On the second part of the season not going as well as the first half and if there's anything he can attribute that too specifically:
No, not really. If there was one thing specifically I could attribute it to I would have solved the problem already. There's not one thing. It's always a few things or quite a few things that work together that create problems for you and that's what's happened.
On the team still playing at their full potential and not "checking out":
I've never questioned the character of our football team. I think we've always worked hard and played hard. But the key is not just playing hard you've got to play better. That's what we're trying to do is get better.
On how he thinks QB Tom Brady has progressed from the first time they played him:
A couple of those were some tipped balls, us being able to make him move a little bit in the pocket where he wasn't completely comfortable. Right now he has got total command of what's happening on the field. I think they're all on the same page and they're going extremely well right now.
On if he's ever seen a team with two complimentary tight ends like New England has in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez:
I don't think I have. I don't think I've seen two guys that can go make plays the way they make plays and all the different ways they can do it. They can split out, they can do it from the backfield and they can do it from right. They make plays and they block well enough for them to have a good running game as well. The combination that they have there and how they use them is very unique and that's one of the reasons they give teams so many problems. The matchups are very difficult.
On how he prepares for the Patriots tight ends with it being such a unique situation:
First of all you have to hope that they mess it up a little bit because I'm not sure that you can go out there and say, "Ok if we just figure out what they're doing we can stop it because they do so many things." If you stop one thing they can go to something else, which is exactly what they've shown in weeks prior to this. What they've done, they've gotten…in the first half or first quarter and then they've figured it out and come out like gang busters. You have to really work hard for 60 minutes to have a chance to control their offense.
On his overall thoughts on the AFC East being competitive from top to bottom this season:
I think it's one of the better divisions. I know we played very well against the AFC West this year. We didn't play as well against the Central. I think the Central's pretty tough, too. I think the Central and the East are two of the toughest. This year the AFC West seems to be the down division. We all know how rapidly that changes. That can change next year. The AFC West can be the strongest division next year, who knows.
On the fact that there's no AFC Central anymore:
(Laughing) That's right. I forgot.
On what he was doing in the beginning of the season that got lost in the middle of the season but is coming back now:
We were getting lots of turnovers early in the season and that really helped us. We were much better in the red zone earlier in the season. We have not been as good in the red zone. You have to score touchdowns in this league. You can't just go out and kick field goals. We were fortunate last week to get by with that, but you normally can't. Those have been our biggest problems, is not getting the turnovers that we need on a consistent basis. We seem to get them in bunches, but we haven't been able to do it consistently. We haven't been scoring the touchdowns that we need to score offensively whether it's the longer variety or being good in the red zone.
On the way the game has changed in the way it allows more and more passing yards:
A couple of things have happened. I think the type of the receivers that are coming out now they're big, they're fast and they're very athletic. The tight ends that are now receivers are big, they're fast and they're athletic. You looked around and the traditional fullback, there's not as many of them anymore. Colleges aren't producing those guys. So everybody has adapted. The other thing that we've found is that the defensive players are so much bigger, faster and stronger that the field shrunk actually. When you started talking about the running game they can get to the sideline to the running game so fast so how do offenses move the football? You spread them out and create more lanes. The best way to do that is with spread offenses and throwing the football. I think it's just an evolution of where we've come because of the defensive players and because of the defensive schemes that have come into place over the last 10 to 15 years.
