Patriots 23, Bills 16
Q. Joe, just take us through your day. What was it like for your first NFL start? You had your touchdown pass, you got your ear worked on. What happened in that situation? Also your celebratory handshake with AVP and what that was like. You had a smile on your face. What was it like for you?
JM: Yeah, today was a regular day for me. I woke up around 8-ish, went back home from the hotel, and usually I wake up in the morning and I walk my dog, but today my dad and mom is here, so today my dad walked the dogs, and everybody else was getting dressed.
I don't eat on mornings like this. It's pretty hard for me to eat, so I didn't eat anything at all, so I'm ready to eat.
But other than that, man, it was a regular day to me. Felt calm, felt cool. Everybody had my back today, just like every other quarterback that comes through here. The team has Drake's back, and today they had my back.
My ear, I do not know what happened. It was kind of shocking to me when everybody said I was bleeding. I was like, bleeding? They was like, is your earrings in. I said, no, my earrings not in. Then it was just the top of my ear from a scab.
Q. Given the magnitude of this game, what would you say to someone, maybe a Patriots fan, who's a little bit disenchanted with the idea that you guys didn't lose today to get the No. 1 pick?
JM: I mean, we've got to handle how we handle our program as it is right now. We can't think too far in the future, can't think too far in the past. We're just being exactly where our feet is right now, as a program, as an organization. We're just being here right now in the moment.
Thinking about a pick right now is way out of our hands. If they're going to give it to us, if they do it, they do it; if they don't, they don't. Today the main focus was to win.
Q. You seemed to be so exuberant during the course of the day. Obviously the backflip after the touchdown run, the celebration after the touchdown pass. When you took the final snap and you dropped to the knee, put the ball under your left arm, what went through your mind in that moment?
JM: Man, I'm going to be honest with you all. Still to this moment right now, none of this feels real. Just because I did scout team the whole year. I didn't know when my moment was going to come. Everybody around the building just kept saying the same thing, just be ready for your moment, and I didn't know it was going to come today. Like I said all week, if the opportunity presents itself, then I'll be ready.
None of this today still feels real, and even right now it still doesn't. I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as I can, but at the same time just be cheerful with my brothers and cherish the moments that I have right now before it's all over.
Q. How significant is this performance for your development as an NFL quarterback?
JM: Man, I feel like today was a great step in the right direction for my development, my future itself, just because you never know. The full length of an average career in the NFL is three years, so just try to take every rep that I get, even if it's in practice or a game, just try to take it serious as much as I can. Whatever it takes to do, whatever I got to do, I do it.
Q. Building on that, in terms of thinking about where you were during the summer to this point, 22 of 29 for 241 yards, a touchdown pass, a rushing touchdown, what do you attribute to be able to get to this level in your first NFL action, and who do you attribute it to, if anybody?
JM: I would say just the consistency we had as an offense, as a quarterback room itself. Coach AVP and Coach TC, Coach Ben McAdoo, Evan, we made sure as a quarterback, we were spot on. That goes from watching film all week. Quarterbacks come in -- if we had a game next week, we'd be back in here tomorrow. Rookies got lift at 7:00 and we'll be getting back to it.
Just the whole point of the whole part of how we prepare, the way we prepare, the preparation we had for AVP, the way they get us right. Just going through all that with them, that's just a blessing.
Who do I attribute that to? I would just say everyone, everyone in the building. Everyone has a choice; you either can wake up in the morning and you're going to come here, drive here in the cold, or you're going to wake up in the morning and be like, man, I ain't going to work, and now you're just letting the whole team now, so I attribute that to everyone.
Q. At what point did you find out that you were going to play today, and what do you think you proved today?
JM: After kickoff. After the kickoff, they were like, you're going in next series. I was like, all right, let's do it.
What was your last question?
Q. What do you think you proved?
JM: I don't think I proved anything to nobody. I think I proved it to myself, like it's always been, just showing that I'm able to be here, able to play this game, and just showing myself that it's me. Without God, I am nothing, so therefore I put everything to him.
Q. What kind of dogs do you have waiting for you to celebrate this performance with?
JM: I got two pit bulls at home.
Q. You mentioned that you're still grappling with this, that it doesn't feel real yet. How long were you waiting to hit that backflip in your mind?
JM: Man, I've been waiting to hit a backflip in a game, period, for at least -- I want to say whenever the USC player hit the backflip in the end zone, I've been wanting to do it ever since that moment but two years prior to that moment. I was like, man, I can do it. Nobody really expects me to do it, so when I do it, I feel like it's going to blow up on media. So when I got there in the end zone, I was like, man, nobody is beside me, I think this is my moment. So I just trust it. I did back flips in my past before, especially in fall camp, so I was like, man, it's time. It's the perfect time for it.
Q. You mentioned this week how being on the show team gave you the chance to try some things you hadn't done before. Were there any points in this game where that came up and you tried something you'd only ever done in practice?
JM: Man, I threw a dangerous throw today. No, it wasn't as dangerous because we scored from it, but just throwing back across the field as a quarterback, that's very difficult to do, and a lot of quarterbacks and a lot of coaches tell you don't do that just because you never know what it's going to lead to, but also, that's just bad quarterback play, just throwing back across your body into multiple people, multiple coverage, or seeing a guy open like I did and trusting him, I feel like that actually showed up because K-Boutte actually be on scout team with me sometimes. He gets his extra reps like that, and we done made plays like that before, so just seeing it come to reality was very fun.
Q. Back to the backflip, had you done a backflip -- I know you said you had. Had you done one with a helmet, pads, spikes, the whole bit?
JM: Absolutely, yes, sir. I have.
Q. Did you ever not stick it trying it with all the stuff on?
JM: I always stick my backflips. The only time I have not stuck one was when I was six and I fell on my head at home.
Q. After this performance and then coupled with what Drake has performed all season, there's two promising young quarterbacks for the Patriots. What's your relationship like with Drake and how you guys might pair up this off-season and try to keep pushing forward together?
JM: Yeah, Drake is my guy, man. I don't know if there's any other person in this building that's as cool as him. He's cool. You don't see Drake get mad. You don't see him get riled up. He's just cool, calm and collected, and as a quarterback that's how you need to be. Drake, man, just learning from him -- it's cool to learn from everybody, especially as a quarterback, because you don't want to be the smartest person in the room, and I feel like that's something I took advantage of, not just being the smartest person in the room, hearing other quarterbacks out, hearing Jacoby speak, hearing Drake speak, and then just actually putting it together and adding it into my own game. Every time I talk, they be willing to listen and figure out what I'm wanting to say. It's been great.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports