Tom Brady's Post Game Press Conference Transcript
On the fact they did it the way they did:
"The hard way?"
On the fact they gave up 17 last week and came back, and then gave up 21 this week and came back:
"Well, it's not planned that way. But there's no panic. I don't feel like the guys on the sideline really panic. I just feel like it's really a matter of execution, and we start executing better and we put points on the board. So it was a fun day to finish 13-3 and to win our last eight in a row has been really good. We just have to continue continue to get better, and have a good week this week, and get ready for our toughest game of the year."
On if he realizes he's passed for almost over 22 miles:
"What is that?"
Over 5,000 yards, 22 miles in football he's thrown for this year:
"Well, the guys did a lot, catching the ball and running with it. Our passing game has been obviously a strong point of this team. And the pass catchers and the blockers have been great, and we've run the ball well too at times. That what it takes, a complimentary offense and you run it, we throw it when we need to throw it and we can be effective. You've got to stay balanced, and those guys have done a great job all year doing stuff with it."
On the individual records he set:
"I've played this game for one reason, and it's to win. There's nothing more important to me than that. As a quarterback, you do everything you can do to help this team win and when your number's called upon to go out and execute certain plays, that's what you're expected to do. It's not something I think about, it's not something I ever...'man, I love throwing touchdowns', or 'I love throwing for yards'. I love winning, and that helps me sleep at night."
On the fact that back in 2007 they were "heaving the ball up" to Randy Moss:
"That's what we determined as an offense is the best thing that we do. You try to play to the strengths of your offense and play to the strengths of the guys that you have. There's no doubt this year that our pass catchers are the biggest strength of our offense. To get the ball to those guys with room to run in space, whether it's [Rob Gronkowski] or Wes [Welker], or Deion, or Aaron [Hernandez]...Aaron's been huge here. So all those guys are threats and you just try to continue to find ways to get them the ball in space."
On if Hernandez realizes how big he can be:
"Sure, no question, and I think all those guys have opportunities. It's not so much where on our offense, 'this play's designed for this one guy', we're putting all our guys in the best spot possible and whatever coverage they run dictates where I start my read, and if that first guy's open, he gets the ball. We never predetermine who we're going to throw to. You just drop back and you try to find the open guy."
On the fact he knows it's safe to say they can't go down by 17 or 21 points early in the game in the playoffs:
"I haven't thought about that. It's a sixty minute game and we're trying to put it together for sixty minutes. Some days it's been better than others. I like the way we answered today. I mean you never want to get down 21-0. But if we do, we do, and we've got to find a way to battle back."
On what the 'common thread' is behind the slow starts:
"It's really lack of execution, more so than anything. It's not, they're not doing anything special, or 'wow, we weren't prepared for that.' It's just they're executing and we're not. I'd love to be able to see what it looks like when we put together 60 great minutes of football...I mean today was 45. But it was better than 30 last week, so maybe we're trending toward that."
On how they're able to execute as well as they have without a 'Randy Moss' deep threat in this offense:
"It's just, you throw a screen pass and the guy runs for 40 yards, or you throw it to Aaron there and he's making guys miss. So a lot of it's what they're doing with the yards after the catch, and they're getting open. So as a quarterback you just drop back and try to find them. Like I said, they've done a great job with that all year. I've got to continue to get better and make better reads and make better throws and hopefully that leads to a win in a couple weeks."
On the fact they've shown they can stretch both horizontally as well as vertically:
"We go vertically into the defense too, it's not all horizontal - I mean there's plenty of vertical routes. We tried a couple today, and we're calling them, and if they're deep, we're just going to throw it somewhere else. We're trying to throw it where they're not. So if they cover us deep, we're going to throw it short. That play to Aaron where he caught it and ran down to the 2 or 3 yard line there in the fourth was a short play. We were trying to throw it deep and they covered us deep, so we throw it short and we run for a bunch of yards. "
On how important it is to have home field advantage:
"It depends how well we play. I think that's going to be the determining factor on whether we win or lose, is how well we execute. You know, it's great playing at home. It's great to have a bye, but I think we've got to concentrate here this week on what we need to do to play our best football in a couple weeks."
On what Bill O'Brien has meant to you as an offensive coordinator?
"He's been a great coach and friend, and we have a great relationship - probably a very unique relationship in that we communicate all the time. I always enjoy working with him and he's done an incredible job with this team and this offense. He expects nothing less than our best."
On if he would miss Bill O'Brien if he left:
"I mean, I don't know what's going to happen. I hope he's here for a long time, I told him that too."
"I'm going to head back guys. Thank you - appreciate it. Happy new year."
