Skip to main content
Advertising

Official website of the New England Patriots

replay
Replay: Best of the Week on Patriots.com Radio Fri Dec 20 - 10:00 AM | Sun Dec 22 - 01:55 PM

Transcript: Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski Press Conferences 12/22

New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady and Tight End Rob Gronkowski address the media during their press conferences on Friday, December 22, 2017.

QUARTERBACK TOM BRADY

Q: How much of an impact would Alex Guerrero not having sideline access anymore have on you?

TB: I don't think about it. I've got enough things to think about, so I'm going to go try and win an important game and do what I always do.

Q: How did you react when Bill Belichick told you that he was going to restrict Guerrero's access?

TB: I don't really agree with your question, so I don't know what you're talking about. How do you know what he said?

Q: So are you saying that the report about his access being restricted is false?

TB: I'm not saying anything. I mean, how do you say that he said anything? You don't know anything about that.

Q: Bill never told you that he was removing Alex from the sideline or team plane?

TB: Well, I have a lot of conversations with him. Those are private between he and I, and I don't think anyone knows what we talk about. Certainly I've never talked about it. He's never talked about it.

Q: Will you use extra caution throwing to receivers this week given the fact that Buffalo may have revenge on their mind given what happened last time between Rob Gronkowski and Tre'Davious White?

TB: I mean, no, I think you have a pretty good gauge. It's a physical game and there's contact, so if you throw it and they get hit you hate to have anyone get hit. But, receivers get hit. The quarterback gets hit. Everyone gets hit. I'm just going to try and find the open guy and throw it to him.

Q: Is there extra caution with Rob Gronkowski in particular given his involvement in the last matchup?

TB: I think it's just a normal game. I'm going to try and go play and win.

Q: How much of what you do in the passing game is predicated off of how a particular opponent is matching up against Rob Gronkowski?

TB: I think he sees a lot of coverages. I think in general we see a lot of coverages, too. He's obviously a big part of what we do, and if they slow him down we've got to figure out other ways to move the ball.

Q: Has any of this speculation about Alex Guerrero and his relationship with the team affected your relationship with Bill Belichick?

TB: No, I just try to show up and do the right thing and try to win football games. I let my play do the talking. I try to go out there and I prepare hard every week and I put everything into it. That's where my focus is. It's not much beyond that.

Q: Are you concerned that Alex Guerrero having so much influence over certain guys in the locker room could present a conflict of interest with the team training staff?

TB: I think you'd have to ask a lot of other people those things because everyone knows my relationship with Alex. Like I said, I try to just do what works for me and everyone needs to do what works for them. I don't think it's anything more complicated than that. I try to go out there and the whole goal for me is to go out there and play and help the team win. I'm going to do the best I can to do that. That's kind of what I've always done.

Q: After such an emotional win last Sunday, how do you get the team to refocus this week to try and go out there and get a win?

TB: I think our coaches do a great job of that. Every win is important. Every game is important. I don't think you take anything for granted. I think you've just got to try to, whether you win or lose, you put it behind you and move forward, and I think we've tried to do a good job of that this week. We're playing a big game. They're all big this time of year and as you keep moving on they get bigger. We're going to have to keep winning games. That's what we're out there for.

TIGHT END ROB GRONKOWSKI

Q: What is your level of concern, if at all, with the Tre'Davious White situation?

RG: I've just been preparing all week, just like any other week. Preparing for a big game on Sunday with the team, with the boys and just going to be ready for a hard-fought battle. Every single time we play the Bills they're always battling hard. They're always mentally tough. They're always physically tough and this will be a big game Sunday. We've just got to keep on preparing. We've got another 48 more hours to go before kickoff so just make sure I'm ready to go.

Q: Did you reach out to Tre'Davious White in any way or vice versa and settle the matter between each other?

RG: I've been just focusing on, this whole week, to prepare for the game and be ready to help out the team and be with my boys out there.

Q: When you watch film of the Bills defense what do you see from Tre'Davious White just as a player?

RG: He's a good player. No doubt about that. He's young and he can make plays, but he's a good player. No doubt.

Q: It seems like they have a pretty tough secondary there. Their new safeties this year are playing pretty well.

RG: They do. Like I said, they always battle. They're always physical. They're always ready and it's always a battle. That's where my efforts are going into because I know they're going to be bringing it every single time we play them. 

Q: Did you hear that Tre'Davious White took back his comments about calling you a dirty player and what's your reaction to that?

RG: [I'm] just focusing for the big game Sunday. Just preparing like any other week and just preparing as best as I can. It was a good week at practice and [we've] still got 48 more hours to go.

Q: After an emotional game last week, how do you flip the page and know that this weekend is the most important game?

RG: This weekend is the most important game and the page turned on Monday after that game. It's just all Bills. Very good team. Very good defense and we've got to be ready.

Q: Is this as good as you've felt physically at this point of the season during your eight-year career?

RG: I don't even know. I'm going on year eight now. I don't even know how I felt two years ago or three years ago. I'm just trying to feel good right now and just play Sunday.

Q: On the catch you made on the final drive in Pittsburgh where you almost took it off your shoe tops, is that a catch you think you were always making or is that a catch that you're making now because of any changes?

RG: I just made that catch because that's where Tom [Brady] finally threw it. He had a bad ball for once.

Q: There has been a recent report that Alex Guerrero's access to the team has been a little bit restricted. Has that impacted your preparation at all?

RG: It hasn't impacted my preparation at all. I don't know much at all about that. I didn't read anything about it. I saw that there's stuff. That's between Tom [Brady] and the team. I don't know. I have no clue but I'm just preparing, worrying about the Bills and just doing what I've been doing.

Q: Do you still work with Alex Guerrero?

RG: Yes. I work up there. It's very good.

Q: Are you still doing the diet as well?

RG: It's good. It's good stuff.

Q: How's that going?

RG: Good.

Q: Richie Incognito said earlier in the week that while the Bills have been saying all the right things and focusing on the game, there's a code in the NFL. When one player does something to another player there's a tendency maybe from the officials to allow some shots. He said he expects the defense to do something. Is that something that has you concerned for your health?

RG: I'm just focusing on the game Sunday. I'm just preparing the same and we'll see how it goes. To tell you the truth I'm just expecting a very good, hard-nosed football team on the defensive side of the ball for the Bills to be coming full speed like they always do every time we play them. 

Q: We hear every game after post game when Tom Brady is at the podium and he talks about his trust in you and how that has evolved. Year after year, how do you feel like that builds upon each game, each week, each day out in practice?

RG: You can always, always get better. [you can] always have a better chemistry with a player, with a teammate. Every single week you can build, you can build, you can build and there's always something. There's so many different types of movements on the football field. So many different things that you can learn about another player. There's so many different routes. So many different blocking techniques that the more you play with each other, the more you can learn about each other. Every time we go out there with a purpose and that's to get better every single week. That's to prepare. So going out there and learning about your teammates, learning chemistry with them, there's always something that you can improve on. Every single week that's what we try to do. We always try to improve. We always try to learn from each other where the ball is going to be and all that, where I'm going to be. It takes a lot of work, a lot of preparation and it took seven, eight years now playing with Tom [Brady] to get to where we are.

Q: Do you almost feel like you can communicate without words?

RG: Yes, definitely sometimes. I mean we can look at each other and know what we're thinking. It definitely just doesn't happen. I mean we've been playing for eight years but it just doesn't happen because we've been playing for eight years. It's happened because every time we go out on the practice field and we try to read each other. We try to feel out each other to know what kind of page we're on and that's what brings it to this level so far.

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.

Related Content

Advertising

Latest News

Presented by
Advertising

Trending Videos

Advertising

In Case You Missed It

Presented by
Advertising