Notable quotes and post-game reaction from the Patriots 23-21 week one victory over the Buffalo Bills:
Bill Belichick’s opening comments on the win:
"I was proud of our team today. I thought they made the plays at the end of the game that they needed to win. That's what it's about. Obviously it wasn't perfect. There's a lot of things we can do better. We played the last few minutes of the game the way we need to play it, and we were able to execute and make the plays. It's always tough to win in the division, on the road. It's good to get off to that start, and now we've got a real quick turnaround for the Jets."
Tom Brady on if there was any doubt in his or players minds if they would score on the final drive:
“I didn’t have a lot of doubt. I felt like that what we were capable of doing. I mean, we had gotten the ball down to the right area a few times and didn’t get any points out of it. It wasn’t really as much about doubt, it was just not being consistent enough to score points. In order to score points, you have to be able to make the big play or be able to string a bunch of good plays together and we didn’t make the big plays today and as we were stringing them together, sometimes we would just make our own mistakes that caused us to end drives, especially the turnovers. We can do a better job. We can learn a lot from this game and try to come back.”
Stephen Gostkowski on preparing for his game winning kick:
The hardest part about it is waiting around to go do it, the actual execution. It’s just something you work for. Those are the times to prove to your team that you can go out there and they can depend on you. I’m very fortunate to have the opportunity, especially because I have a lot of family in Buffalo and had to get a lot of tickets to the game. Things couldn’t have worked out any better for me and I’m very grateful and humbled for the experience. Just to be 1-0 is great. It looked like we were going to let it slip away for a little bit, but we battled back and won, and it’s just a great experience.
Stevan Ridley on his fumble(s):
I can’t make any excuses, two balls on the ground is unacceptable. I’m not going to sit on the past. I have to accept where I messed up, made a mistake and grow from it. That’s really all you can do, not point the fingers just come back to work tomorrow. I hate it and it’s unfortunate but it’s part of the game of football that I’m just going to have to keep working, keep driving and keep pushing forward. We’ve got 15 more weeks in front of us and I’m going right back to work.
Vince Wilfork on balancing risk and playing smart defensively:
I mean it’s all about film study, seeing what your opponents’ tendencies are. Some of them are stronger tendencies that we can take advantage of, certain calls and schemes that we can take advantage of, and you just have to understand the game. The way the game is going, the quarter, time, who you’re facing, down and distance--a lot of work goes into it. So it’s picking and choosing, but we kind of know from the calls we get from the sideline, mind-frame and what we’re thinking how we’re going to be. Are we going to be aggressive or are we kind of playing just to get to the next down. There’s a lot of work that goes into it, and for the most part we did pretty good at taking advantage of our opportunities. That’s one of the main things we talk about as a defense, creating turnovers and getting our offense back the ball. With Tom Brady and those guys over there, they can do good things with it, so the more we can keep the ball in our offense’s hands the better shape we’ll be in as a team.