PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK JACOBY BRISSETT
PRESS CONFERENCE
September 11, 2024
Q: Jerod spoke about how the players, year one to year two is important, but also week one to week two. How do you look at what you did on week one, and how would you like to improve that over week two?
JB: Yeah, that's what this business is. It's getting better each and every day. Obviously, getting a chance to go back, watch the film and seeing a lot of things that as a team, as an offense, and obviously, personally, that has room for improvement. We were joking about it Monday, it's always better to learn from a win than a loss. So, we're excited to get back on the practice field, correct those things and get moving forward.
Q: Jerod was talking about how you guys, in the fourth quarter, were saying, 'Let's take it to the hill.' What does that mean for you, and what sort of team-bonding experience is it like for you guys running that hill?
JB: Team bonding, I don't know about that. No, but he's right. We got to the point where it was just, we saw what type of game it turned into, and the cool part was it was no egos in the huddle. Everybody kind of bought into it and realized we're running one play the whole time and they're not stopping it, so why change it? I think that was one of the cooler moments in my career. Everybody in the huddle was saying, 'Let's take them to the hill' because we knew we were in that much better shape than they were, and I think it paid off.
Q: How important is it for the players to kind of see proof of process, whether it's you guys running the hill and being better conditioned, whether it's a game plan, how important is it to get results from what the coaches are preaching?
JB: I think it's really good, just from the standpoint of you see the direction that we're trying to go, you see what happens when you do follow the process, and you do buy into the plan. Obviously, some days you're going to do that and you're not going to get the results you want, but I think it's even more apparent after you do get those results. Now, you've got to double down on it even more because it shows you that you can't take that much more of a slack in the preparation to get you to the game.
Q: Looking forward to this Sunday, what sort of challenges did the Seahawks defense present, and do you see similarities to what the Ravens did the last two years?
JB: Yeah, obviously Mike's [Macdonald] done a good job dating back to his Raven days. The way he calls the games, dating back to the Ravens and even this year with those guys, they keep you on your toes. They've got a lot of really good players on defense, guys that have made the Pro Bowl and some of the better players in this league. So, he uses those guys very well within his scheme. We've got to be on our P's and Q's; it's going to be a big one for us. Obviously, it starts today with first and second down, trying to master that plan right now, and then moving forward throughout the week because the more third downs and red zones that the situation gets, that's when they get better.
Q: You've been practicing against your defense all summer. Do you see any similarities the way that Baltimore and now Seattle wants to play and the way that you guys play on defense?
JB: Somewhat similar. Obviously, they give you a lot of different looks up front with the guys. Obviously, having good cover guys help, which we do, and they do as well. I think taking that approach and kind of, I guess, screwing with the offensive rules as far as protection or run game and things like that, I think that's what this style of defense tries to do really well. I mean, that's what they do really well. So, like I said, it's first and second down, so kind of trying to put that in its own bucket and take care of it from that.
Q: Jacoby, Jerod talked about the ability for a team to be able to make changes on the fly as things are going on. What gives you confidence that your offense can see one thing and then make a change to do another thing if that is what you need to do?
JB: Because that's what we did Sunday. It was a couple looks that we thought we were getting based on the scouting report. From AVP [Alex Van Pelt] and those guys playing Cincinnati and Lou [Anarumo] a while ago, we came out and they gave us different looks, and therefore, it led to some different calls for us to make toward the end of the game. I think you saw that as far as some of our run game calls were a little different than we expected, and our guys being able to change on the fly as far as making alerts on the play or checks on the play within the play, you know what I mean? So, I thought that was good for us to see that, and that just goes back to our ability to adapt and learn on the fly.
Q: In your first year as a starter, you led the league in sacks, but it seems like your ability to evade pressure has improved throughout the years. Have you done that just beyond the offensive line's ability to protect you?
JB: I mean, I think I've been fortunate to play on really good O-lines. I think that plays a part in it. Understanding football a little bit more, being okay with throwing the ball away – I think, obviously, your completion percentage kind of takes a hit, but I think that's better than a sack and getting into negative yards. I think understanding that more now in my older days than I was when I was younger in the league, I think that definitely has paid off. Watching really good quarterbacks, honestly, do it for a while – watching Tom [Brady], Phillip [Rivers] and Andrew [Luck] – finding ways to not get negative plays. So, I think that definitely played a part in it.
Q: In the second half in that game against Cincinnati, you had a deep attempt down the field to Tyquan [Thornton]. I'm just wondering how important you think it is to try to get him involved down the field, to show willingness to even make those types of throws to maybe try to soften the defense up for your run game?
JB: Yeah, I think that's definitely important just because of who he is as a player, being able to stretch the field. He's one of the fastest, if not the fastest, on our team. His ability to get down the field at a fast rate, we've definitely got to try to make the defense feel like that's a possibility, obviously when we get chances to hit him. But I think we did that one time and then the next time, they're playing completely soft zone on him, he sits in the zone and gets a big completion. So, I think a lot of those things kind of play hand in hand with each other, so definitely finding more ways to – not just with him, with other guys as well – try to exploit some of those things.
