[
]()
Q: I can't imagine you expected it to be that easy.
TB: Well, it wasn't as easy as I think it turned out to be. Judging by the score, I think it looked like it was easy, but it's always a dogfight into that fourth quarter. They scored that touchdown to make it 27-7, and we saw what they did to Miami two years ago, coming all the way back. We made some plays that did seal it early, but it's good to come back to the Meadowlands and every time you play the Jets, it's going to be tough, so it's nice to come out of here with a win like we did.
Q: Did you have any idea you were going to totally dominate this team?
TB: I think we've got a pretty good team. We've got a team that can run the ball, we've got a team that can throw the ball – throw it to multiple guys – and defensively, we come up with a lot of plays, too. The right plays at the right times. We've got smart players, we've got disciplined players, we've got humble players, we've got guys who love playing ball. If we keep this rolling, you know … It's a special group of guys.
Q: What were you thinking when Troy Brown fumbled at the goal line?
TB: Well, it was a good drive. We got all the way down there and Troy's reaching out for the end zone, then just at the right time, the guy came in and makes the play. Troy's kicking himself now about that play, but fortunately it didn't cost us anything. It would have been a touchdown early, but if the outcome had been a little bit different, I'm sure we would be kicking ourselves a little bit more.
Q: It must have been a good feeling to control the ball for nine minutes on that drive, even though you didn't score.
TB: Yeah. We put together a series of drives there. Any time you can do that and keep their offense off the field and keep our big guys on the field kind of wearing them down, that's always what we're trying to accomplish. It's great to score on one play, but as long as we're strong enough to hold the ball for nine minutes and make some plays that way and keep their guys off… I kept asking
Q: That first interception return seemed to demoralize them a little bit.
TB: That was a big play by Tebucky [Jones]. He blitzes, sacks him, then picks up the ball and runs for a touchdown. You can't do much better than that. Then Victor [Green] came up with a huge play. That's certainly gratifying I think when you play, when you're coming back to your old home stadium, in front of your old home fans and Victor is on the other side of the ball now and he comes up with a big play like that.
Q: When you think about how many games you wanted to get the offense going before the season started, you have to be happy now after the first two games?
TB: Yeah, we're still looking to improve. We had a few turnovers; we never like to have those. I think our third downs were pretty good today; the time of possession was also pretty good. But like I said, when your able to run the ball, give it to Antowain [Smith] and then Kevin [Faulk] comes in and makes plays, Patrick Pass makes plays, Mark Edwards running the ball, and then when you throw it to have the pass protection from those guys up front there's no sacks in all those pass attempts. Deion makes a play on the in-cut for a touchdown, Cam [Cleeland], Dan Graham is involved, [Christian] Fauria's involved and the reliable [David] Patten and [Troy] Brown combo. It's tough to account for all those guys. We realize if we go out there and play bad, then it's easy to stop us so we've got to stay focused and continue to push on.
Q: On the first touchdown, the play fake on that one, did you do magic tricks when you were a kid?
TB: Well I think those guys are selling it just as much as I am selling it. I'm just putting the ball out there, those guys are faking and it's really a combination that the offensive line is selling, keeping their pads low and driving off the ball like it's a run. So it's a whole combination of that.
Q: The hand-off to Faulk, you went up like you were going to throw and then you brought it down, and sold that one too.
TB: We had some good ones and that's all part of our offense and our scheme.
Q: Were you good at that stuff, in college? Were you better than the average faker?
TB: Really when I came here, Coach [Dick] Rehbein he really emphasized that, he used to bring out Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason and Peyton Manning tapes because Peyton is a good faker. All those guys, you watch those guys and you pick up little things from them, I'm not going to give away all the secrets. But there is stuff I think about on those fakes.
Q: Is that a part of your game you actually can improve?
TB: Of course, no question. For the play action pass to work you have to be able to run the ball. We've got backs who can run the ball, we've got a line that can block the run, so while those guys are thinking run and then you throw the play action on them it does no good if you play action and we're terrible running the ball, we're a pretty good team running the ball too.
Q: Are you doing more creative stuff this year with your offense than last year?
TB: We've added guys who can do different things so I think we're trying to get everybody involved. Charlie Weis, if there is one thing I think he is the best at in the league, is when he finds talent he finds a way to utilize those guys. Whether it's Cam Cleeland, or Fauria or Kevin Faulk, everyone has got their role and guys take a lot of pride in that role. Troy takes pride in his role, and there's different roles at different times, I mean Troy had a bunch of catches today, didn't score a touchdown, but we get in the red zone and we're trying to get Graham the ball or get Cleeland the ball. As long as we win, no one cares who gets the credit.
Q: The play where you lined up, where you did the quarterback sneak, it look like it was going to be a forward wide receiver set or something like that. Is that something that you've added?
TB: I mean that's all part of just our scheme. Just kind of taking what they give you and the one thing about offense foo
TB:all, if you're a defense, it's hard to cover everything. If we execute everyone well, it's tough to stop. Like I said it's not impossible to stop if we play bad, but fortunately these last two games we've come out and played good ball. As coach would say just keep pushing on, just keep practicing and getting better at the stuff we get better at. There's going to be games that are just going to be knock down, drag out games where it's going to be a lot tougher than it was in the fourth quarter today.
Q: I'd like to ask you about the word respect. Do you think you've got it yet?
TB: I don't know, do we? There's always a little chip on our shoulders, I think every time we go out, we realize we have to prove it, but you're only as good as your last performance. For as great as the Rams were the last couple of years and they went out to Denver last week and they didn't play well, and it's 'oh the Rams aren't…" Well, the Rams are sill a pretty good team, too. We're just trying to go out there and play our brand of foo
TB:all. We do the stuff that our coaching team tells us and if we get respect, we want to earn respect and that's done by winning world championships, we had respect last year and if we didn't then I guess people are just too ignorant or just too stupid to realize that. Now we're 2-0 and I'm sure that teams are realizing that when the Patriots are coming to town that it's going to be a tough game for them.
Q: Have you ever had a game where you've been touched less physically by the other team?
TB: It was awesome today. I don't know. Those guys are doing a great job [Damien] Woody and [Mike] Compton and [Joe] Andruzzi, we threw [Adrian] Klemm in today with Kenyatta [Jones] and [Matt] Light, we've got a lot of depth there and those young guys are strong and they're trying to make a name for themselves, just trying to establish a high standard of play for themselves. It's good for those guys to go out and kick butt like they did today. To kind of put the nail in the coffin and wear them out throughout the game, those guys take a lot of pride in what they do and it's exciting for me to sit back there and just look at all those options I've got to throw the ball to and have some time to find them all.
Q: Who was the first Jet to shake your hand?
TB: I don't know.
