The Patriots earned a well-deserved victory Monday off before newcomers Terez Hall and Michael Onwenu were late additions to check in with the media prior to Bill Belichick's scheduled press conference.
Earlier in the morning, Cam Newton made his weekly appearance on the Greg Hill Show, still feeling good about the victory over the Ravens.
"I do know that we haven't peaked as a team, yet alone me personally," Newton said. "I am just trying to get better each and every day. My job as a leader of this team, one of the leaders of this team, is to stay consistent, bring the juice as coach would say and that is what I am trying to do daily."
Newton was efficient with his arm and legs, completing 13-of-17 passes for 118 yards and adding 21 rushing yards while scoring touchdowns both ways. The Patriots offense is finding their identity and building off their early season missteps.
"For us, to have gotten that win, to have had close losses and knowing who we are as an offense, defense, special teams, as a whole team, it's on us to make sure we still feel that faith and not go off the assumptions of what our record is," Newton told WEEI. "Coach [Bill Belichick] said it best, we are a good enough team to be better than what our record kind of displays. We're just finding that out and we will keep doing the same thing."
Terez Hall spoke with the media for the first time after playing in the first two games of his career. Hall was excited to be promoted from the practice squad, where he said he took his job seriously and prepared like he was a starter.
"I just had to be ready," said Hall. "If they call you up from the practice squad, you should know and do your responsibilities. I credit my teammates and coaches for having faith in me to go out there. I was super excited, no lie."
On the other side of the ball, Mike Onwenu was proud of an impressive blocking effort by him and his teammates but felt like the offensive line is more than just a good run blocking unit.
"I think we're able to handle whatever Josh throws at us for the week or whatever our mission is for the week and game plan," said Onwenu. "I think we're pretty good all-around."
The head coach agreed that it was coming together as far as coordination in the run game.
"I think our offensive line and running backs, the time that they've been able to work together, both in practice and in games, has given an element of timing and consistency that is good to have in the running game," said Bill Belichick. "The timing of the blocks and having a feel for how the back runs and how the line – you know, the pulling and the timing – the timing of the space of the holes and so forth, especially on some of those outside plays where there are crack blocks involved and some of the trap blocking inside, as well."
The Patriots players will be off to Wednesday, when they'll begin on-field preparations for the Houston Texans.
