**

(On how the bye week has been going)
"The bye week has been good. We've been improving each and every day, been looking back at what we did throughout the year and what we need to work on, and we're trying to fix that stuff up."

(On whether he'll watch any of the NFL Wild Card games this weekend)
"Yeah, I'm going to watch all of them. I'm a football fan first, so I'm going to watch all of the games, definitely all the teams we could end up playing, so I'll definitely be interested."

(On if there is any adjustment to having a prolonged season as compared to college football)
"I just feel like I'm in a rhythm. It's the same routine kind of week-in week-out. This is the first year I can just focus on football solely, don't have to worry about school, don't have to worry about other things like that, so I think that helps out a lot too."

(On how refreshing that is to just focus on football)
"Yeah, it's a job now, so that's how I approach it each and every day: wake up and go to work."

(On whether he is expecting anything to be different in his first postseason)
"I mean, football is football. Everything is more important in the postseason, so you want to make sure you have your best game. But at the end of the day, it's still football."

(On if there is any extra focus on making sure perfection is there in practice and preparation)
"Yeah, I would say there's more focus. But to play for this organization, you've got to be very focused, very detail-oriented, so it just goes into being a Patriot."

(On whether he has talked to any veterans about what to expect in the postseason)
"We'll see when we get there, when we get closer to the actual game. Right now during the bye we're just focused on getting better."

(On how he would evaluate his performance this year)
"I had some good plays throughout the year but also had some bad plays, some plays I wish I got back, so I'm just trying to tighten that up and limit the bad plays for the postseason."

(On if he still considers himself a rookie after playing in 16 games)
"No, I don't think anyone is a rookie anymore once you have that many games under your belt. Now, it's a whole other season."

(On how the injured players have helped this season just by being around in the locker room)
"I mean, that says it all. It says a lot about those guys who are on [Injured Reserve] but they still stick around the locker room and give advice to young guys like me. It just kind of shows the chemistry of this team, and it kind of shows the standard that a Vince Wilfork and a Jerod Mayo, that they uphold, and you don't want to let them down."

**

(On who came up with the idea to buy a WWE Championship Belt from Hulk Hogan's store)
"My wife. She actually wanted to give me one of his belts for Christmas because obviously I'm a Hulk Hogan fan. I mean anyone that grew up in my era, if he wasn't watching pro wrestling then he wasn't watching very much I guess. So, it was just my wife's idea and him doing that [promotional video] was his idea. I definitely appreciate it because, like I said, I'm a big fan of Hulk Hogan."

(On whether the little kid in him was excited when he saw Hulk Hogan's video where Hogan mentions him by name)
"Sure. Any grown man would be. I feel like there are only a few people in life where, as a grown man, you would be pretty giddy about meeting, and I think Hulk Hogan would be one of them. I was showing all my buddies at home and they were all freaking out, and like I said, Hulk Hogan is a household name whether you watch professional wrestling or not in my opinion. So, it was really cool."

(On whether he will wear the belt all the time or as a situational accessory)
"We'll see. I don't have it just yet. It should be coming soon though."

(On whether he talked to any of the guys about having it in the locker room)
"I'm just going to have it here. All the guys are pretty stoked about it too. Like I said, all lot of us grew up being Hulkamaniacs, so it's a nice thing to have Hulk Hogan reference the Patriots. It's cool."

(On whether we should blame Fed-Ex for the slow delivery of the belt)
"I guess you could do that. No, I don't think they've actually sent it out yet, but it should be here soon."

(On how the week of practices has been)
"They're going well. I mean obviously we're working hard. Every week we're trying to get better and I think this is a great opportunity this week to do that. I think every guy has come out with a great mindset. Even though we're not playing this weekend, I think they are days to get ahead. Obviously we don't know who we're playing or anything like that, but we're preparing the best way we can and just trying to hone in our skills."

(On how things change from regular season football to postseason football and whether he notices a different intensity)
"I mean, I think you would be wrong if you said there wasn't a different intensity because it's either win or go home now. So, yeah I've played in six postseason games, and it's just one of those things where you try to treat it as every other game. You don't want to get yourself overhyped for this like anything else. This is our job and this is what we want to do. We obviously want to win and that's why we're here preparing. I think Coach Belichick does a great job doing that for us."