Patriots quarterback Tom Brady addresses the media during his postgame press conference at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, November 22, 2009.
Q: How big was this coming back after a disappointing week last week?
TB: Yeah, it was a long week for all of us. We put a lot into it and Wednesday's tough to get over the emotional drain of the last game, but it was a big game for us over the course of the season - to beat the Jets, a division opponent that got us pretty good the first time we played them. It was a good win for us.
Q: How different was it to have Wes Welker in the lineup this time? He had a few catches…
TB: Yeah, he did. He did. He played big and he always does. He's a great player and he's working the middle of that field and when the coverage goes to Randy [Moss], Wes has some opportunities. And he played a great game. What a performance.
Q: What did you see on the 43-yard reception that got him free?
TB: Well, it looked like they were trying to blitz us and I think they bailed out at the last second. But at that point Wes was already running up the field, so you know, he mailboxed his hand - which he normally doesn't do. It's hard to see because he's about 5-foot-7, but he made a great play, a great catch, and that was a big play for us. We really needed that one.
Q: When you see him taking some of those hits, do you double check and make sure he's getting up ok?
TB: Yeah. He takes a lot of them, and when you work the inside of that field that's where all of the big guys are at. He scoots his way in there and he's always fighting for extra yards, so he's one of the toughest guys I've ever played with. And his durability is pretty impressive for the kind of shots he takes.
Q: On the touchdown to Randy Moss, was that a planned thing, or was that just something you guys had on the sideline?
TB: It was planned between he and I, not planned between anybody else. Randy saw something and I saw the same thing, and he made a nice adjustment for the touchdown.
Q: On the delay of game calls, I know you're looking at the clock because it's right in front of you. You seemed pretty frustrated by that. What's happening there?
TB: I can see it go down and I put my head down with one [second] to snap it and I just think I'm getting that off. We typically go down pretty late in that count a lot of the time, but he was pretty quick on that whistle today, which was unfortunate.
Q: It's the guy behind you that's calling it, right?
TB: It was the guy in front - the guy that I'm looking at down the field.
Q: How far have you come from that first night when you weren't able to get any touchdowns?
TB: I think we're obviously playing a lot better football as a unit, and the quarterback's - my job is to. My job is pretty simple when they block the way they block and Randy and Wes are out there doing their thing. You know, every year it's a new year and there are new challenges, new teams, new defenses. We came into this year and didn't really know what kind of team we'd have and I'm really proud of the way that we work, the way that we practice. There's been some really good leadership for a pretty young team and it's been a fun 10 weeks. We've really had three bad second halves, which is why we've got three losses. We've learned a lot from those losses and I'm looking forward to what's ahead. Coach always says the season starts after Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving's Thursday, so we've got six regular season games left. The Saints are going to be - Coach said probably the toughest opponent we face this year, right there with the Colts. So I'm glad we're playing this kind of football. The defense is getting a lot of turnovers for us. We're getting the ball in in the red area. We're just still doing a few things that are hurting us, but even with those things, we've made some improvements there.
Q: You went to Randy early in the game - despite the Darrelle Revis matchup or because of it?
TB: Anytime Randy gets the opportunity, you've got to get him the ball, because when you play them, you're just not quite sure when he's going to get the next opportunity. So we took a few shots; we didn't hit any of them, but they started favoring him a little bit and then Wes got the ball, so it may have been effective trying to throw it up to him, but we've got to hit more of those.
Q: Why can't teams seem to take Wes Welker away? What is it about him or you two?
TB: Well, when you line up in the slot, you have the whole field to work. You can go short inside, short outside, long outside, long inside, you can stop at any point and you're typically on the third DB that comes on the field. You're a part of all the combinations with the running backs and the tight ends. It's tough to do. You've got to see things very quickly. Wes is able to use his quickness to get open over the middle, in the flat, down the field. When you're an outside guy, you're usually against the better players and you have a really limited amount of field to work. So if they decide to really cover you, which [Kerry] Rhodes was typically over the top of Randy and then [Darrelle] Revis was on him - their two best players - then you've got to find other guys to work, and Wes really took advantage of it.
Q: You faced a lot of blitz pressure in that first Jets game in Week Two, but it didn't seem like as much tonight. What was the difference?
TB: They were blitzing.
Q: As much as in Week Two?
TB: I don't think we handled it as well when they blitzed it early in the last game, so when you don't handle it well, they just typically keep bringing it. When you handle it, that settles it down a bit. They're a blitz team. They blitz 40, 50 percent of the time, so they were blitzing quite a bit. We just, I thought, did a pretty good job of sorting it all out.
