Quotes of Note: What the Patriots Said About the Titans This Week
When it comes to playoff experience, the New England Patriots have a huge advantage on the Tennessee Titans.
New England is in the postseason for the 11 straight year and 16 time in the last 17 and has played multiple games in each of its last eight appearances.
When it comes to knowing the opposition for Saturday’s wild card playoff game, it is tough to say either side has an edge. The Titans and Patriots practiced against one another for two days in training camp and then played a preseason game. They also met during the 2018 regular season.
So, both sides should know what they’re up against.
Here’s what coach Bill Belichick and several key New England players had to say about the Titans this week:
• Coach Bill Belichick on the Titans: “This is a really good football team. They do a lot of things well – very, very explosive on offense and a tough group to stop. We’re looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge, and as I said, we’ve got a couple more days here to wrap things up and we’re going to use all of our time – we need it – and try to put everything together the best that we can to be ready to go.”
• Quarterback Tom Brady on his playoff experience compared to the other quarterbacks in the postseason: “There’s nothing in the past that matters. Obviously, I think knowing what to expect can be a little bit helpful if you use the experience wisely, but it’s not going to help me complete a pass this weekend. I think what’s going to help me complete a pass is making a right read against a right coverage and throwing to the guy that I feel like gives us the best chance to win. We all have a lot of games that we’ve played, but at the same time, playing good football will surpass all those things.”
• Cornerback Stephon Gilmore on the Titans’ offense: “It’s a big challenge. They can do everything. They can run the ball, they can throw it. So, any time you can do that and be balanced, you’re going to be a good offense. So, it’s going to take all 11 guys, and trusting each other and playing for each other.”
• Running back James White on Tennessee’s defense: “They’re physical, they capitalize on your mistakes, have a very good secondary who – everybody back there can catch the football, so you make a mistake, they’re catching the ball. They run a couple different looks – try and run some jab blitzes, all that good stuff – and they’re very well-coached. We’ve played them a couple times and it’s always a tough football game. Have to bring our A-game.”
• Safety Devin McCourty on Tennessee quarterback Ryan Tannehill: “He’s playing really good football, he’s doing a good job – draw back, third down, finding an open guy. He’s doing a great job in the play-action. And then I think he does a really good job – he never looks like he really wants to run, but the dude is fast so when he does run, he’s able to make big plays like you see on some of those boots. … He’s always had a very, very good arm throwing the ball down the field, pretty accurate at throwing throws, deep balls, intermediate routes. We’ve seen him for years, we’ve been a part of some of his best games in Miami, so we know what he’s capable of and we’ve watched how he’s leading that team.”
• Gilmore on matching up with Titans’ leading receiver A.J. Brown: “I just look at what I see on film because that’s the only thing that matters. He [A.J. Brown] is a good receiver, he makes big plays, he can run and he’s strong. So, he’s having a good year for a reason.”
• McCourty on the joint workouts between the Titans and Patriots during training camp: “When you get out there sometimes, you watch guys and watching them on film is one thing, but then you see them in person. We’ve kind of got that, when we went against them in the joint practices and saw some of those guys running and what they’re able to do. I think from a personnel standpoint, you still have some of those reps you’ve taken against them that you know. You don’t really lose that as a defender, as a player.”
• Brady on the fact that New England is playing in the wild card round for the first time since 2009: “I know this game, we haven’t played in this particular round of the playoffs, but it doesn’t matter. If we win, then what’s the difference? We’ve just got to go win. You’ve got to go win, you’ve got to do everything you can when that ball is kicked off to do the best you can to help the team win and put yourself and put the team in a great situation to go win. It’s not easy. It’s tough. We’re going against a great football team – they’re going to make it tough, we’re going to make it tough on them.”
