Tom Brady talks about Pats' loss to Lions
Tom Brady spoke with Dennis and Callahan on WEEI earlier this morning about the Patriots preseason week three loss to the Detroit Lions; here are some of his comments from that interview.
On whether there are any positives to a loss like this, similar to last year's loss to Cleveland:
"Who knows at this point? You hate losing anytime you take the field in competition. I'm sure there's a lot to be learned, a lot to be understood by our entire team of the things we need to do on a consistent basis so we can win games. I think everyone's excited to go in there and see what the issues were, and what the positives were that we can take from the game so we can move on and hopefully go out and play better this week."
On whether the team was too high after the win at Tampa Bay:
"We make a concerted effort not to do that. That's probably one of the great characteristics of playing for a Bill Belichick coached team. We pretty much stick to what our coach is telling us, and he wasn't as overly enthusiastic about the Tampa game; he thought there were plenty of things we could have done better - as there were plenty of things we could have done better this weekend."
"I think it's all part of our maturation as a team. It's all part of the learning process; it's all part of the training camp process, to how do we respond when things don't go so well, how do we play on the road, how do we rebound from a tough loss. We got off to a pretty fast start last week; how do we respond when we don't get off to a fast start; those are all things that need to be conditioned into a team."
"We're going out there and we're working hard in practice, and you wish it would show up perfect every time you take the field. But that's part of a high level of competition; sometimes it doesn't. In order to be at our best in a couple weeks we've got to play significantly better than we did last week, but also we have to understand that if we don't get off to a fast start (to do) the things we need to do so we can respond and ultimately play well enough to win the game, which is the goal."
On Tedy Bruschi's comments about the Patriots needing to learn how to win when Brady does not play well.
"I love Tedy (laughs). He’s a great friend and was one of the greatest teammates we’ve ever had. Look, if a quarterback plays bad, it’s for hard any team to win. If the quarterback plays mediocre, of course you can win games. I mean, there’s not many times a quarterback can throw three interceptions and you win the game. The quarterback needs to play good."
"I certainly try to go out there and expect to perform at a very high level in every single game. When I don’t, it’s extremely frustrating for me. That’s why for a day and a half all I do is think about the game, whether it’s a preseason game or not. When you don’t play to the level that you think you’re capable, you rack your brain play after play of, 'why did I do that? What am I doing? What do I have to do better?' There is an awareness created by a team to go out and play better."
"It’s not a regular-season loss, it doesn’t count in the standings, but it identifies a long things we need to do better. The game is certainly important, the preseason game, but we’re glad that game didn’t count toward the regular-season standing. We’re going to go out there and have a good week this week and go certainly play a lot better this weekend."
On the question of whether there was a mis-communication with Ochocinco on the interception near the end of the first half:
"No, no; other than a terrible play by me (laughs). That was a bad play; I thought they were blitzing, and I checked it. I was trying to fool them, and they fooled me. They got me on that one.
On the lack of receptions in preseason games by Chad Ochocinco and Deion Branch:
"I’m not sure. That’s the quarterback’s fault for not getting those guys the ball. I have to do a better job getting those guys the football, because they are very consistent playmakers for us, and I have to really make sure they are getting the football. That’s the point of playing quarterback — to get the ball to the guys who can do things with it. They are great players, they’ve been great players for a long time, and we’re going to find ways to get those guys the ball."
"(Ochocinco) has been a great player for a long time also. Just in talking to him, he gets frustrated when things don’t go well for him either. He’s racking his brain, Why do I feel this way, why do I feel that way. He and I, we’re always in communication. I have a lot of confidence in Chad as a competitor. In the short time that I’ve been with him, he’s really fun to be around. He really loves playing the game. He’s going to be an exciting player, I’ve got no doubt about that."
On Ochocinco's dedication:
"He works hard at it. He’s fun to be around. He’s a guy that really loves football. And I think you can tell by his attitude out there. I think that he’s been frustrated, he doesn’t feel like he’s been himself because he’s still thinking a lot about what he needs to do rather than react. And we all do that. We’re all doing that at this time of the year."
"Coming off a long layoff from football, we’re all trying to probably overthink on ourselves a little bit instead of going out there and being instinctive and reacting. That’s one thing I’ve been thinking about a lot and I need to do a better job is just going out there and letting my instincts take over instead of sometimes you overthink things and then you play hesitant and that gets you into problems."
On the offensive line:
"Our offensive line, those guys, I’ve played behind those guys for a long time and nobody has more confidence in those guys than me. Matt Light, him being on my left side, Logan and Kope and Connolly and Sea Bass; those guys have been great players for us. Standing back there in the pocket, holding the football, I have so much confidence in those guys and what they’re able to do, the way they work together, the way they communicate, their mental toughness. They’re a bunch of tough guys and they take a lot of pride in what they do. There’s nobody more confident than me in that group."
To listen to the entire 17-minute interview, click this link to the audio on demand page at WEEI.
