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**Q: Just another day at the office?**
D: Just another day at the office, yes that was an interesting one. I haven't played in a snow game since college., but it was obviously very severe conditions and I thought for the most part we did a decent job of managing the game. We did give them a lot of opportunities, there was a while there where we kept killing ourselves with penalties at the wrong time where we would take over the ball on the six yard line and there is a penalty there, we down it at the one there's a penalty, we have a long run you know so we hurt ourselves a lot and gave them a lot of opportunities to win, but ultimately we hung in there and were able to come back and win.
Q: How do you explain having the best drive of the day and probably your best throwing drive of the day against the wind, 89 yards to end the game in overtime?
D: We started to find that the crossing stuff underneath was really opening up against them so we just kept coming to it. They weren't hard throws you just drop back and hit a guy on a crossing route, he wasn't too far from me, and then it was all run after the catch from that standpoint. So we were able to get down there and ultimately hit the kick to win the game.
Q: How about your scramble?
D: My scramble? To be honest with you I expected to get hit and go down a lot sooner than I did. I was kind of surprised I think four or five guys must have fallen down, but I ended up going down there.
Q: With conditions like that How do you keep yourself mentally tough and physically in the game for so long you were out there for so long?
D: That part of it is not so hard. You focus on the football part of it, you focus on dealing with the elements and it's a new challenge and to be honest with you I have always kind of enjoyed the changeup, the weather conditions or the wind or the rain or whatever and having to deal with that stuff and having to manage that part of the game. It changes the way you do things and a lot of times what it comes down to is the team that can manage the weather conditions the best ultimately wins it. I think both teams did some things well and then did some things pretty poorly from that standpoint
Q: What did you think when Flutie came in?
D: Doug came in and played very, very well and threw the ball well, made some runs and in this kind of game a guy with his mobility can be very, very dangerous because it is hard for our guys to chase around, but he came in and played very well for them and gave them a lot of chances to win.
Q:
D: It was up and down the whole way and you just come out and deal with the different situations. Basically you hope for the best, but you always have your plan if it doesn't work out. So that's what we did and each time something went good or if something went bad we came back addresses it and kept moving forward. So that is a credit once again to Bill and his staff and to the guys on this team for being resilient.
Q: Is there any value you can take from this game.
D: There certainly is value from it. We talked about the motivation for these last few games having something to carry with us into next year and this kind of a game under these conditions to come back and win it in overtime is definitely we can use to build towards next year as far as confidence level, our togetherness as a team and that's the motivation right now so we can use that.
Q: Can you comment on Lee Johnson?
D: It was unfortunate for Lee because he had such a great day punting the ball in that wind I mean he kicked the ball exceptionally and then unfortunately had a couple of problems. His job in these conditions is an extremely difficult job. First of all he is not using the balls we are using. He is using the kicking balls which are newer and harder and the ball is moving and it is a very short space with cold hands and a slick ball. So it is a very, very tough job he is doing as far as holding, but ultimately he got the one down that counted.
Q: You have played in this stadium many times are you surprised when the fans cheered when Rob Johnson got hurt?
D: That was very, very unfortunate. Rob is a guy that is good quarterback in this league and ultimately I think what happened is they were cheering because they thought Doug was coming in, but that happened one time in Foxboro when I was younger and it is very unfortunate and very, very disrespectful for anybody to find any kind of pleasure when somebody gets hurt. That's unfortunate and very, very disrespectful on the part of the fans.
Q:
D: Oh definitely. Prior to the game we scrapped about half of our gameplan throwing wise, changed some things in our running game because we didn't want to toss the ball in this wind because with the way it was gusting you never knew what the ball was going to do. So we changed a lot of things and added three or four plays just prior to the game and scrapped a bunch of our down the field throws because you just didn't quite know what the ball was going to do.
Q: With the plays that you had in did you throw well despite the conditions?
D: Yes I think anything where the ball had to stay in the air for a long amount of time it was difficult to control, but the shorter throws weren't as much of an issue. The ball was still moving, my guys had to make some circus catches on short throws were the ball looks like it is going one place and then all of a sudden jumps to another place, but they were able to make enough catches to win.
Q: Is throwing with the wind in a different was as throwing against it?
D: Yes they are two totally different animals. When you are throwing into the wind sometimes that's it is an advantage as long as it is not too stiff because you just throw it a little harder and you have a little more control where the ball comes down. Throwing with the wind sometimes it can get away from you, sometimes it knocks the ball down, sometimes it makes it carry. So it can be very unpredictable.
Q: Similar to the game against Washington?
D: It wasn't as windy as when we played Washington a sit was today, but it was very similar bad footing, slick footballs, some wind so it was similar. To be honest with you it has been a long time since I played in a snow game and I was telling (John) Friesz earlier in the year it would be kind of fun to play in a snow game this year.
Q:
D: I don't remember, but we threw it a bunch in the Washington game.
Q: Have you ever done that before clear away the snow?
D: Yes we did that, matter of fact in that game in college we went out there trying to kick it way. We couldn't find a convict with a snowblower to come out there and clear it off.
Q: Was that a shoesize thing you going out there?
D: The more you can do the more valuable you are to the organization.
Q: What game was that in college?
D: It was against Washington it was my last home game in college before the bowl game.
Q: That wasn't as windy then?
D: I don't remember. It was pretty windy because I remember it was bigger flakes and much heavier snow. It snowed eight inches during that game. Actually it was pretty windy to be honest with you because I remember the snow blowing into my eyes trying to take the snap.
Q: Was that a problem today?
D: Yes there were a few times, a few times where it would gust up and blow the snow in my face.
Q: What about just slipping as you went back to pass that didn't seem to be a problem?
D: I almost fell down on one of the handoffs when Kevin had his big run. I changed shoes about midway through the third quarter.
Q: With more cleats to them?
D: Yes just a little bit longer cleats. They have about six different types of turf shoes for us the longest ones are pretty long.
