New England Patriots Links 1/05/12 - Wilfork: 'We Might Not Be Pretty, But We Will Not Give Up'

Vince Wilfork addresses the media Wednesday, and "loves the odds" with this team.

Have you had conversations about starting faster amongst yourselves?

I don't think there's much said about it. I mean everybody in this locker room it's not like each week we go and say, ‘We're going to spot this team 21 points' or ‘We're going to spot this team 14 or 17 points and then we're going to start to play.' It doesn't happen like that. Each week we know we get off to a slow start, but eventually it can catch up with you also and we understand that. But at the same time being down 14 and 17 and 21 points and to pull games out shows you a lot about this team. I don't think there's anyone in this locker room saying, 'We're going to get away with a 24 point deficit or a 28 point deficit now.' I think it's more about, ‘Let us being on the other end. Let us be up 14 or 17 points and see where the game takes us. With this team I love the odds. I love them.

When you get behind in games does that make it more of a sense of urgency to make a play or do you have to calm yourselves down?

Most of the times we've been down we've had to calm down. I think that the tougher the game gets the more, I don't know, settled we get. [We] never lose our poise. You know you get frustrated at times, but at the same time you go out there and everybody has their poise and everyone is calm and I think once we're calm we make more plays, we make more plays, we make more plays. I mean, it's funny, but down 21 points you would think that we're over there screaming and hollering and trying to fix everything, but that wasn't the case. It's more about, ‘Just settle down to play football, plays will come, just believe what you see.' The times we've done it, we've been okay. It's just a tough group – tough, tough, mentally tough football team that, you know what, for 60 minutes we're going to fight. I'll tell you that. We might not be pretty, but we will not give up. I don't care how long we play. This team will not give up, so if you've got to beat us it's going to take 60 minutes plus because we're not just going to fold our hand no matter what the score is.

Jerod Mayo responds to a question about if this team will use the playoff exits of the last couple of years as motivation.

To be honest with you, this isn't the same team as the previous years. I think this team is mentally tough. A playoff game in itself is motivation. We're pretty motivated.

TEAM TALK

• Andy Hart tells us that the defense ranked 15th in points allowed, but had they allowed only 14 fewer points, they would have been tied for 10th. Stupid Colts game.
• Erik Scalavino tells us what happened Wednesday at Gillette.
• The New England Patriots signed WR Britt Davis to the practice squad and released TE Garrett Mills from the practice squad.
• Press Conference: Vince Wilfork (19.02 min. video)
• Patriots Locker Room quotes.
• Patriots DB Sterling Moore voted Week 17 Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week.
• Playoff tickets: Limited number of playoff tickets to go on sale to general public on Friday, January 6.
• Player Interviews: Tiquan Underwood (1.36 min.), Britt Davis (2.25 min.), Matthew Slater (1.38 min.), Rob Gronkowski (2.37 min.), Jerod Mayo (3.31 min.), Sterling Moore (1.54 min.) and Devin McCourty (4.30 min.)
• Patriots Today - Wednesday practice update. (1.24 min video)
• Patriots Today - Key postseason offensive players. (2.50 min.)
• Patriots Today - Potential opponents: Cincinnati (3.45 min. video)
• Locker Room Uncut - Thoughts from Slater, McCourty. (3.54 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Paul Kenyon reports Vince Wilfork loves the character of this team.
• Karen Guregian reports the entire Patriots offense has been a nightmare for just about everyone, especially when Brady runs the no-huddle.
• Mike Reiss announces Tom Brady was named AFC Offensive Player of the Month for December/January.
• Julian Benbow finds that the Patriots defense leads the AFC in turnovers for the second straight year.
• Ian Rapoport notes that for this team, togetherness matters, and the combination of players they have now is working.
• Christopher Price says truly great teams in the NFL are physically tough and mentally resilient, and the players in the locker room think they have both traits.
• Jeremy Lundblad goes inside the numbers of the Patriots first-quarter woes.
• Ian Rapoport looks at the key free agent pickups who helped the Patriots become the No. 1 seed for the AFC.
• Mark Farinella points out Sterling Moore is the first undrafted player to win Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week honors this season.
• Mike Reiss serves up some quick hits from the media-access period in the locker room.
• Tom E. Curran reports the Patriots had a handful of players who missed practice Wednesday and says Wes Welker had his ribs X-rayed after Sunday's game.
• Christopher Price introduces us to the new guy, WR Britt Davis.
• Steve Buckley writes about Zoltan Mesko, the best Patriots player you never talk about, and why he is so single-focused on game day.
• Christopher Price posts his Patriots positional playoff preview: Tight ends.
• Mike Reiss charts the sacks and hits that Tom Brady has absorbed this season.
• Mike Reiss reports rookie Markell Carter earned the highest total of black jerseys this season for practice player of the week.
• Mike Reiss highlights an ESPN Insider piece that puts together a roster of the NFL's best bargains based on salary cap hits. Pats have three.
• WEEI highlights Boomer Esiason's guest appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show: Mark Sanchez 'like a Chihuahua'.
• ESPNBoston posts a link to ESPN Boston Radio and the hot topic of comparing this season's Patriots team to last season's.
• Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Vince Wilfork loves his team's chances; Jerod Mayo sees a different team than last year; Bill O'Brien will interview today for the Penn State job; Bill Belichick said he'll judge how hard to go in practice this week on a case-by-case basis; Wes Welker and Tom Brady were among five players who missed practice; DB Sterling Moore was named Pepsi Rookie of the Week for his two interceptions against the Bills.
• Michael Whitmer Patriots Notebook: Patriots are self-scouting and intent on improving themselves in the bye week; Practice participation update; Chad Ochocinco finished with 15 catches, 1 TD and the best yards per reception (18.4) of his career. : P

NATIONAL NEWS

• Dan Hanzus (NFL.com) A man named Brady should be enough in these AFC playoffs.
• James Walker (ESPN) Patriots regular-season wrap-up.
• Jason La Canfora (NFL.com) Pats OC O'Brien interviews with Penn State; deal possible soon.
• PFW Staff (Pro Football Weekly) 2011 NFL head-coaching grades. Belichick is at the head of the class.
• Peter King (SI) MMQB - Tuesday; Mail. Peter King acknowledges his ignorance in giving the Packers a pass for their defense while calling out the Patriots on theirs. (Then proceeds to call out the Patriots defense.)
• John Clayton (ESPN) 2011 All-Pro team. Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowskio make the list.
• James Walker (ESPN) AFC 411: Patriots say...Who Dey?
• Mark Maske (Washington Post) Packers, Patriots and Saints will test 'defense wins Super Bowls' approach this postseason.
• First Take (ESPN) Debating the Patriots. (4.45 min. video)
• Sound FX (NFL.com) The Big 3: Brees, Rodgers and Brady. (4.32 min. video)
• Toni Monkovic (NY Times) Tom Brady isn't broken up over Jets' fall.
• Kerry J. Byrne, Cold Hard Football Facts (Yahoo! Sports) The NFL's 10 most shocking failures of 2011.
• Staff Report (NFL.com) Looking ahead to Wild Card Weekend; coaching intrigue.
• Jim Reineking (NFL.com) Wild Card Weekend memories.
• Alex Marvez (Fox Sports) NFL's diva wide receivers. Chad Ochocinco? Nah.
  
• Kerry J. Byrne (Cold Hard Football Facts) Birth of The Curse of Flutie and how it followed Wade Phillips to Houston. /Not Patriots-related really, but funny.