HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 25, 2018

Opening Statement…

As usual down here, it's a tough game. The Jets as always play well and certainly gave us some problems in the first half. We have to get some things straightened out. Overall, I think we played pretty competitively. We got some good yardage from the running game and that opened a lot for us. I think Ryan (Allen) did a good job punting the ball and got us out of the hole a couple times. Good punts. Defensively, we had some key stops at the right time. Certainly there are plenty of things we need to work on and things we could have done better today, but overall our guys competed hard. There were a couple of things we worked on in the last couple of weeks that showed up in the game today. That's always good. Hopefully we can continue to build on that and be ready to play another good football team next week.

On the importance of establishing the run and the running backs today...

It always helps when you can run the ball. It always opens up everything else. It keeps you out of those long yardage situations, which we have been in the last couple of weeks. I thought our backs ran well. I thought our line and our receivers blocked well. They're an important part of the running game too. Obviously the offensive line, our tight ends, and James [White] and Rob [Gronkowski]… you can't run the ball with just one guy. Everybody has to block. A lot of people do a good job running and finishing our runs. So, credit to everybody.

On the importance of the drive after the Jets tied the score…

It was a big drive. It was a big answer. The play action passes created good opportunities off the runs before. James had a good run in there. When you have plays that complement each other, it's good to get one going, because it helps the other one get going too. Josh Gordon had a great gain like he always does. He was able to keep the defense off balance a little bit and grabbed some balls in the right situations. That really helped us out. It was a good job all the way around.

On the red zone defense to close out the game…

I was a little away from the play, but it looked like Jason [McCourty] made another good play on the ball at the end. We blitzed several times in the game and on the third down play, they tried to roll away from it. On fourth down, they tried to throw the flag route and Jason did a nice job of going up with the receiver and got his hands on the ball. We had a couple of those plays where I thought we played the ball well. Of course those were big stops: third downs, fourth downs in the red area.

On the secondary's play today…

There were some good things. They got us on some things too. They got us on some chunk plays, some 30-and-40-yarders that unlocked [Jermaine] Kearse on the touchdown. There will be some things that we can work on obviously. I thought they competed well.

On moving on from the penalties…

We had too many of them and made ourselves go backwards too many times. We were able to overcome some of them but overall 10 or 11 penalties is not really what we do. Hopefully we can trim that down.

On Ryan Allen's punts today…

Ryan did a great job for us today. Pat (Patrick Chung) filled in for Nate [Ebner] as a personal protector today and they gave us some tough rushes. Pat handled it well. Ryan hit the ball well with some good distance and hang time. He just had one bad one on a touchback, but he gave us some good field position today. Steve [Gostkowski] hit the ball well. Hopefully we can continue to build on that. It's not perfect. We made some progress today.

On the running game opening up the passing game…

The run game complements the passing game. All of those plays look the same. The runs and the passes look the same as far as the block and backfield action, so Josh [McDaniels] and the offensive staff did a great job on some of the play designs and complementary actions that work together. We had some success with one. Some of those play action passes led to opportunities with the running game. Some of the runs led to opportunities in the passing game. They fit together well for us.

On Shaq Mason, Gronkowski and Sony Michel bouncing back from injury…

I think we have a lot of tough players on our team, and it was good to have those guys back on the field. At this point in the season, everyone has their bumps and bruises. It's football season. You have to grind through it. Every team in the league is going through it. You have to suck it up and fight through it and our guys do a good job of that.

QUARTERBACK TOM BRADY

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 25, 2018

On if he noticed a difference with the offense having Rob Gronkowski healthy…

I think that's certainly a key for us. This is the first time we've had a lot of guys healthier and it just helped everything out. Anytime you can run the ball like we did, I think the line did a great blocking and James (White) ran great, it just helps a lot of things. We got to play the run, play action, we had some chunks. We weren't great in the red area today, but we made enough plays in the pink. We're happy we won, but there are certainly things we can do better.

On his thumb...

It's fine.  It's just a little scrape.

On missing time in practice…

I'd prefer to be healthy and practicing all the time, but it just wasn't the case. I just have to get back at it right now and try to feel as good as I can for next week.

On the touchdown pass to Gronkowski…

We got that pass interference call against us and Gronk did a great job running up the field. I saw him get by the middle linebacker and I saw the corner squeeze in and I threw it. I didn't really see the end of the play. I heard the cheering. I was sure if (the Jets) intercepted it or if we made the play. I was so happy Gronk made it. What a great play for him. He's a great player for us.

On if that was a throw he just trusted Gronkowski to catch…

Yeah, absolutely. I think those are certain ones where Gronk is probably the only tight end in the league that can make that play. He played a great game.

On if he's still feeling sick…

I'm feeling better today.

On if there is a record he's particularly proud of breaking…

Just wins. That's what we're here for, to win games. I'm trying to be a part of as many of these as I can and I love being out there with my teammates and working hard trying to figure out how to get the job done each week. It's not easy, but we're just here to win.

On coming of their last loss…

You'd love to be perfect out there. The other teams are well coached and they have a lot of good players too. When you win, you feel really good. Obviously a couple of weeks ago, we did everything the opposite of what we needed to do. I think we're doing a better job taking care of the ball. It gives us a much better chance to win games. Scoring more points, converting on third downs, scoring in the red area, all those things are really important that we talked about. We made some plays, there are certainly ones we left out there, but we'll take it and keep moving forward.

On the coaching staff challenging the running game to be more consistent…

In every area we can do a better job. We're certainly not where we want to be. We're going to keep building for it and we're going to go out there and try to get better. Hopefully everyone can stay healthy and we'll see where we're at next Sunday.

On how much Gronkowski helps to open up the offense…

When he's out there, it's great for our offense. I don't want to minimize his importance. He's a great player. Sony (Michel) has done a great job in the run game. We haven't been very healthy at running back this year, but that's just part of it. We're working through it. It's just good to get a win and get to 8-3 and try to get another one next Sunday.

On how dependable his offensive players are…

They're so dependable and consistent. They're just great players. When we needed them to make those plays, it was throw to Chris (Hogan), hand off to James (White), hand off, and then throw to Jules (Julian Edelman). Jules made a great catch and run. When they're in there and they're involved, good things happen for our offense. Hopefully we can just keep it going.

WIDE RECEIVER JOSH GORDON

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 25, 2018

Transcript to follow

TIGHT END ROB GRONKOWSKI

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 25, 2018

On how it felt to be back out on the field…

It felt good just to be back out there with the guys, just grinding, coming out here in New York and just putting a good win together – a solid team win together – and just help out and contribute in the pass game and the run game. So, it felt good overall and we got the win, so it's a good day.

On whether the mindset on the first touchdown was to really go for it after the Jets declined the penalty…

Oh, I mean, I knew we had to get a first down in order to keep the chains moving. We wanted to score; we wanted to answer back. They just put seven up on us, so we wanted to answer back and we had a good drive going, but that little penalty got us to go backwards a little bit, but the play was called – it's middle of the field, I know there's always a chance when it's third and long that if it is open it's going to come to you. I know Tom (Brady) is always going to throw that one if it's open and you just never know until you run it, so that's what happened. I just went up and made the play. It was a good ball.  

On how it felt to be back in the end zone this week…

It feels good, but what feels better is getting that win. Just scoring on that one drive was just contributing to what we were trying to do and that was just get the W. We just kept putting points up throughout the game (and) just running the ball well which was huge. Our running backs are doing a great job. We're doing a great job in that phase of the game, which when you can run the ball that's always a good thing for sure.

On what changed in the second half…

Let's say we were making less mistakes. The penalties were killing us on the drive, but it's all good. The second half, we were just putting things together each play and putting each drive together – the big chunks, the big plays we were putting together instead of just a couple short plays, so it was good football.

On whether it feels like a weight was lifted off of him to be able to play again…

It felt good. I've just been putting the work in the last couple of weeks, whatever it was, to get back and now I just feel like I can keep on improving week in, week out now and do what I have to do to help the team. It felt good to be back out there and it was a good win overall.

On how he feels physically…

I feel good. It was a lot of hard work to get to where I am, so now I just have to keep it going.

On Julian Edelman's touchdown…

You know when he has those couple extra yards to get, especially when he's getting towards the end zone, he's going to give it his all to get into that end zone. He gives it all to this game and to this team whenever he's out there. That was a great play by him, great catch, turn, hustled straight up the field and made that play.

RUNNING BACK SONY MICHEL

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 25, 2018

On what he was thinking when he was laying on the field after being injured…

Just getting back to the sideline, getting as much help as I can just to be able to get back out there on the field. My whole mindset was just being able to get right, get back on the field to help my team.

On what happened on the play when he got injured…

Just got tackled, got tweaked up a little bit. It's just part of the game.

On the team asserting its will through the running game…

That's just us being able to play Patriot football. We want to be physical. When you're physical, you can run the ball, you can throw the ball. It's almost like you control the line of scrimmage and do what you want to do. Coach McDaniels has a great plan and we're excited to go out there and just execute it.

On whether there were times earlier in the season when he thought the offense wasn't as physical as he would have liked…

There was times and I think that's part of the game, but it's all about trying to be consistent at being physical week in and week out, game after game.

SAFETY DEVIN MCCOURTY

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 25, 2018

On the Patriots defense today, especially the secondary…

We did a good job competing today. [The Jets] dialed up a couple plays today that were just good plays against the defense, but I thought overall, especially from the corner position, we just competed. Whether it was Steph (Stephon Gilmore) or J (Jason McCourty) or J. Jones (Jonathan Jones), J.C. (Jackson) coming in there and just competing and making guys make tough plays on them all day.

On what second half adjustments they made on defense…

There were just a couple plays we saw scheme-wise that we just had to talk about and if they came up again, knowing kind of how we wanted to play those differently. Then the rest of it was kind of what we talked about all week – just trying to get on their guys, making it tough and I thought what also helps is when the pass rush does a good job of getting to the quarterback and that helped us out a lot in the second half.

On how much a successful run game helps…

That was big and that was one of the big things we talked about over the Bye Week – of being a better team covering kicks, running the ball and stopping the run. So that was something that we wanted to come out here and do today and I thought the offense did a great job and then the guys up front defensively did a good job of just making sure the run game didn't hurt us and really open up everything for their offense.

On what it means to get pressure on the offense and make plays in the backfield…

That's big. I think to get an offense off track, whether it's on first or second down, getting a play to lose yards or no gain kind of gets them where we want them on third down, not the hard ones where you're third and two, third and three and I thought we did a good job up front of either causing penalties or making plays to get losses.

PLAYERS IN THE LOCKER ROOM

WIDE RECEIVER JULIAN EDELMAN

On the difference in how they played in the first half compared to the second half…

I don't think we had negative plays or a sack (in the first half), we just had penalties and it was hurting us. In the second half we didn't have as many penalties. We were able to do more and ended up making plays when we had to. It's always tough coming here and playing these guys. It's a division opponent, they know us, and we know them.

On their ability to run the ball today...

The linemen blocked their tails off today and Sony and James were able to make plays. That sets up a lot. That's complimentary football. It was good to have that.

On having Rob Gronkowski back from injury…

He scored a touchdown and made big plays. He's the Gronk, it's always good to have him back. He looked like he was having fun and that's awesome. That's what we want.

On Rob Gronkowski's block that helped him score…

I tried to cut off his block and get in. Kudos to Gronk for getting that done. There were a lot of other plays and things that he did. It's great having him back. 

On his touchdown catch…

I just tried to get in the end zone and protect the ball. Ball security is job security here. 

On Rob Gronkowski's impact on the offense…

There are a lot of eyes going to him. He's probably the best tight end to ever suit up. Anytime he's on the field he's going to attract attention and it helps everyone.

On playing the Jets…

They have a coach that gets guys ready, they have good players and they know us. Whenever you get those three things, it's a dogfight. That's what it was today. 

On if today's victory was joy or relief…

It's a little bit of both. But you're on to the next one. We have Minnesota next and you turn the page, whether it's a win or loss. Obviously, the taste in your mouth is a little better right now. But it's the NFL and it's on to the next one.  

CORNERBACK STEPHON GILMORE

On the defense responding after allowing a touchdown in the first quarter…

It was big. You know, everything isn't going to happen all good and gravy all the time. You have to still grind it out. Playing here against the Jets is always hard, so you knew it was going to take four quarters and we were able to come out with a win.

On the Jets lining up receivers close together on the touchdown to Jermaine Kearse…

It's hard sometimes. You just have to keep working on it and getting better. It was a good play. Have to watch the film and see exactly how we can play it better, but they made a play.

On his interception…

It felt good. It felt like it had been a minute. I've had a lot of pass breakups, but I was able to get my hands on the ball and make a play.

On whether it was a long two weeks, after losing to the Titans and then having a bye…

For sure. It was long. We don't like losing, so we forgot about it, played better as a team and were able to get a win.

On whether it was bounce back game for him personally…

Yeah, it was a bounce back game for all of us. What happened in the past, even when I play good, I try to forget it and prepare for the next week. I was able to do that again this week and we happened to come out with a win.