Here’s what New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry had to say following the Patriots’ win Sunday in the Divisional Round:
On how he would describe his emotions to advance to the AFC Championship game:
“Gosh, what a blessing. To just be in this situation, be in this moment. Gosh, it almost doesn’t feel real in a way, but I’m pumped. I’m excited. I’m really, really excited, man. I’m just filled with a lot of gratitude and a lot of joy.”
On the fact that here in the playoffs, we’ve watched the defense certainly step up and get the job done, and what’s it been like to watch as they’ve evolved as a team to come together now with all three units contributing and them going as a machine:
“Yeah, I mean, man, the playoffs are hard. It takes all of us. And we’ve preached that all year long, and it’s really coming together right now. And to watch how our defense is flying around and making plays right now is just, man, it’s really, really cool. I think they were excited to kind of go out there and show who they were. Obviously, the Texans defense was, man, they were a problem. They caused a lot of problems. They do a lot of different things, and they’re very, very talented and hard to go against. Our defense has stepped up to the challenge, too, and played lights out today.”
On the fact he’s had the best seat in the house to watch Drake’s development this year, right and now, he’s led them to two playoff wins, and how much fun is that education for him the last two weeks been for him to watch because he knows how it’s not easy to win in the playoffs:
“Yeah, I think he’s learning that fast, how hard it is, and how you have to just stay in the game, that nothing’s really going to be perfect. You just got to continue to fight, to scratch, to claw. Some things might not go your way, and you just have to come back and keep swinging. I’m proud of him for continuing to do that. Just continuing to step up today in a major way and when we needed him. He’s done it all year, but today was pretty special in those elements and the elements in Foxborough and everything. So, yeah, man, he’s a special, special player and a lot of fun to play with.”
On the fact that it’s been a few years since he played in the AFC West, but can he help his guys a little bit in what it’s like acclimating and getting ready for a game in Denver, and if he’ll do that this week:
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a challenge, man. When that place is rolling … I mean, it’s going to be extremely loud. I know it’ll be an environment. They’ll be ready to go. The elevation can be an issue. But just staying hydrated, moving around a lot, we’ll be all right in a way. But I know the environment will be a lot. They’ll be loud. We’ll have to match that intensity. So it’s a big opportunity, and I know all the guys will be excited for it.”
On the fact at the beginning of the year, training camp, there was no talk from anybody about the Patriots advancing where they have, but they developed a statement, ‘We all we got, we all we need’ that suggested inner belief in themselves and the coaching staff, and what brought forth that inner belief and how dangerous is a team with that inner belief that his team has:
“I think we have a locker room full of guys that just kind of have a chip on their shoulder and thrive with that chip on their shoulder. I think everybody has fueled that together and coming together, too. It’s a lot of fun to play with guys like that that just want to win, that want to find a way to win, whatever it takes. If it’s doing some extra chip blocks or blocking on the edge a little bit more for the receivers. If it’s staying in protection for the running backs, obviously the O-line does so many different things. If it’s running the ball a little bit more than we need to, it’s just… And then defense, obviously, just flying around, making plays. But it’s … I don’t know, man. It’s fun to play with these guys, and we’ve really come together as a group, and we try to play to our identity, try to play to who we are, and we have a lot of fun doing that together.”
On the fact there were some explosive spectacular plays today as a unit, but also the turnovers and the near turnovers, and how does he grade the performance of the offense as a whole:
“I feel like we were able to string some drives together in critical situations, which were really, really big. Obviously, the turnovers is not what you want. A couple of them were… Man, honestly, you got to give credit to them, too, of making plays. They have some really, really good players on their side of the football, and they were able to make them. We’ve got to learn from that fast and not put ourselves in that position. But, man, our defense, you got to give a lot of credit to our defense, to how they responded. It doesn’t really matter where the ball is put down. I feel like they just continued to compete, continued to fight, and man, I love playing with those guys. It was a lot of fun to watch them fly around.”
On the fact two weeks in a row, playoff game, victory formation at home, taking a knee in that situation and what goes through his mind, particularly today, snowfall, knowing that in a week you’re playing in the AFC Championship:
“Yeah, man, that ‘Living on a Prayer’ was sick with the snowfall at the end of the game. That was really, really special, man. Just the last two weeks have been, honestly, two of my favorite games I’ve ever been a part of in my career. Just the environment, just the electricity, just the fans, everybody into it, the whole game, giving us a true home-field advantage. It was really, really special for me to be a part of that. This game and then last week was really, really special and a lot of fun to be a part of.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)
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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.
