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Opening Statement:**
I think it was a good win by our team today. I thought the players did a good job. Buffalo was competing hard. They had a lot of energy and there was a lot of excitement inside the stadium. Our guys did a good job on those two drives at the end of the game offensively. They had some good plays on defense with turnovers. It was a good team win and a lot contributed. Obviously it was a little bittersweet with Jerod (Mayo) going down in the first half so I hope he's okay. But it's always tough up here. They're a good football team. I thought our guys played them hard and competed well. Ultimately we were able to make enough plays. We had some big plays down the field in passing game, which obviously helped us and it was good to see that.
Q:With Bryan Stork already out and then Dan Connolly leaving at half time, how big of a contribution was it with the guys who came in and helped give protection in the second half?
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The New England Patriots take on the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Sunday, October 12, 2014.
New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) attempts to catch a pass as he is defended by Buffalo Bills' Corey Graham (20) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014, in Orchard Park, N.Y. Gronkowski was injured on the play. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
A: **Huge. It was huge. We had a lot of guys step up. We had some people go down. Backs when Stevan (Ridley) went down and linebackers when Jerod went down. Those guys did a good job.
Q:Can you tell us your thoughts on how Jamie Collins played when Jerod went down?
A:Jamie has been in that position before in practice and so forth but he stepped up here handling the second calls and calling the checks and so forth. Jamie did a good job.
Q:How difficult does the preparation for the next game become when you've lost some key players?
A:We're going to have to turn around quick. Today is Wednesday. Tonight is Wednesday night. That's where we are in terms of a Sunday game. We obviously have a lot of catching up to do between now and Thursday night. It's always hard to play the Jets. They're a game planning team, they always have a lot of tough packages and a lot of good players. But we'll just have to turn it around quickly and get back to Foxborough and start grinding it out.
Q:Talk about that last drive for Josh (McDaniels).
A:We were able to make some plays. We had a couple long yard conversions today: A third and long, a second and forever. We ended up scoring on the under route. We were in some long yard situations and fortunate to get out of them. It's not where you want to be. It's not statistically a situation that is good. But, fortunately, we had good execution by our offensive team, especially in the passing game. So it's good to go out there and score 37 points. A lot of people contributed in the receiver position. Obviously Rob (Gronkowksi) and Tim (Wright). They all did a good job and hung in there and fought hard. It's not easy against that front. That's a good defensive front. Those guys are good pass rushers, they're physical, they're quick, hard to block. They did a good job and it's a good group.
Q:What is the impact on the loss of Jerod?
A:We'll go forward this week and see what we think the best thing to do is.
Q:Any update on Stevan?
A:Nope.
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Q: **What are your thoughts on Rob? He seemed to open downfield and made some key conversions with Tom (Brady).
A:Yeah, sure did. He's a tough guy to cover. He made a lot of big plays for us. We had a lot of big plays from a lot of receivers. We had a lot of guys step up and he was one of them.
Q:And your thoughts on Tim's catch? That was a terrific, athletic catch.
A:Yeah, Tom put it out there and Tim went and got it. So, nice job by Tom creating the coverage. Low safety there, put it up there and give Tim the chance for the ball and he made the play. I've seen him do that several times this year during the preseason. It was good to see it today.
Q:Did Brian (Tyms) and Tom have a lot of time to practice together after the suspension?
A:They worked together all training camp. They couldn't work together the month he was out for the first four games. He wasn't active last week but he practiced with us and he was active this week. So, they've had quite a bit of time together minus the month that they weren't together.
Q:What has your team showed you in these last two weeks since the Kansas City game?
A:I thought last week we played very competitively on a short week against a good football team. Today, we came on the road and played 60 minutes here. We have to give the Bills a lot of credit. They won on the road against Detroit and they won on the road against the Bears in overtime. This is a tough football team to play 60 minutes that comes at you. We knew that's the way it was going to be and that's the way it was. Our guys stepped up and competed well today. So, I give the players credit. They worked hard and they played hard. It's a tough football team here in a place that had a lot of energy.
Q:Two years ago it was almost the same situation with Tom catching fire in the third quarter. How do you account for the fact that he can be almost perfect in the second half in Buffalo?
A:I think you have to give credit to the whole offense. I thought we did a decent job of blocking the front and giving him time. The receivers made some good plays, Tom made some good reads and made some good throws, but it took everybody out there working together out there today. It's not a one-man band. It took a lot of work from a lot of guys. Offensively, we put ourselves in some long yard and bad situations. We were able to overcome some of those, most of them as a matter of fact, but that's not the way you want to do it. We got away with it today, but that's going to catch up with us. We can't keep doing that.
