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**Q: Are you rooting for the Yankees or Mets?**
D: Yankees and Mets, a subway series. I'd get in big trouble if I said I was rooting for the Yankees wouldn't I? So, being a New Englander I guess I have to say I'm rooting for the Mets.
Q: Has Bruce Armstrong's performance affected your relationship?
D: No. I have great respect for Bruce (Armstrong) and I think he has great respect for me. I think we have a good relationship. Especially through some of the hard times that we've been through. We have a close relationship and I spend a lot of time talking to him.
Q: What do you think about Bruce Armstrong's ability?
D: I still think Bruce can play at a high level. I still trust him with my life and livelihood on every play. I feel very fortunate that he chose to come back and play with us this year. I'll leave it there.
Q: Have you been able to the things that you need to do to help Bruce Armstrong when he needs it?
D: When you game plan for somebody, you try and address every week what their strengths are and how you compensate for those. That's how we approach every week. If the defense has a particularly strong player in one area or another then you try and design ways to take them out of the game or work away from them or find ways to control good players the other team might have. That's the way we approach it each week. That's how we'll continue to approach it.
Q: After last week, teams are going to try to come after you. How do you prevent that?
D: We have to make big plays against people when they elect to come after us. There are two ways to do that. The first way is to get rid of the ball quickly, get it into the hands of one of our fast guys and allow them to make a play in space against fewer defenders because there are more in the backfield. The other way is to keep more blockers in and try and block their blitzers and work the ball down field. There are two ways to address that, but the bottom line is we have to be effective when people choose to pressure us otherwise we're just going to do see it every down.
Q: Which of the two methods do you use?
D: You do both is how you approach it. Some coaches spread them and try to determine where the blitzers are coming from, so you can throw it quickly. On other plays you block it up. You have to mix in some of both when people are trying to blitz you.
Q: Would you prefer a regular two-back set?
D: Like I've said, I think our best chance offensively is to continue to mix it up. I feel very comfortable in a more spread out offense. I feel that for the most part, I can determine where people are coming from and better determine what kind of coverage I'm going to see prior to the snap of the ball. But as I said earlier, when we do that, and when they actually blitz us from a spread out formation then the ball has to go out quickly and get it to one of our guys. I prefer that over stacking a bunch of guys in there and trying to block them all up. But as I said, our best chance is to continue to mix those things up. Mix up our personnel groups, mix up our formations, and motion and try to put pressure on a defense.
Q; Does 2-5 with Belichick as coach feel the same as 2-5 under the previous administration?
D: I think that there is a feeling of confidence from this team that we are moving forward and doing things to address the problems that we have. I know that is the way I feel. The way we approach it is to do what we can to try and win the game this week, but I think that there is confidence on the part of the players and team. Our coaching staff is giving us a chance to try and address the problems that we have. Obviously we haven't been totally successful in fixing all of those things, but I think that there is a general understanding on the part of the players that what we're trying to do and what we 're trying to address is fix the problems that we have.
Q: Did you think the protection problems were behind you?
D: The situation we got into against the Jets is that we got behind by a bunch. We came back and made it close, but when you play from behind and when you're in some longer yardage situations, then a team can afford to take more chances against you as far as bringing pressure, as far as getting into the pass rush mentality as opposed to worrying about the run. That doesn't mean that as an offense we went into desperation mode, when we were down two scores, and especially when we were down only by four points we weren't in a desperation mode. If a defense thinks that they can afford to take more chances against you, they don't have to worry about giving up a 4- or 5-yard run. Where they would have to worry about that if it were a tie ball game of if you were in the lead. What the Jets did was they took advantage of their good fortune and with the turnovers that we gave them and scored points early. They were able to play with a more aggressive defensive mentality.
Q: Are you surprised that your receivers being in the right places is still an issue?
D: Yeah. How do I best step with this. For the most part, the coordination of our passing game has been very good. There have been a couple of instances, not just in this last game, but throughout the season, where we've on different pages at different times. That doesn't happen often, but if it happens once or twice it is too much. So that is something that as players, as the quarterback, we have to address and make sure that whenever the situation may be in the game, that we're on the same page. It is not necessarily a situation where a particular guy is wrong in a situation, it is just simply that sometimes there have been some miscommunication in a situation and that has to be addressed so that those don't come up again.
Q: Does that happen because the playbook is any more complex?
D: No. We have a lot of stuff that we do and we use a lot of personnel and so on. Sometimes what can happen is you can have somebody in a game, in a situation, in a position and running a route that they may not have had any reps at. You only have a certain amount of time during the week and obviously the starters are going to get the majority of the reps in most situations and so at times you're going to have guys doing things that they haven't necessarily done a bunch. In that situation that's where my job becomes more important. I have to make sure that whoever it is, that's in the game in a particular situation, understands what's expected and where they're supposed to be and so on. So as I said, we have a number of things that we need to address, and that is simply one of them. Make sure that whoever it is that is in the game understands completely what's expected and not only that, but that I understand, what they're thinking and what they're doing.
Q: How are you holding up so far this year?
D: It's difficult. I'll be honest with you. It's difficult. When you lose a lot of games when your expectations are very high, it can be very, very difficult emotionally and psychologically to go through tough times like this. One of the things that I've said before, and it is something that I take pride in, and that is that I can move on to the next one and try and forward whether it is a positive or negative thing I'm trying to overcome. It is a difficult situation it really is. I don't expect this, I expect us to win. From that standpoint it can be very difficult. You have to be stubborn about it, you have to be a little hard-headed about it and move on, put the last one behind you and try and address things since last week.
Q: Do your sons watch the games?
D: Stu watches the games from time to time. I always him, "Did you see Daddy on TV?" Early in the season, I asked him, "Did you see Daddy on TV?" And he said, "Yes." I asked him, "What did Daddy do?" and he said, "Oh, Daddy just fall down." So that was one of his comments. I think this last game, Barney or something else was on, so he was watching that.
Q: Does it make it any easier having seen these guys two weeks ago?
D: It is. There is a lot of familiarity and a lot of carry over from two weeks ago. That being said, I'm sure that they will try to change some things up against us. We know them fairly well, they are a division team, we've seen them two weeks ago. There is a lot of carry over. We have to take that and move forward, we've to anticipate based on this last game against the Jets that they may take things from that game and try and attack us that way. So, we'll prepare from not only what they did against us last game, what they did against Seattle, but things that they might do based on what they saw us do against the Jets.
Q: How do you like playing in the RCA Dome?
D: It's really loud. That's one of the things that you have to deal with. The way that the Colts are playing right now, their fans are obviously very excited about their team and it is going to be a very, very loud situation. We have issues this week that we have to address as far as communication, as far as snap count, as far as whatever audibles we may use, and so on that we have to address because of the crowd noise.