New England - 23, Baltimore - 17
Q. What's the last two weeks been like? What's the difference, in your eyes, pulling two games out close late but with the execution?
CN: We're finding ways to win and that's pretty much been it. We're having great weeks of practice and following it up with in-game performance. Coach preached about that and we just have to make sure that we keep doing that and keep moving forward.
Q. Can we assume that it was in your camp that Jakobi learned how to throw passes in the rain on a double pass?
CN: I'm not going to confirm nor deny that. I think Jakobi has always been able to throw it. And I was teasing with him before the play was called. I said, Don't panic now. He said, I got to take off my gloves. I got to take off my gloves. I got to do it so they won't recognize nothing.
So he took off one glove. He takes off another one. I'm like, What are you doing? He says, I got to take off another one, bro. And he did pretty good without being able to, say, warm up or anything. And the height was cover on that play, which was me. Goes to show you the respect in the passing game. But he did a great job. And Burky, only thing he knows how to do is just score touchdowns and he just made a big play for the team.
Q. Does it take a certain amount of poise for somebody who is not a quarterback to make that throw in those conditions in that moment?
CN: Once a quarterback, always a quarterback. I'm pretty sure Julian Edelman is somewhere smiling and, but nervous at the same time, if you know what I mean.
Q. That was a pretty torrential downpour out there. How difficult was it to handle and throw the ball out there?
CN: We had a couple close calls with trying to gather the snap. Obviously it was a factor for them. But having the mentality to stay mentally tough throughout that whole tsunami it felt like, we just wanted to make sure that we do great things while we have the football, protecting the football, making great decisions. It affected just a throw or two for me. But just being in manageable situations kind of helps too.
Q. With a prime time win against a good team like Baltimore, do you feel like this could possibly be a turning point for the team considering where you guys were earlier this season and now getting this big win?
CN: Not going to necessarily say it's a turning point. We just want to keep getting better each and every week and I think we have been showing that, finding different ways to win, establishing our dominance in the running game, and trying to stop the run as well. Those are all keys to victory for us. And as this season keeps going, we just want to keep transcending upwardly in a way that our team is getting better week by week. We have a lot of young players that have big roles for us and especially myself, learning new things in this offense and getting comfortable. All in all, we just got to keep the ball moving forward and staying focused throughout it all.
Q. How important was it for you, for the second straight games you guys didn't commit a turnover. How huge was that for you guys, and then also the offense at the end of the first half with the Meyers touchdown pass and then the beginning of the second half where you guys went out and got more points on that four-play drive?
CN: That's big. That's extremely big for to us play complementary football in those situations not only, you know, to score, it's the timeliness of those scores. Like you said, right at the end of the half, for JC to get a much needed pick to stop their surge, trying to score before the half and for us to come back, getting the ball back and capitalizing on that, I think we have done that two weeks in a row and that's just to keep the momentum in our favor. So for us, those are big momentum shifts and we got to just keep it throughout the game. We just got to find ways to score when we get inside the 5 like that and I know we will.
Q. When you think about your career and playing in bad conditions, where did tonight sort of fall in terms of the worst conditions you've played in? And what would you say about the work of Winnie the Pooh, Smoking Joe, Dirty Dave, Shaq Diesel, Big Mike? What would you say about those guys up there?
CN: Oh, man, you got them all, right? But listen, for us, man, I don't think this team needs atta boys or a pat on the back. We're a hard nosed, tough football team and we just try to keep improving each and every day. For us, we're coached extremely hard, coached to make sure that our fundamentals thrive in key moments when it's needed the most, and those guys just did a great job with taking on the challenge of this week, playing a great defense, a great physical defense and just trying to create a surge for us so that Dame and Burky and JY can get in between those holes, man, and just run, and that's what we did.
Q. Along those lines, you guys have been running the ball well all year but especially, like you mentioned, a great defense, a great physical defense, what did it feel like to be kind of at the controls of an offense that was physically imposing its will like that, starting with the offensive line for much of tonight?
CN: Yeah, listen, everything that coach coaches throughout the week, it tends to come up and I'm beginning to think he either has like a Staples easy button or a Buffalo Wild Wings button or just a straight direct line to the football gods because he's, like, a football whisperer when it comes to anticipating what the game's going to be like, how we need to win, and things like that. I'm extremely impressed with that. But for me, trying to find ways to keep this team in a manageable situation offensively is one of the things that I have to keep doing and keep doing a better job of.
Q. Did Bill hint or kind of foretell that this was going to come down to the line of scrimmage? Is that your way of saying that?
CN: Well, we have our keys to victory and week-in and week-out, Coach hammers it in each and every day with reminding us about, you know, If we're going to win, this is what we're going to have to do. And I'm just excited that the offensive line was able to, like you said, impose their will and play a great team and this was going to be a great test for us and we knew that and for our guys not to back down, but take it more upon themselves as a challenge, and obviously they did a good job.
Q. Even when you guys lost a few in a row there a couple weeks ago, you were still outspoken in your support of your offense and your team as a whole. Would you say these last two weeks is kind of what you envisioned even during that time when they weren't turning into wins?
CN: No, I mean, look, I said it before, we're a team that's extremely close and I still believe in that. For us to play the way we have been playing here of late, that's what you want your team to be doing. Finding ways and trying to find our identity as an offense, playing complementary football, as defense as well as special teams, that's where we, our meter is pointing upwards and the more and more that we learn, the more and more that we play together, the more and more that we just have opportunities, I feel very confident in this group going into any situation to play football. So we just got to keep doing the small things right, coming to practice prepared, and having the willingness to keep getting better and knowing that we just have to keep having that type of mentality and mindset and we'll be good to go.
Q. Coach mentioned that in weather like this from center to quarterback that snap could be a mess. What made sure that you guys were together, you and David, to keep that rhythm?
CN: Well, we had some close calls, but David does such a great job with keeping his snap point pretty much the same. And I know it's not a big statistic or something that nobody cares about until something bad happens, but he does a relatively great job of hitting the same point, you know what I'm saying, when he's snapping the football and that's key. So for me just getting a clean snap is something that comes with repetition and doesn't matter if it's raining or whatever, my trust in him knowing that he's going to do the same thing each and every time is key.
Q. Wanted to ask you about the execution and your comfort with the offense at this point where you played pretty much mistake-free football tonight, just the one sack, no turnovers, no penalties. How important is that and is that a key to recognizing where the offense is at at this point, the execution and the way you guys were able to play this game?
CN: Without a doubt. Without a doubt. For me I know a couple games I took it personal, because I know what the stat line could be or if it would be different minus the turnovers. And Patriots over the years has just been phenomenal, to say the least, when no turnovers are committed offensively or no turnovers are committed as a whole. So me knowing that, that doesn't make me play conservative, it just forces me to play smarter and not being able to have that type of mentality as I had in the past, trying to do too much to make a play rather than just trusting in the plan and just throwing it away when it's not there and just living to fight another day.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports