Post Game Press Conference – Patriots Players
Hunter Henry, TE
(On what he saw from Drake Maye)
“I commend his toughness, first and foremost. His competitiveness was great. It was fun to get some things going, moving in a positive direction. I felt like the two-minute before the half was a great moment for us, too, as an offense. We’ve just got to be better with the football, we’ve got to be better – we weren’t able to establish the run like we wanted to today, and we’ve just got to be better in a lot of areas. It starts with myself. I need to be better and be better for this football team.”
(On what the emotions were seeing Maye buy time to allow him to get in open space to make a play)
“He’s super athletic. He’s very mobile, so you’ve got to be ready at all times, any route to be able to kind of convert into a scramble drill kind of mode. In that moment, he was able to just kind of find me and make a play. He’s a playmaker; he’s a great player, and he’s only going to continue to get better.”
(On if he thinks the game slowed down for Maye at all)
“Each rep, each play, I mean, it feels like a long time ago to remember back to my rookie year. But every rep and every game that he puts behind him, he’s only going to continue to get better, feel more comfortable. So, I feel like he did a lot of good things. I know there’s things he probably wants to do better. I mean, that’s kind of how it is for all of us. We’ve all got to continue to get better.”
(On why he felt the run game was a struggle)
“It’s kind of hard for me to say right now without watching the film, to be honest with you. Once I’m able to watch the film tomorrow and be able to see it a little bit more – I mean, honestly, when I’m in the play, it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on. I’m just kind of focused on my job and what I’ve got to do. But also, I think the nature of the game, too, getting behind early really fast, it kind of puts you – obviously, it was early, but we needed to kind of move the ball down the field a little bit more. I think we can be better in the run game, but I’ll learn a lot once we watch the film.”
(On why he wanted to commend Maye on his toughness)
“Well, I mean, it’s a big moment, first and foremost. Your first game, your first start. He got hit a few times early, he threw an interception early and just continued to come back, continued to fight, continued to get back up and continued to play at a high level, too. As a young player, to be able to bounce back like that, I think it’s more even the mentally tough than maybe some of the physically tough. I know how hard it can be. You have something not go your way early in the game, but to continue to fight, get back up and keep going, I commend him on that.”
Christian Gonzalez, CB
(On his thoughts on the defense’s performance today)
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, we always preach we want to start fast. We obviously didn’t. Like you said, they came down, marched two drives. But once we got to the sideline, it was like, ‘Alright, settle down. We’ve got a plan. Let’s stick to the plan.’ I mean, I think we settled down for a little bit, and they came out and executed their game plan.”
(On how he would evaluate his performance)
“I mean, I didn’t feel like I played too well. But it’s not about me. We’ve got to win as a team, so that’s that on that.”
(On his perspective on Stefon Diggs’ touchdown and the deep ball where he squeezed him to the sideline)
“Yeah. He’s a great receiver. He’s been doing this for a long time. On the touchdown, he ran a good route. That’s the life of a corner. You’re going to get beat. So, I mean, props to him. He came out and ran a great route, and C.J. [Stroud] put it on him. The other play was just trusting my technique and going out there and doing that.”
DeMario Douglas, WR
(On his touchdown catch and walking through the play itself)
“The other day I was saying that I was going to get my first touchdown catch so it was spoken into existence and manifested it. I read the defense and saw man. I caught the ball and [said to myself], ‘don’t fall this time…don’t fall this time,’ and got into the end zone.”
(On Drake Maye’s performance and how encouraged he is about the offense)
“He played good. I love how he gained confidence throughout the game and I thought it was a good first game for him. He’s [a good player] and I like the confidence that he had going into his first game. They are a good team and he held his own. We have a young offense, and we are making progress. Our first game together as a young offense and I felt like we should be moving forward after this game.”
(On how Drake Maye was on the sideline after the interceptions)
“Like I said, he has that confidence and never was down. When you have a [quarterback] that is never down, it gives us confidence. He came into the huddle saying, ‘come on, let’s go’ and pushed us to be like ‘we got your back.’”
(On feeling optimistic after a tough loss)
“I don’t like losing, but in the little spurt that I’ve seen, I feel like we are moving in the right direction. I walked out of the training room, looked at the clock, and saw 4:44. I know some of y’all might not believe in it but, 444 is an angel number. 444 is when you are going in the right direction, and I believe that we are going in the right direction. I know we took a loss but there are things we can learn from.”
(On the extra reps him and Drake take every day after practice)
“It helps a lot. [We take extra reps] everyday after practice and don’t miss a day. Drake and the receivers get together after every practice and throw and catch the ball. We do the little things that when it comes down to it in the game, everything clicks.”
Kayshon Boutte, WR
(On the touchdown from Drake Maye)
“Going into the second quarter, we didn’t have momentum from the first quarter. A couple of three-and-outs, back-to-back-to-back. Defenses start sitting on routes when we weren’t throwing it deep. I went to Coach and I was like, ‘we need to take a shot, I want the ball.’ That was the opportunity, and it presented itself. Drake threw a great ball. Great pass from him.”
(On the chemistry built with Drake Maye since training camp)
“When Drake first came in – I was once a rookie – it’s all about getting comfortable, finding your confidence and your rhythm. From the time he got in, going in and out every day, just letting him know it’ll be alright, that we all can improve to get better.”
(On maintaining personal confidence)
“Like I said, the more you play, the more confident you become. We practice Monday through Thursday, with a walkthrough on Friday and Saturday. Trusting your preparation, and there’s never really a doubt in my mind that I can’t make a play. I really catch every ball that’s thrown to me, so it’s like, ‘just catch them.’”
Kendrick Bourne, WR
(On Drake Maye’s performance)
“I think he did phenomenal. I pointed out that him getting hit, he kept playing, he didn’t seem too rattled. He didn’t just start doing different things, he stuck to what he does, what he practices. I think he understands that he’s going to get hit and I think that is huge. Obviously, we’re struggling on the line as everybody knows, in a sense, but he’s doing a good job playing hard.”
(On the veterans’ presence with Maye after a tough play)
“Yeah, just supporting him. It’s huge for his confidence. We just talked about the two-minute drive, big plays, good plays are going to help our confidence. So, just when we have bad plays, having that positive energy too, you know. Just supporting everybody, it’s just about being there for each other and having each other’s backs.”
(On the passing game)
“I think AVP [Alex Van Pelt] did a great job. His game plan. Pop [Demario Douglas] had a great day, Boutte had a great day. Just scheming, kind of anticipating what they’re going to do. Pop was kind of that tough spot for them on the defense, he ran some really good routes. I think we schemed well, and Drake threw the ball really good.”
(On what Maye brings to the offense)
“The way he was running the ball was impressive. I think his athleticism, his ability to throw on the run and things like that. It’s how he runs with his body, like he’s running left, but facing forward to throw the ball. I think those traits are what you see around the league. Patrick Mahomes, these new age quarterbacks, throwing the ball on the run, extending plays.”
(On Maye’s leadership)
“Yeah, he’s like a natural leader, he has aura. That’s important in football. Some people have aura, some people don’t, so he’s kind of one of those. He doesn’t have to try, he’s that guy. It’s important, you can tell when you see him. He passed the eye test, so when he’s in the huddle, he knows what he’s doing. You can feel it, it’s important.”
Marcus Jones, CB
(On what went wrong defensively on the first two drives)
“The main thing that we had going on was not playing our football. We had guys doing different things. One thing that we do, pride ourselves on, is accountability. The next man will tell you, ‘hey, you need to do this.’ There are no egos when it comes down to it. We love the way that we critique each other. We try to do that on a down-to-down basis. After that, it started going the way we wanted it to go on the defensive side. We just can’t put ourselves in a hole.”
(On his interception)
“Yeah, first off, it was a great play by Te [Marte Mapu]. He ended up putting his hands where they needed to be. I ended up catching the ball, and I was trying to go all the way. I saw some of the guys that were blocking, DG [Davon Godchaux], and all those guys out there. I was trying to find a crease, but came up short.”
(On what can be learned from today)
“Even though the game didn’t go how we wanted it to go, there were some great things that happened that we can do on a consistent basis. In the National Football League, the margin for error is very slim. The thing is that we have to make sure we go back, everything that we didn’t have handled, we have to practice it, and make sure we get it right for next week.”
Jonathan Jones, CB
(On Drake Maye’s first start at quarterback)
“I think we didn’t put him in a good position, you know, as a defense, spotting them 14 points. So, it’s kind of hard to fight back from that. So, from that standpoint, you know, it’s hard.”
(On finding their footing on defense after the first two drives)
“Just to get back to what we do, you know, stopping the run, getting off the field on third down, that was key and it was what we didn’t do on the first two drives. So, we were able to kind of settle down and do what we do.”
(On showing discipline during sudden possession changes)
“I mean, we practice that. Our job is wherever we get the ball and wherever their offense gets the ball, it’s our job to stop them, whether it’s the one-yard line, you know, to be cliché, or in the red zone already. If we give up three points, that’s a win for us, but not giving up touchdowns.”
Antonio Gibson, RB
(On Drake Maye’s debut)
“Excited for him. You know, he came out here, he competed. Not what we wanted, but he did his thing. He showed heart. He took the steps he needed to do to prepare for today. We just have to keep building off of that.”
(On Drake Maye gaining confidence throughout the game)
“I feel like it was a slow start, but you know, he got going. That was a great pass by him, and I feel like he got more comfortable. Unfortunate things happened and they weren’t going our way, but it is something to build off of. He came out here, and like I said, he competed his ass off, especially with the runs he had, extending the drives for us. We’re proud of him.”
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