Tom Brady, Brian Tyms, Rob Gronkowski React To New England Patriots’ Win

Oct 12, 2014; Orchard Park, NY, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Brian Tyms (84) catches a pass for a touchdown while being defended by Buffalo Bills cornerback Stephon Gilmore (24) during the second half at Ralph Wilson Stadium. New England beats Buffalo 37 to 22. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Brandon LaFell

Q: If you’re going to have a final drive, that’s kind of the way to do it instead of like you emptied the backfield and you kind of just go for it. That’s what you guys did.

A: Anyway to score on the road, in an environment like this, in the division, when you need this win, cause you know we was all on one at first. We came in and got a tough win. Anyway we can get a touchdown to put this game out of reach and put our defense in a better situation, you have to get it.

Q: Talk about the execution. There was a couple of critical third downs on that last drive where you hit Edelman, you hit Gronk, you hit yourself, and you get the touchdown but it’s not easy to do especially with what they were going with. They were running with motivation for their touchdown.

A: We knew it was going to be hard all week. When you playing against a defense with a front seven like that guy with the Williams boys up front were huge coming off the edge. We knew it was going to be a sixty minute game, man. Looking at film at these guys. These guys just play sixty minutes. They actually won a game in overtime so we knew it was going to take some third down conversions late in games to win games like this and we did it.

Q: Can you speak to sort of the toughness the team showed. You lose Mayo; one of your leaders. Stevan goes down. Connolly’s out and yet somehow through all that, you guys excelled.

A: When you lose a guy like Mayo; the heart and soul of our defense. One of the leaders on this team that go out and put us in there everyday, when you lose him, it makes you, it messes up your game. It makes you the next guy behind him has to step up and play and we know on offense, that losing Mayo is a big part of our defense, we have to make plays. We have to go out there and convert some third downs. Keep some drives long so our defense can get some rest and not put our defense on the field a lot and that’s what we did.

Q: This is back to back weeks now with big character type performances. You were up against the wall a little bit against Cincinnati. You did what did to them and now to come into this environment to win has to make you feel really good about where this team is headed.

A: It feels good but we know as a team, we haven’t put our best foot out there yet. We haven’t played to the best of our abilities yet and we felt like that today in the first half. We came out there, got field position to start the game off but we knew, if we didn’t do anything with it. These next couple of games against better teams, we have to capitalize on field position. We have to continue to do that this year and hopefully we can start doing that.

Q: What’d you think of Tyms going up and getting that one?

A: I was on the field before they called it a touchdown because that guy is pure speed and the things he does in practice, he does the same thing in a game. The way he went up and got the ball, I was so excited for my guy.

Brian Tyms

Q: You talk about trying to build that confidence with Tom. Seems like today was a good way to go about it?

A: Just being around him gives you confidence. He’s not what everybody thinks he is; he is a really good guy. He’s down to earth. He will work with you. He treats everyone the same. It’s not just a select few people. Just that in itself gives me a lot of confidence. Whether I get one play or 10, I could care less. I just go out there and give full effort.

Q: Did you read the coverage on your big play? Did you know you were going to have to split or go up and fight for it?

A: Gilmore is really good. I knew regardless if I ran past him, I knew he had make-up speed so I have to attack the ball. That’s just my M.O. I always try to attack the ball. I don’t like to let the ball come to me. There are a lot of good players in this league that can make a play. I wanted the ball more. I’m not going to run 40 yards without the ball.

Q: What does it say about this team and the way you guys responded from a lot of injuries, both going into the game and during the game?

A: It just showed character. We are fighters and we are a family. This is a family. Regardless of how many years you have played, when we step out there we are brothers. We just told each other, like we tell each other every week, its 60 minutes. Every team is good, so there is not one quarter where we are up by 10 and it’s ok to chill. We are trying to go for their throat. It’s just full effort from everyone. It just shows everyone that it takes a team to win.

Q: This summer you were saying that you had to pinch yourself because you were in the same huddle as Tom Brady. It sounds like your relationship has changed a little bit.

A: You have to get used to it. You can’t sit there in awe the whole time when there are 100,000 fans out there screaming. After a while I just got accustomed to it. He’s great so you have to match that intensity. I don’t know about everyone else, but I feel like I have to make the play because he’s done so much. Everyone on this team has done so much and I just came here so I feel like I owe that to them.

Q: What did you make of it then when he was getting criticized?

A: When you’re so good for so long, there’s not many things people can say for your personal life and they will wait for anything. I didn’t really read into it. I felt like anyone who said that was a fair-weather fan.