How Did The New England Patriots React To Win Over Chiefs?

Rob Ninkovich

Q: Can you touch on the drive in the second quarter when they got the ball on your 36-yard line and weren’t able to get anything out of it, and you guys responded with a 98-yard offensive drive? How key was that drive?

RN: Well, I think every drive is pretty important, so I think we did a great job play together, playing in all three phases. That’s what you have to do in the playoffs. You have to play complementary, and I think that our offense did a great job moving the ball. Again, you’ve got to give them credit. They have a heck of a team, and definitely a very good football team that we were about to get a win on.

Q: What does it mean to be able to get to five AFC Championships in a row?

RN: I really think it just goes back to starting all over again every year. Every year is a new year, and really just turning the page on anything that happened last year and building for a new push, new run. So again, it’s an honor because there are obviously a lot of guys who would love to be in that position and play in a lot of playoff games. And I’ve been blessed with that honor.

Q: Every time Travis Kelce left the line, there was somebody hitting him. Was he one of many focuses tonight for you defensively?

RN: Well, he’s a tremendous player. His body of work kind of speaks for itself, so again, anytime you’re going against a guy like that, you have to account for where he’s at on the field and understand that he’s one of the go-to guys for [Alex] Smith. I think that we go against a pretty good tight end every day, and it’s a great look for us.

Q: Considering Kansas City hasn’t turned the ball over much this year, what did it mean for you guys to take the ball away from them on that fumble?

RN: It was a huge play. Again, I just threw my body in there, and I think Chan [Chandler Jones] maybe got it. I’m not sure. I have to watch it on tape, but just running to the football. When the D-line can turn and run and make plays, you know, it was a huge turnover preventing them from scoring points and definitely a huge play.

Q: On the Chiefs final touchdown drive, they took a lot of time off the clock. Was that a small victory there?

RN: Well, you always want to keep them out of the end zone and not put yourself in a position where you have to put your hands team out there. But again, I think that it was a small dink and dunk type drive to where we were able to tackle, get the guys down for maybe five, six-yard gains on some of those plays, and in the red zone really they had to work to get in there. So that took a lot of time off the clock. So again, I think you always want to have the mentality as a defensive player to hold them to three points and not let them get the touchdown, not score, but again, I think that we played tough, had some guys coming in and out. So that’s just the way it is. You have to deal with that.

Q: On the other side of the ball, what kind of spark did you see in the offense with Julian Edelman back?

RN: Yeah, that guy has got the heart of a lion. He’s just never going to give up on a play. I’ve been with him for a very long time now, and I respect the way that he plays and how much he gives this team. So again, tons of respect for number 11, and I’m happy that he was able to be out there doing his thing.

Danny Amendola

(On the win)

“It feels good. We played a good football team. The Chiefs play hard; good defensive players. Hats off to them. We played well enough to win the game and we’re excited about that.”

(On getting into a rhythm as an offense)

“We tried to establish a rhythm early. It was good that we got points out of that first drive and kind of go from there. I felt like we played well, made some big plays, defense played well and special teams, too.”

(On the offense getting Amendola, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowskiback on the field together)

“It was fun. We’re all glad to be back and be running around together and making plays.”

(On whether the continuity of Amendola, Edelman and Gronkowski was there from the start of the game)

“We played well. Well enough to win, but there’s still definitely room for improvement, too. We’ll just go back to work this week and try to get better for next week.”

Devin McCourty

Q: What does going back to the AFC Championship for the fifth straight time say about your team?

DM: It’s why we play. It’s not guaranteed. We come in every year, same goals. We work our butts off to try to get into the playoffs to give ourselves a chance, and you guys saw tonight. It wasn’t pretty. It’s not easy, so to me, it means everything. You put all this work in to get to the playoffs and try to get to the AFC Championship, and we’re there now. Now it’s about executing and trying to move forward.

Q: What are your thoughts when you listen to Bill Belichick talk about the day-in, day-out commitment of the players and then kind of the lesson he learned about day-in, day-out professionalism from his old coach?

DM: Yeah, we hear it every day. The same message that he just told you guys, he tells us all the time. One of his favorite phrases is, “There’s no magical pill that you can take,” and I think that says it all for us about coming in each day, putting in the work. And I think the exciting thing about the playoffs is when you’re on a team that’s a hard-working team with a coach like Bill who puts in a lot of work and demands a lot of us, it’s cool to see the playoffs where everybody amps it up a little bit more. Guys are in here extra early, staying late, and I think you go all throughout the whole regular season thinking it’s not possible, and then you watch guys put in more and more work because we know how tough it is to win in the playoffs. It’s not easy. You’ve got two very good football teams fighting our butts off just to come to work next weekend. I think when you see tough games like this, you see that hard work paying off.

Q: What can you say about the toughness Patrick Chung brings to the field after holding Travis Kelce in check tonight?

DM: I don’t know many strong safeties, if any, better than him and playing better football than him right now. I think he doesn’t get the respect and the praise he deserves. You go throughout the season going against some of the best tight ends in the NFL and then battling Gronk every day. Chung goes out there and battles his butt off and usually doesn’t give up many catches and yards to opposing tight ends. And I think you sum all that up and then talk about how much it helps us in the run game. He’s a big part of this defense and the reasons why we win. He loves it though. He loves when we come in and Bill stands up here and tells us how good an opposing tight end is and what he did to us last year, Houston the week before and throughout the season. He takes that challenge and plays with a chip on his shoulder, and you saw that tonight. But for him, it’s been week-in and week-out just going out there and trying to dominate a matchup. And he played well tonight all over the field like usual making plays.

Q: What’s it like when this team is healthy?

DM: It feels good. I think it’s a testament to everybody. This whole team comes in and puts in a lot of work – injured guys, healthy guys, guys, like Bill said, guys on the practice squad who are called up, guys who haven’t played much. So obviously the end of the season didn’t go the way we wanted, but I think it helped us overall getting some guys who didn’t have a lot of experience out there making plays and stepping up. And we fell short a couple of times, but that paid off. And when you get in the playoffs, now the regular season doesn’t matter. It’s all about how well you play on that night that you have to play out there against another good playoff team. So I think this season different things we went through have helped us, and we’ve just got to use it and keep pushing forward.

Q: Can you quantify how significant it was to turn that fumble you guys forced into a touchdown knowing the Chiefs probably weren’t going to make offensive mistakes like that again?

DM: Yeah, it was huge. We talk every week about trying to get takeaways on defense, and like you said, we have two good defensive teams and you have two offenses that understand the value of taking care of the football. We know if we can get a takeaway and get the ball back to our offense it’s usually going to get points on the board. And like usual, they did what they did – drove down the field and scored a touchdown. And that was really a big swing in the game, especially because defensively, those long drives were eating at us a little bit. So Chan [Chandler Jones] or Rob [Ninkovich], whoever got the ball out, great job just hustling and getting to the ball. And I thought that was a big turning point for us.

Q: Would you rather have a home game next week or do you want another shot at Denver?

DM: I’m just happy to be playing next week. Whoever we play, like Bill says, it’ll be another good football team who has either won one playoff game or two playoff games now. They’ll be hungry, they’ll be excited, and they’ll be just like us – trying to move forward. So home, away, I mean, you guys saw the first round of the playoffs. All away teams won, so it doesn’t matter. It’s all about executing and going out there and playing good football.

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