Patriots 36, Titans 13
Q. Saw you out there, no gloves, any special prep? Getting into the cold weather part of the season as you get used to New England?
MJ: Not really, we practice in similar conditions and it will continue to get colder. I love that we goat to practice outside and then that will happen a lot more and it will be a lot colder, so yeah.
Q. Seemed like there were some red zone issues first half. Second half you guys got it going, 20-0 streak there. Can you talk about the second half and what changed for you?
MJ: Yeah, I think just execution in the red zone. The goal is to score points and the best teams in the league are like 70 percent on touchdowns and we can be better there getting up to that number.
But at the end of the day when you have control of the game, the goal is to get points and obviously we want to store touchdowns. That happened later, I guess and it just needs to continue to improve and we've put a lot of stress on it so there's nothing that the coaches aren't doing or anything. It comes down to us and executing.
Q. You guys had completed several bigger gains today. What is going right with the longer passes and it seems like you guy are developing and why is that the case?
MJ: First thing is offensive line, playing really well and we feel confident in doing that, and I don't think I got hit today but maybe one time, and that was a talented defensive front.
So props to them just to allow us to open up a little bit but there's more opportunities to be made, and like I said, it starts with the front and then the guys getting open, they have done a good job of that all year and it's just getting the ball in tried and throwing it to the right guy.
We've just got to continue to improve on that.
Q. Can you just talk about the effort from Jakobi and from Kendrick Bourne on that touchdown play, how they both made that happen?
MJ: Yeah, I think our receivers play with a lot of passion and whether they get the ball or not they are doing their job and they have gotten consistently better at that. I can rely on any of them and we can rely on any of them. You can see them on the run game stuff getting blocks done and not getting them done but finishing people off and that's really important to the success of the offense. It's not just, hey, when I have the ball, look at me. It's when I don't have the ball, see what I'm doing, too. So they do a great job with that.
Q. You took the hit in the back after you scrambled in the red zone and it seemed to fire and you your teammates. Did you feel the motions going stronger?
MJ: You talking about the one I ran on and thought I got the first down? (Laughing) I didn't think I got the first down. I thought they were going to call it. I slid like head first or whatever but it didn't count. It is what it is. I didn't know there wasn't a flag thrown. That was just a rookie -- rookie error there.
Q. Just a miss-fire on the Hunter pass? And how much has done into developing the screen game?
MJ: Yeah, the Hunter play, yeah, just didn't throw the right pass. We were on the same page in terms of what he was doing, and I got to get him the ball, could, have punted it to the guy. Just get it there somehow. Wish I could get that back. I had plenty of time in the pocket with the line, doing a great job. So that's on me.
The screen stuff, that's part of the game of football and passing. You have three different types, like short, intermediate or long and then the screen game so that's kind of good that we were developing that and we just have to continue to improve in that area.
Q. Jakobi just said on the deep ball he was clearing out space and wasn't really expecting the throw but then he got it. Curious what you saw on that play?
MJ: Yeah, I mean, we talked about it, actually, like Josh and I talked about it, and yeah, it was just exactly what we were looking for, and a lot of times in practice, maybe he wouldn't have gotten the ball but that time he did and he made a really good catch. That was one of the better catches I've seen. He couldn't really see the ball and he just turned back and caught it and had plenty of time with the lines that. Was a great play. And hopefully we can continue to that more.
Q. Cold out there, a little bit of snow. Did the elements bother you at any point?
MJ: No. I think like I said, the practice helps and that was not as bad as it's going to be obviously and it's a mindset thing and Coach Belichick always tells us to get what you need on and be prepared and then don't complain about it because it is what it is. It's just a mindset. Obviously it will get worse and we'll continue to figure it out and work through it.
Q. Do you feel as the season progresses that teams are starting to bring some second-level pressure, meaning from the safety, some delay stuff, to try to confuse you a little bit? Seems like you've seen that the last couple weeks.
MJ: Yeah, I think teams do what they do and that's definitely a way to healthy up a quarterback, especially a younger quarterback, so I'm sure that's something people watch and make sure we have it corrected.
But they are going to blitz, a lot of teams do that, so you just have to be ready to go and stick to your rules and they did a good job for the most part obviously picking it up and we just need to continue to get better at that, too.
Q. Four more takeaways for the defense today. What does that do for you as an offense to see how often they can take the ball away?
MJ: That was awesome. I think they played great and they are always getting takeaways. It's just a matter of time. Once that happens it changes the momentum of the game and they have done that all year. The goal is to not turn the ball over on offense and do what they did today and get the four takeaways. You can see how much they play together and celebrate, and it's exciting. We have to capitalize on that and make points for them and not turn the ball over as well. It's kind of an ebb and flow type thing. They have done a great job and we have a great defense, and it's a lot of fun to have those guys with us.
Q. Early on you were having problems running the ball. Curious before this game today, was there a discussion that you might have to go up top a little bit or did that manifest itself because there were problems early on running the football?
MJ: I think they tried to take it away or whatever but we have run the ball good, and we need to be able to do both at all times: Throwing, running, screens, whatever we need to do. Josh has a great game plan every week and it goes down to executing it, and you have to be able to do both. It's not -- you can't just pick one.
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