Tom Brady, Danny Amendola, Chris Jones React To New England Patriots’ Win

Oct 16, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) during the second half of a game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

After the New England Patriots beat the New York Jets last night, a few players talked about the game with the media.

Here is the official transcript: (And Brady’s)

Tom Brady

Q: How good do you feel for Danny Amendola? It seems like he was really involved today.

TB: Yeah, it was a big time play that he made there. That was a great kind of ad lib. He ran a little return route and then when he saw me scramble, broke it up field like we talk about all the time and made a great catch.

Q: Scramble drill. That’s what you guys practice on Fridays.

TB: Yeah, we do. And it’s one thing to practice it and then to apply it in the game, it just happens so quickly. You see the guy and boom – you squirt through and he made a phenomenal catch.

Q: You guys came out and scored right away throwing to Shane Vereen. He made a pretty good catch because that ball was in the air for quite a while.

TB: A long time. I threw it and then – I was like ‘Oh, he’s open’ and then the ball was just going and I said, ‘Oh my God,’ and I saw him really try to run to get it and he made a phenomenal catch.

Q: Were you surprised he was that wide open?

TB: Yeah, they must have blown a coverage. He was running deep and if they lose track then that’s where we’re going to throw it.

Q: Without Stevan Ridley can you talk about Shane Vereen’s play tonight and how he really stepped up for you guys?

TB: Yeah, he played great. Really a workhorse in all areas: he ran it, caught it, catches a long pass and then is in there trying to run it out late in the game. He was just what we needed.

Q: Does it ever cease to amaze you that last year a player can get penalized for pushing a teammate on a field goal block and lose the game against the Jets in New York, and then the same player blocks a field goal the next year to beat the Jets?

TB: Yeah it’s pretty ironic.

Q: What are your thoughts on that?

TB: Football is a great sport and you never know what you’re going to get. They’re off to a tough start this year – what are they 1-5? So now they’re 1-6. So they were 1-5 and they gave us everything we could handle. It comes down to what you put in every week and ultimately how you preform when it matters the most. They played good. They played good on offense. They played good on defense when they needed to and we didn’t – I wouldn’t say that was our – we didn’t play as well as we can. We’ll get back to work tomorrow and see what we can do better so we’re ready for Chicago.

Q: What were they doing on defense? Were they dropping seven or eight most of the game to make you have to throw into tight areas?

TB: I think they mixed it up pretty good. He [Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan] always does a good job of kind of spinning the dial and he did that tonight. We had some plays where we’ve got to make them to help us go a little bit, but we didn’t make them and that’s what makes it tough. And then we get into a situation where we’ve got to overcome some things late in the game. I wish we could have done better in that late, last drive to keep the defense off the field, but we’ve got to get back to work on that.

Q: What happened after the quick start? It took a while to get back in sync.

TB: Yeah we scored quick and then we got crushed on time of possession. We’ve got to do a better job staying on the field, making the plays, executing the plays on first down, second down, third down so we can stay on the field and keep our defense off the field. If the defense is out there as much as they were tonight, it’s going to be tough for them. We’ve got to help them out by playing a lot better offense.

Q: It was a quick turnaround from Sunday to tonight, but how nice will it be to have the weekend off and some time for the body to heal and rest up a little bit?

TB: Yeah we’ve played quite a few games here in a short period of time, so I think everybody will enjoy letting the body – just some of the little things – heal up. But we’re going to be grinding. It’s football season, so there’s no time off. We have a lot of things we need to do to get better and guys are going to be working hard this weekend to do those things.

Q: Does it feel good to be 5-2 and play some home games coming up?

TB: Yeah, I know. We started off the year 0-1, so 5-1 since is not bad considering where we’re at. Hopefully we can be a lot better. We’ve got to make the plays, got to make the improvements, got to execute it when it matters. But it feels good to be where we’re at.

Q: What stopped working in the second half on offense?

TB: Our execution was pretty poor, so we didn’t throw it great, we didn’t catch it great, we didn’t block great, we didn’t run it great. I think it was just bad offensive football; it’s hard to stay on the field and move it down the field and keep possession and ultimately score points. So there are a lot of things we need to better, certainly all of it would have helped.

Q: Is it nice to have a little extra time here in the pocket? It seems like the offensive line has stepped up there the last few weeks.

TB: Yeah, they’re doing a great job. I’ve got confidence in all those guys. They do a great job. I’ve got a lot of trust in all those guys.

Q: Did you notice at all how maybe Shane Vereen and the other running backs were affected by losing Stevan Ridley and how they responded? I don’t know if you noticed it, but Shane did Ridely’s signature touchdown dance after his first score.

TB: Yeah, I mean, it’s a guy in your room, it’s probably one of the guys you’re closest with on the whole team, and or him to lose someone that’s pretty close to him – Shane did and Jonas [Gray] did and Brandon Bolden did – and really a guys that’s a real leader for that group, too. Everybody has to take on some different roles with Stevan out. It’s a tough injury. Stevan will be back better than ever. If there’s one thing I know about him, it’s his mental toughness, his work ethic, how much h loves football. I know he’s going to come back stronger than ever.

(Continue on for more quotes from other Patriots players)