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TB: Never a doubt, huh? Never a doubt.
Q:
TB: That shows a Patriots team that's just fighting and fighting and fighting. You get to a situation where, I don't want to say the season is on the line because every week the season is on the line, but we are down in our place and only looking up and we really fought our way out of a tough situation. That's the type of stuff you really build on as a team.
Q:
TB: Well I think, you know when we played Indy we were really able to run the ball and our game plan this week was to come out firing the ball, getting the ball to Terry [Glenn] and Troy [Brown] and Dave [Patten]. You see what happens when they get the ball in their hands, I mean I don't know what is going to happen. I am just trying to put it out there and watch them make great plays. It's a great performance by them and certainly a great performance by that offensive line. They hung in there and gave me all the time in the world.
Q: Was this game plan better than Indy?
TB: I could care less, I just want to win. I just want to win.
Q:
TB: I will say you can get into a rhythm and you can start reading defenders more when you are throwing more. You can really exploit their weaknesses because you are seeing them quite a bit more. So we got into some situations when we were going no-huddle a little bit that I think they had a little problem lining up to. For us, it is easy for as to do and you know it is that much harder on the defense to match their defense and match their coverage. So we were able to get guys wide open.
Q: Difference between this week and last week?
TB: I really don't like to compare week to week. I mean this was a week where it was really important for our passing game. I mean that run defense that San Diego has is very, very good. So we went in there and we started game planning Charlie [Weis] said, 'We're going to come out and we are going to try to screen them a little bit and we are going to take some shots. We are going to throw the ball up field and see if we can make some plays.' And those guys were making plays today.
Q: What about having Terry Glenn and not having Terry Glenn?
TB: I'll just tell you about having Terry Glenn because that is all I am concerned about.
Q: He didn't play last week and he did play this week. Can you talk about the two weeks?
TB: When Terry is in there it really forces the defense to make decisions. Terry is a great player. When Terry's out there he makes Troy [Brown] great and he makes David [Patten] great because those guys can find zones. You know because maybe they are overplaying Terry a little bit and if they don't overplay Terry, then you throw to Terry. It really opens up the game, and not to say that those other receivers couldn't get those other guys open, it's just more of a weapon. Terry's being here and being in the system and being familiar with the plays and the routes and it showed today.
Q: What is it about him that makes him a little extra special?
TB: I mean he's got great hands. He runs great routes. He brings a lot to the team. He really threatens a defense. They've really got to know where he is out on the field when he is out there.
Q:
TB: There were a lot of plays out there. We had a ton of plays today. I think that it is hard for anybody to come in and start, go as many plays as Terry did. It just shows you how much pride he takes in being a great player and he has had a tough situation and he knows that and everybody around him knows that. You have pride as a player and as a person and you want to go out and prove to people that when it is time to go to work he is going to give it his all and that is what he did. I'll tell you, everybody in that locker room is glad to see Terry in there catching the ball.
Q: With all those passes how do you avoid making stupid throws?
TB: I wish I could say I don't make stupid throws or bad throws, but it just so happens that guys are getting open and like you said, I don't tend to force the ball a whole lot and when I do that is what gets me into trouble. When there are interceptions in practice that I threw that we go over on plays and Charlie says, 'Well you can't be looking here.' Or, 'You can't come off later, it is going to be.' I threw a couple interceptions this week in practice and that is something that you know when you've got a defense and in close games, you can't make mistakes. So there's plenty of bad throws on that film, I know that. I mean there's a lot of plays that I wish I would have made. So that is what we've got to get corrected because we are going on the road to Indy and I know they are going to be ready for us.
Q: Talk a about what the two-minute drill does?
TB: It's a situation where the defense knows you are throwing. You know you are throwing and you've just got to get the communication going. The two-minute drill puts pressure on the secondary and we got to the point in the game where we had to move the ball quickly and guys were getting open for me, like I said. David made a great catch there to get us down to the five-yard line. Charlie made a great play call and had [Jermaine] Wiggins standing there wide open. Anyone at QB could have made that throw.
Q:
TB: You come off a week like last week and everybody tells you how bad you are and then you come off a week like this and people are telling you, 'Well you know they can really turn this thing around.' The important thing for me is that and I think for the team is that, we are just concerned about what we think. We are concerned about going out to practice every day and focusing as hard as we can each week on the team that we are playing. We are 2-3 and we are going on the road now for three straight games and it is going to be a battle every week. We know that and just like I said last week, I am just worried about Indy at this point. This game is done as far as I am concerned.
Q: The throw to Patten to set up the field goal, what did you see and why did you throw it?
TB: We had talked about that, we had seen that they run a certain blitz and I saw the blitz and I audibled out of it and the guys did a good job of keeping them off me. They were bringing a lot of guys on that blitz and I just kind of laid it up there and David did a great job fighting to get to that ball. You know it was a big play in the game. It's funny I was saying to Drew [Bledsoe], I said, 'You work on that play and you think, God when will that come up?' And it just so happens in the most important part of the game it comes up and we execute it. So that's the stuff that you remember.
Q: Were you surprised at how open Jermaine Wiggins was on the touchdown?
TB: It was kind of a misdirection. We faked the hand off to the left and booted back to the right and he just kind of slipped behind guys. It's funny if you are in man coverage and you are told that you've got Wiggins and you see the quarterback open up to the left and put the ball out you might loose him for a second, that's all it takes for him to slip by. Then he is behind him and I just kind of laid it up there and it was an easy touchdown. I wish they were all that easy.
Q: Were you determined to get that ball to Terry on the touchdown?
TB: Yeah, Terry beat the man coverage. He kind of had a safety over the top and I just tried to fit it in there and Terry made a great play on the ball, that's how it went.
Q: Terry said that if you had been playing eight or nine years you probably wouldn't have thrown it because of double coverage?
TB: That might be the case. Maybe I am just too naïve to think that I can't throw the ball in there when you double cover him.
Q:
TB: I just dropped back and I knew what I had on that side by the pre-snap read. I knew what I had. I was just looking if they were blitzing I had a different read. They didn't blitz so I was going to take a shot to Terry.
Q: How is Drew Bledsoe as a quarterback's coach?
TB: I tell you, he's great. As I said before, he just cuts through everything. He's there with me all the time. I know as a quarterback you really put your trust in certain people. He's one guy that I have a lot of trust in because I know that he'd never let me down. He's fighting for plays to get called because he knows if he was out there what kind of plays he'd want to be calling. He is always saying, 'OK, that series is over. Let's see what we want to attack this series. Let's see how we want to start and the first third down. What do you like? What do you see here?' And that is just priceless for me and that's just a tremendous help.
Q: Have you ever had 54 pass attempts in a game before?
TB: Was that how many it was? I think that is probably the most I have had.
Q: You've had big games before, but is this the highlight of your career or is that overstating it?
TB: I have had a lot of great moments. I had a lot of games in college that came down to the same situation. I don't want to put a number on it, I mean it is up there; there is no doubt about that. Like I said, this is my second year and my third game starting and I sure hope that there are bigger games ahead in bigger arenas. I mean this is the type of thing that really builds for that next situation that comes up.
Q:
TB: Yeah they did. I mean Adam [Vinatieri] is kicking on a wet field with a wet ball and I see Lee's [Johnson] got those gloves on. He kicked that ball and I just kind of looked up and once it was in, you can't imagine the smile that was on my face. Then I looked over to Drew and said, 'It is never easy.'
Q:
TB: I don't have to say much. I mean you've got Damien Woody out there who expects a lot of himself and Mike Compton. Joe Andruzzi, no one thought he would play this week, and he comes out there and plays 90 plays. That's resiliency, that is fighting back when no one else thinks you've got a shot. We were moving the ball the whole game, we just didn't really have a lot of points to show for it. That does show the resiliency of the team. You are 0-2 and then we beat Indy. Then we went down and had a tough loss and now we are 2-3. We've got the whole season ahead of us and this is really a great game to build on
