QUARTERBACK TOM BRADY
Press Conference
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Q: What do the Cowboys do well on the defensive side of the ball?
TB: Pretty much everything. Yeah, I think they're top of the league basically in all of the major statistical categories. So, very good at all levels. They've got a great team so it's a big, big challenge for us and we're going to have to play a really great complementary game and try to beat a very good football team.Â
Q: Was it tough not having Phillip Dorsett and Mohamed Sanu out at practice today?
TB: Is the injury report out?
Q: Yeah.
TB: Just want to make sure. Not sure if they're trying to pull a fast one on me. Yeah, I mean – you'd love to have everyone healthy but it's not always the case this time of year. But, guys will fight through different things and we'll see how it goes as the week goes on.
Q: Do you feel like there's a greater burden on you this year in terms of the offense?
TB: Yeah, is that a trick question?
Q: I don't think so.
TB: No? I feel like, you know, the quarterback's job is to do whatever you can do to help the team win the game and score some points. So, however you end up doing it – running the ball, throwing it 50 times, throwing to the receivers, throwing to tight ends, backs, whatever we got to do to win. I think, over 20 years, we've done a lot of different things and we'll try to find some different things this year.
Q: You guys have been able to figure it out over the years. How confident are you that you can get through this grind? It's not a trick question.
TB: Not a trick question?
Q: No.
TB: Yeah, I mean it's – like I said it's great to be 9-1 but we just have high expectations for what we're doing as an offense. We're just trying to figure out how we can do things consistently, with dependability, and guys are working hard at it. Sometimes it comes together early, middle of the season, late in the season and, you know, the only thing that matters really is this week and trying to beat a really good football team. So, I don't know what shape it's going to take this particular week as the game unfolds and you kind of see what the challenge is they're presenting. Sometimes you have a great plan and then they change everything and then it's – you've got to change everything and, it's just the way it goes. You have a plan and you try to adjust over the course of the game but, you know, the goal is the same – it's to, as an offense, go out there and score points and not go out there and run a bunch of plays and be ineffective. We're working hard to try to be as effective as we can and as – you know every team has different matchups and it's different challenges over the course of the season with guys being in and out at practice and so forth. But, our whole season is ahead of us.
Q: Are you able to adjust like you want to? That has been a big thing for you guys over the entirety of your career.
TB: Yeah. Like I said, every year has its challenges, it's just different every year. So, it's hard to compare every year to this particular year. This year is really this year, it's in and of itself. There's nuances to things at different positions. Like I said, after the game we have a great defense, we have to understand as an offense, our special teams are playing well. Us doing what we have to do on our side of the ball, like at the end of the last game getting off the goal line was really important for our team. And if we don't do a good job of that, we kick the ball from the 5-yard line, it gives them a great opportunity, but we got it out to a decent point in the field even though we didn't score points. There's other times when we get the ball on a short field where we have to take advantage of it, we've got to get the ball into the end zone and score points. You get the ball in a low, red area we've got to put seven on the board and it puts a lot of pressure on the other team when you do that. There's definitely a lot of things we can improve on that we're working to improve on and that guys are committed to. The guys who are in there this week, whoever it will be, I don't know who it will be yet, but, we'll try to do it to the best of our ability.
Q: As a football fan growing up in California and as a 20-year NFL veteran, what have the Cowboys represented to you?
TB: I've really not liked the Cowboys since coming out of the womb as a Niner fan. But, no I've got a lot of respect for those guys and they've actually had a great winning organization. They've got a lot of great players in their history. Guys that I just, as a Niner fan, you'd play the Cowboys and every time they'd hand off to Emmitt Smith would be a 5-yard gain and you would pull you hair out – and throw it up to Michael Irvin and Troy [Aikman] was such a great player, and the defenses, Ken Norton and Prime Time [Deion Sanders]. I think the history of great players, the tradition – getting to meet Roger Staubach over the years has been – just such a cool guy. Someone to really look up to. And then what they're currently doing with the team that they have, it's one of the most talented teams in the NFL that are playing great on offense, defense and it's going to be a huge challenge for us. I love it, I love it, I love the opportunity to compete against great teams this time of year, as Thanksgiving approaches and it means a lot for both teams. Every time we play at home it's important to us but late in the year, we only have so many more chances left to go out there and put on a great performance and we'll try to do that.
Q: Any thoughts about Antonio Brown's public apology?
TB: I didn't out too much thought into it but – yeah. It's his choice and good for him.
