, and get ready for the next play.”
MF: You were there for the last season of Bill Belichick’s long, long tenure as head coach. What was the biggest difference that you noticed once he was no longer with the team?
[Pauses to think]
MF: I like it. He’s thinking. I like it.
CS: Did the building get looser? Did it seem like it was a little more… I don’t know. Sometimes you hear stories it wasn’t all that enjoyable. It was so business-like?
“Yeah, I would say the building got a little more lax. But, I mean, that might have hurt us. But yeah, I’d probably say it got a little more lax.”
MF: Yeah, that’s going to change. That’s going to change. Vrabel is a guy who will punch you in the face and also put a smile on your face at the same time, right? It’s going to be an experience. You’re going to like it, but it’s going to be an experience.
CS: It sounds like you’re old school, so you’re going to like the coaching. That’s for sure. All right. Quarterback-wise, too, because I’m just going to keep picking your brain, those two are the best two you played against. Was there anybody else that you were just shocked at how talented they were or had a stronger arm on the field than you expected?
“Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers when we I played him week three. Yeah. That felt like … that was crazy. I remember, I went home, I texted my… I think I texted my trainer. I was like, ‘Okay. That’s why he had been doing this at this high of a level.’ It was like he knew everything we were going to do before we did it. That was real crazy playing against him.”
MF: What happened during the game that made you come to that conclusion? Did you hear He was saying things? Did you just tell about how he was moving? What was it?
“It was just how he was moving. He’s been in the league, I don’t even know how long, but for him to do what he was doing, especially coming off his injury as well, was very impressive. It was just … ”
CS: Cool to be out there with it?
“Yeah. Even though I’m on the defense, I’m still seeing like, ‘Oh, wow.'”
CS: Wow. He’s on his game tonight. We’re in deep s**t.
“Yeah, for sure.”
MF: All right. You’ve done well on the field, which has put you in position to promote some things off the field. You’re here today, thanks to our friends at Toyota. Tell us a little bit more about that product.
“Yeah. Working with Toyota now for a year has been nothing but amazing. Just being able to put on for the superstars that’s coming up in the world and to just be able to put on for my last name, for the Latino country, for the Latinos. Being able to do that means everything. So super blessed that they let me have this platform to do it.”
MF: Cool. What’s your Toyota choice? What is it?
“Me? I like the Tundra.”
CS: That’s where you go? Okay. All Right.
“That’s mine.”
CS: I like that. You’re doing stuff all week for Toyota here?
“Oh, yeah. With Toyota all week. Just inspiring the future stars.”
MF: Congratulations. Second team all pro in his second year and only going higher in year three. Christian Gonzalez.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
