Q:Brandon Deaderick got the start yesterday and looked like he played pretty well. How would you characterize his skill set and practice approach that would allow him to get the call yesterday and contribute the way he did?
MP:Well, I think everybody on the defense tries to prepare every week like you've got to go out there and play whatever we're trying to execute for that particular game plan. The roster being the size that it is and with injures and situations that come up, everyone is going to be an integral part depending on the situation of the game as it presents itself. Certainly Brandon stepped in and played his role to the best of his ability, which was good to see and hopefully we can continue to build on that. I think everybody, depending on as the season goes here, the parts change every week. They just have to be ready to step in and be able to handle the situations that come up for us defensively.
Q:The defensive line had another good night. It seemed to be because of a lot of reasons, but what did you see in terms of why they had so much success?
MP:Yeah, you really have to give credit to those guys up front. They did a heck of a job playing really good fundamental, disciplined football. Vince [Wilfork], obviously, leads the charge and is really just a tremendous player for us in the front. He obviously commands a lot of attention from the opponent, which in other cases can help free up teammates. It's something we talked about earlier in the year – kind of those unsung plays that present themselves where he's obviously just such a force in there. [He] gets those plays once in a while where he is singled up or he has a chance, the opportunity, to make a big play, which he did quite a bit last night. Really those guys did a great job of reading their keys and using their good fundamental skills and playing the blocks that presented themselves last night and really working off each other base d on the schemes we saw.
Q:Stats can be kind of weird for the defense and maybe even more so for Vince's position. Is it possible to quantify how valuable he is for your defense?
MP:I think it's really difficult to say. Obviously, the biggest stat we're concerned with is winning. I think you can definitely say that Vince helps us win every week. That's really what we're trying to do and that's what we're trying to work for as a defense: to get better. And that's the stat we're looking for. So it's hard; like you said, there's no real stat for it. We're just trying to win and do what we can to win. I think obviously for us [he's] just a key component.
Q:Jerod Mayo said that all the hype the Texans were getting was somewhat of a motivational factor for him. I know you guys try to ignore the noise, but can that be a positive motivator for players?
MP:I think any competitive person is going to use whatever motivation best motivates himself. I think for us, really, again we're just trying to take each game every week – every week for us is a real difficult challenge and obviously last night was a great team. Houston is phenomenal. Give all the credit to the players for doing a great job, but we're trying to turn the page and get ready for San Francisco, which is another outstanding team. It's going to be a huge challenge for us here. Same thing again: a highly ranked rushing team, a real effective passing game with some great skill players and obviously a great running back, great quarterback – right now is playing real well. I think everybody that's a competitor uses different motivation, but I think ultimately in the end, our motivation is going to be to go out there to try to play the best we can, get better and do our job to the best of our ability. So, I think that's really the important part.
