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Q: A lot of your team is on the injury list, do you play any other positions?
TB: Not a chance, I have a hard enough time preparing for the one I've got. Every one is working to get better.
Q: Coach said it is very difficult to practice with this many players banged up?
TB: I am sure that those guys want to be out there, the guys that aren't practicing. From a timing standpoint we go with who we have got.
Q: The starting unit has meshed pretty well in front of you now it might be a little different, especially with some tackles on that list do you change anything that you do back there?
TB: I really don't think so. I think you have confidence in all of those guys that you are with. Injuries are part of it and guys get banged up especially at this time of the year, I mean every team has people that are banged up. It is just a matter of trying to get healthy as fast as you can and being able to contribute…
**Q: You guys are fourth in the AFC in third down conversions, the teams hasn't been up that high in years, do you take that as a personal kind of accomplishment?BB: Not really we make such a point of emphasis about converting on third downs because when you control the clock your defense is off the field and you also have the ball and the opportunity to score. That is a lot of people that…the protection has been really good. Our third downs have been manageable. It is not like we are in too many third and longs, we are in third and medium range so that makes it easy because you really force the defense to defend the width of the field and the length of the field when you keep them manageable like that. It is a good stat and hopefully we will keep it up. I know that we work hard at that.
Q: During the game how cognizant are you about injuries that may have taken place, for instance early in the game Greg Robinson Randall hurt his ankle and he toughed it out and played the whole game, were you aware that he was hurt during the game?
TB: No, I had no idea.
Q: He obviously gave you no reason to?
TB: Yeah those guys go in there and they fight it out and every time they step on the field they want to finish the game. They are all a bunch of tough guys and that is something that I think a lot of those guys pride themselves on. That when you go in there, you are going to finish it out and you are going to play as hard as you and you are going to have to have someone tell you to get off the field to come out. I mean that is Joe Andruzzi right there. He is as tough as they come.
Q: In the Indy game you took more shots down field on first down, overall has that been a goal on first down to get into manageable third down situations?
TB: I don't think so. I think you really from an offensive standpoint, you really try to take advantage of what the defense is going to give you. If they are going to allow you to run the ball early on first down you pick up four or five and I think that is pretty good. If they force you to throw the ball and maybe push the ball up the field a little bit, that is something that you have to be able to do as well. When we go into a game, Charlie [Weis] is always saying, 'Be aware of this, if this situation arises don't be afraid to maybe take a shot and also if it is not there you would rather be in second and five than second and ten.' That is just kind of the approach we take on offense.
Q: After your first game someone asked you about being a sixth round pick and you discussed your disappointment about that, when that happened did you say to yourself either consciously or unconsciously, 'I am going to prove to the Patriots that they were right, or I am going to prove all of those other teams wrong?'
TB: That is really an approach that I have always taken. Disappointment, maybe it was just more frustration, you go through a college career and I played with a lot of really good players and I thought our team was pretty good when I was there and you get to a point where they start taking guys and you say, 'Nothing that I have done is good enough.' So then it gets to a point where you say, 'Well I guess I am going to have to prove it again.' It is nothing that I haven't done in the past and I take pride in that. It wouldn't be right for something ever to be handed to you. I mean you have got to go out and earn everything. That is the approach that I have always taken. Thinking back to that time, that was a long day for me and when I was finally picked, not only was I thinking, 'It is about time,' but I said, 'I am going to go to New England and do everything I can to put myself in a position to step in when I am ready.
Q: One of the reasons that you have been successful is because you did do that, you did everything you could to put yourself in position to be successful, how much different is your preparation now then it was before you were playing?
TB: It is pretty much the same. You are in every meeting and the quarterbacks always meet together and we practice together and we watch film together and we talk about the game plans together. From last year to this year it is still pretty much the same. You might do just maybe a little bit extra, just really try to familiarize yourself with the plan early in the week so you really have a good grasp of it throughout the week, but for the most part it is pretty much the same.
Q: What will you see in Buffalo that maybe you haven't seen?
TB: We started preparing a couple of days ago and I know that their record isn't very good, but they are a very good team. Especially a division game, if you take an opponent like this lightly they are going to beat you. We have got to be as sharp as we can be on every play. I said after the game, 'You really can't take anything for granted from play-to-play, as much as you can… Looking past a team, there is not a guy in this locker room who is really thinking about looking past Buffalo because I think the last three games have gone to overtime with them and they are pro football players. They are pretty good.
Q: You obviously brought it up a notch to play on the road, winning two out of three, but are you afraid at all that the return back here could naturally cause a letdown?
TB: I think it is nice to come home. I think it is nice to have your home fans here supporting you. They cheer you when you do good and they boo you when you do bad, but I think it is definitely motivation for us to be home. I don't think there is any let up. I think this team is too mature to let something like that happen.
Q: Has your confidence been growing with every game, you are confident already, but do you think it has grown more? Or are you feeling more comfortable?
TB: That is probably a better word for it. I am just more comfortable and I always talk about my awareness, but there are things that come up in every game that you learn from. From managing the clock to certain situations, for example the last game there was a play at the end of the game where I was rolling out and I kind of took a hit late and threw the ball away on a sprint-out pass and what I should have done was probably just go forward and let the clock keep running, just stuff like that, that you continue to learn week-to-week, but my confidence is pretty good and that is because I am confident in my coaches and real confident in the guys that I am out there with. That gives me a lot of confidence knowing how good those guys that I am playing with, I am very comfortable with them out there.
Q: Has there been one lesson specifically that you have learned that stands out more than others?
TB: Yeah, I think really not taking for granted anything. Taking for granted that the defense is going to do the same thing that they have done for the last five weeks and all of the preparation that we do every week where we try to anticipate what the defense is going to do. I think sometimes you can become so caught up and wrapped up with what they have done as opposed to what they are doing. So I think taking players for granted and assuming that a guy is going to be in a certain spot and just assume something as simple a handoff like last week.
Q: Coach mentioned that practices are going to have to be cut down, are you a big practice guy and is that going to affect you this week?
TB: I don't think it is going to affect me. It is good, we have been practicing, we have been playing for two months now, two and a half months about, so guys know how to…a lot of the teams around the league are starting to do that a little bit, especially when the winter months come you don't need to get as much physical work, that was really coach's decision.
Q: Having a lot of injuries though does that effect you people that you are out there throwing too and the people that aren't able to practice?
TB: Not as much, no, not as much. I don't think it would.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about some of the different skills that Kevin Faulk brings to the backfield?
TB: I think Kevin is incredibly quick and very shifty. He has got real quick feet and he has got a lot of receiver skills. He really sees the defender well and knows how to set up the defender like he did on that touchdown pass. He really stemmed the guy inside like he is going to run to the inside and his quickness allows him to get back outside and he is standing there wide open. He is a great asset both as a running back and as a guy that can catch balls out of the backfield. So he is doing great.
**Q: Some offenses are built on number one draft picks, you have Jermaine Wiggins who was a street free agent, Antowain Smith was a first a round pick, Marc Edwards has bounced around, David Patten was lugging bags of coffee beans as a sixth round pick do you feel a sort of kinship with these guys?BB: We are a bunch of slappies out there, huh? No, not at all. I think everybody, you know we have bunch of very confident, comfortable and capable players. From David [Patten] to Troy [Brown] to Jermaine [Wiggins] and Antowain [Smith] and it is really a matter of taking our best assets and really putting them to work. Maybe that wasn't the case with some other guys, but that is really what we try to do and that is what we have been doing I think that is why we have been successful.
Q: Do you feel like you are sort of in the same boat that all of these guys at some point in their career were told that maybe they weren't the right guy and now you are all coming together and it is working?
TB: Yeah I don't think that we look at it like that. I think it is just a bunch of competitive guys. Guys that want to be good players, like David Patten especially, you talked about David's road that has taken for him to get here and he just continues to want to get better every day and Troy, Troy makes comments that you wouldn't think that he would make because he wants to get that much better. He just wants to continue to improve. It is fun to be out there with guys like that.
