NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS TIGHT END ROB GRONKOWSKI
On hit on Tre’Davious White…
A: First of all, I definitely want to apologize to #27. I’m not in the business of that, I mean, it was a lot of frustration and I was just really frustrated at that moment. It just happened naturally through emotions and frustration. Just want to apologize to Tre’Davious White. I don‘t really believe in type of shots like that but, just due to frustration process and the game of football, emotions, that’s what happened.
Q: What are you frustrated by though?
A: At the top of the route. It felt like it was a big hole at the top, and then the throw was definitely… I mean, I felt like he kind of pushed me a little bit and made the play and I just don’t understand why there wasn’t a flag. It was a couple times in the game, and they’re calling me for the craziest stuff ever…and it’s crazy, like, what am I supposed to do? And then they don’t call that. It was just frustration, and that’s what happened.
Q: Would you say this is just a culmination over the past couple of games?
A: Over the past couple – seven years.
Q: Two sets of rules, Gronk? One for you and one for everybody else?
A: I don’t know. I just got to keep playing and keep playing hard.
Q: At the end of the day though, do you feel, ultimately, you can’t lose your cool like that?
A: Yeah, I can’t. That definitely could hurt the team. Obviously, it didn’t hurt the team there, but it definitely can in the future and definitely got to keep your cool.
Q: Did it put a damper on otherwise a big day for you?
A: Yeah, it was a great day, it was a great team win overall. I wouldn’t say it put a damper on it, we just got a good win. They’re a solid team, it’s always tough to play in Buffalo and we had a good team win. The defense played awesome, we ran the ball great, we did what we had to do in the throwing game and we got the win, it’s huge.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK
Opening Statement: Alright, well it’s always a tough place to play. Thought that Buffalo, as we expected, played very hard. A very well coached team. It was a tight game at the half, [we] were able to, third quarter there, take advantage of field positon, make some plays in the running game and get the lead that was a very, very competitive game. Again, always challenging to come up here. Sean [McDermott] and his coaching staff really have the team playing very hard [and] very well. The running game was good for us; [we] got a lot of plays on the off tackle and the outside, our backs ran well, we had good blocking on the run plays. Defensively, you hold the team to three points, feel pretty good about that. A couple big stops in the right area. The interception on the first drive was a big play for us. It’s just one of those games where you have to grind it out against a tough football team on the road in the division. Thought that our guys did that, all 46 of them. Everybody needs everybody to step in there and pull part of the load, and they did. Coaching staff did a good job. It’s a tough place to come up here and play, again, but [I’m] proud of the way our team handled the week and the way we handled the game competitively.
Q: Bill, at halftime, [Rob] Gronkowski had two catches, and then on that first drive in the third quarter, he had I think three or four targets, one was the OPI [offensive pass interference]. How much was that at all part of the thought process at halftime, maybe to make an adjustment to have him more involved?
A: I wouldn’t say it was an adjustment, it’s the way we went into the game. Thought we handled the ball okay the first half; there weren’t a lot of possessions. Threw the ball okay, we just weren’t able to get it in the red area and settled for three field goals. We were able to get those touchdowns in the third quarter with the running game and some passes too. Rob’s a big target, he’s a hard guy to defend.
Q: Bill, in the grand scheme of the things you’ve accomplished here in New England, where do you rank or assess the importance of just how dominant you’ve been in the division, you know–winning division titles and how important that’s been, really how you’ve been able to do that?
A: I appreciate the question, I really do, but everybody’s focused on just winning this game and then, like all of the rest of the all the historical stuff really doesn’t really matter right now. It’s about this season, it’s about this game, and now it’s about getting ready to get down and play Miami on Monday night. [We can] reflect back on that some other time, but right now it’s just our team, recovering off this game and getting back and getting back on the Dolphins and being ready to go down there and play another tough division game on the road. We’ll just take it one game at a time, and deal with all that other stuff some other time.
Q: Bill, with no Trey Flowers for the day and an increased workload for Eric Lee, the interception and a couple sacks, some other pressures as well, what is it about Eric’s aptitude that’s allowed him to come in this stage of the season in two weeks and make such an impact?
A: Well, first of all, he’s worked really hard. From the first day he got here, he came early, stayed late, [and] asked a lot of good questions. He’s smart; he picks things up well. I think that his time in Houston was beneficial for him, again. I think a lot of the techniques we teach are similar to what Mike [Vrabel] and the Texans teach. Obviously, there’s some different calls and stuff, but a lot of the fundamentals, there’s some carry over on that and probably just in general, the overall way that he played down there and he was able to – some of that translated to what we do. He was able to, from a technique standpoint, pick things up. Obviously, some assignments he had were specific to what we do, but again, he’s a sharp kid. He works hard and he’s got good skills. He’s long, and he’s got good power and he can run.
Q: Are you concerned about potential additional discipline for Gronkowski based on that penalty late in the game?
A: Yeah, I didn’t really see what happened on the whole play. There was quite a bit of stuff going on in that play. It was something that the officials handled today and it’s not really anything we have any control over.
Q: Bill, the CBS broadcast showed early in the game, Tom [Brady] and Josh [McDaniels] going at each other pretty loud after the first series. Is that just heat of the moment type thing, what happens in battle?
A: Yeah, probably. You’d have to ask Josh about it. I don’t know. Just out there trying to win a football game.
Q: Is it good that for such a day, and I think last week too, you guys have been able to establish the running game? Maybe other aspects of the offense aren’t clicking perfectly, but the running game has certainly been able to pick up the slack.
A: Well, as I’ve said many times, we try to go out there and score points and run the offense, and win games. So, if we run it, we run it. If we throw it, we throw it. If we drop kick it, we drop kick it. Whatever we can do to move the ball and score points, that’s good. I’m not trying to create a bunch of stats, that’s not what we are trying to do. We are trying to win. If there are things that we can do to help us win, then that’s what we want to try to do.
Q: With the interception, there was a big play on their first drive. Did you happen to see anything else, like pass rushing in there, did you see if that affected it at all?
A: No, I mean, I don’t know who we ended up pulling out on that three man rush. Some of the passing lanes on the goal line there was a crossing pattern, so it may have been that. We’ll take a look tomorrow.
Q: You mentioned in your opening that the ability to score before and after halftime. Is that just something you enjoy as much as anything, or know when it’s valuable?
A: Yeah, I thought we had a good drive there. We got the ball with about three and a half minutes or something like that. We drove it down, Rex [Rex Burkhead] had a long run. We weren’t able to get the ball in the end zone, Buffalo stopped us there and held us to a field goal. We were able to be better in the second half on the opening drive. Driving it down, it ended up being ten point swing there, it went from 6-3 to 16-3. They never really had the ball ahead – they had a couple plays before half. It was a well-executed drive. Offensively, we had a couple of good runs in there. Again, unfortunately for us we weren’t able to get more in the end zone but Buffalo’s a good red area team. We had to settle for three but we were able to do that in the third quarter and that was a big swing for us.
Filed under: Buffalo Bills
Tagged with: Bill Belichick, New England Patriots, Rob Gronkowski
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