How Did The Patriots React To Win Over Jets?

Oct 25, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola (80) celebrates his touchdown against the New York Jets with wide receiver Julian Edelman (11) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Rob Ninkovich

Q: Did you come in with the intention of trying to slow Chris Ivory down? How do you think you did?

RN: The guy was doing great this year, and he was leading the league in rushing. We knew coming in that he was a very good running back, and they were playing well as a front. So, yeah all week [we were] practicing. [We] knew that he was going to be a tough runner, so again, I think that we’ve just got to continue to improve and get better as the season progresses.

Q: Does it say more about this team that you were able to overcome adversity and win a tougher game than it does to blow out a team?

RN: We’re a very mentally tough team, and I think that the work that we put in during the week. Again, we go into these games, we understand that you’re got to play four quarters and you’ve got to stick to the plan. Again, I think just believing in ourselves and knowing that we continue to fight, continue to play hard. We’re going to, at the end of the game, we’re going to come out victorious as long as we continue to play hard, believe in each other, and I think that our offense did a great job at the end there scoring. And defensively, again, we’ve got to get off the field on third down. I don’t know the percentage of it, but it wasn’t good. So we have to do better there, and again, short week here. We’ve got to watch the tape and have a quick turnover here for Miami, who’s playing well. I don’t know what their score of that game was, but I think it was pretty … Forty-one, nothing, yeah. That was a good, you know, obviously they’re playing at a high level. Again, very happy with the win; 6-0, it’s a good feeling. But we’ve got to turn the page, right?

Q: How tough will the quick turnover be?

RN: Yeah, it’s playing a Thursday night game. It’s definitely quick, and you’ve got to make sure you’re taking care of your body and doing the best you can to get to 100 percent and go out there and play tough. So another division game is definitely a tough game for us, and Miami always plays us tough. So again, I just think we have to turn the page quickly on the Jets. Again, happy to come out victorious, but now it’s the Jets. I mean now it’s Miami. Sorry. The Jets are over with.

Q: How did you manage to bat down all those passes?

RN: Again, I think anytime the ball comes out quick, the trajectory is lower, so any time it’s a quick passing game, you can get your hands on the ball. You just have to obviously read the quarterback, get your hands up and match the throwing arm. So coming into this week, they didn’t have many sacks. They only had two on the year, so you knew that the ball was coming out quick. They wanted to have quick hidden routes, and as a front, you get your hands up, knock passes down. I should’ve caught a couple of them, Jeez.

Q: A lot of the talk coming into this week was about the Jets defense. Do you take that as a team challenge?

RN: No, I mean again, we really don’t focus on other teams. We really just try to work on ourselves. Coming out of this game, there are going to be a lot of things that we need to correct, and we’re going to watch the tape, get them corrected and move on. But we’re always focused on ourselves and just getting better and trying to play better every week, so again, we’re going to focus on ourselves and get better.

Danny Amendola

(On the victory)
“The Jets always come to play, so we knew we were going to be in for a battle for four quarters and that’s what we got.”

(On his performance and his touchdown catch)
“It’s just a play that we’ve been working on for a long time and they gave us the coverage that we like and it ended up working out.”

(On the Patriots’ final drive)
“They [the Jets defense] manned it up a lot on that drive, specifically. And we need to score – had to score. Gronk [Rob Gronkowski] made a great play right there at the end to get the ball in the end zone.”

(On the short turnaround to Thursday’s game versus Miami)
“It’s tough, but we have a great coaching staff, great players here that can get ahead in preparation and get on to Miami.”

(On the team’s decision to abandon the running game)
“You know, we wanted to play fast and wanted to kind of slow them down by moving the ball by getting in-and-out of plays and getting in-and-out of the huddle and going quickly, so that was our motive.”

Next: Malcolm Butler, Julian Edelman Speak