The New England Patriots arrived in Phoenix today and held their opening press conferences at their hotel in Chandler, Arizona. The immediate questions were of course focused on the deflated footballs issue that has put a scar on the Patriots accomplishment of reaching the Super Bowl. Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Vince Wilfork, Devin McCourty and Matthew Slater all took part in the presser. Patriots owner Bob Kraft kicked off the press conference with a prepared statement.
Kraft said that he spoke to Belichick and Brady. He said that he wanted to fully understand what goes on when the game day footballs are being prepared. Based on the research, Kraft had this statement; “I want to make it clear that I believe, unconditionally, that the New England Patriots have done nothing inappropriate in this process or in violation of NFL rules.”
The owner of the Patriots welcomed the Wells’ investigation and feels that the truth will come out. “If the Wells’ investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs, I would expect and hope that the League would apologize to our entire team and in particular, Coach Belichick and Tom Brady for what they have had to endure this past week.” Kraft continued; “I am disappointed in the way this entire matter has been handled and reported upon. We expect hard facts as opposed to circumstantial leaked evidence to drive the conclusion of this investigation.”
Belichick worked the crowd that was assembled at his press conference, even cracking a few jokes about how far some reporters traveled to Phoenix. There were numerous attempts to get Belichick to comment about the deflated footballs but he would not go into detail, rather stating that the focus is on the Seahawks. The coach cited the two press conferences that he has already had as a point of reference for comments.
He was more eager to talk about what his team needs to do on Sunday along with what they have done so far. “My attention is totally turned now and focused on the Seattle Seahawks and our game Sunday, and that’s where it’s going to stay for this week.” Belichick continued “Our team has shown all year that we have a great chemistry and a feeling of togetherness. I think that these guys have supported each other well and worked well with each other through months, really, of challenges – all the different teams that we played, all the different ups and downs that we’ve had during our season – which every team goes through.”
The players that were on hand had to address the issue and it was obvious that they wanted to focus on the game. They seemed to understand that the elephant in the room needed to be talked about however. For Tom Brady, it was all about moving forward. He said that he moved past the initial feelings and called it all a part of the process. “I kind of left those things behind and I wanted to move forward because that’s what the team expects of me. I think we’ve dealt with a lot of adversity this season and we’ve got to deal with it some more.”
Taking on the challenge of playing in his sixth Super Bowl is what Brady is excited about. “I’m excited for the challenge; it’s a big challenge for us. So we’ll just keep fighting and like I said, hopefully we go out and get a win. That would be the most satisfying thing at the end of the week. Hopefully we can focus on all of the important things, eliminate as many distractions as possible and go out there and try to play a great game.”
Vince Wilfork had a message for his teammates about fielding questions from the media this week. “You get some crazy questions but at the same time you try to have fun with it and try to enjoy the moment. I think some guys might find it really entertaining tomorrow, but it’s all in fun. But at the same time you have to be on your toes because you never know what you might be asked and you have to be prepared for it. It’s going to be interesting.”
In Wilfork’s mind, it’s all about finishing what they started “regardless of what goes on outside, what people say about us, we’re going to continue to play football.” He said that the team just needs to focus one more time. “I think everybody got the idea of what we need to do. We’ve been doing it all year so we just have to come all together and play our best football. Execute at the highest level all year.” Wilfork said.
His response to Seahawks defensive back Richard Sherman’s criticism of Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell’s relationship by recognizing that everyone has their own opinions. Wilfork summed it all up with one quick statement; “One thing I learned a long time ago is when you are successful you have a lot of people that are going to point fingers or doubt you, no matter what you do when you are successful.”
For Devin McCourty, it was important to look at the work that they put in back in April. He also pointed out how Belichcik was talking about “ignoring noises” and not paying attention to different distractions. The directive back in April was in preparation for what they are going through. McCourty said that the distractions don’t bother them because they have a “great sense of focus on what the task is.
According to McCourty, the focus starts from Belichick and flows through the team leaders. “I think you have to be more in tune, more locked in to what you want to do as a football team. I think it starts with our leaders. Like I always say, with Tom (Brady) and Vince (Wilfork), both sides of the ball, we understand exactly what we want to do. The vision coming from Bill and from those two guys, there’s never a doubt on what we need to do to win.”
Special teams ace Matthew Slater is another of the team’s captains. He didn’t want to allow the distractions to have much of an influence either. “Needless to say, it’s a difficult situation that we’re navigating through. But, as I’ve said all week, we just want to focus on playing the game. We don’t want this situation to take away from what we’ve accomplished as a team and where we are, the game we’re playing in.”
Slater shared the same viewpoint as Belichick which is that they are dialed in on the Seahawks. “For me, it’s been all Seattle. I can only speak for myself. I realize how hard that this team has worked to get to where we are, and I don’t take that for granted. I think we’ve come too far over the course of the season to allow this to become a distraction.”
The Patriots as a team were willing to address the accusations of the deflated football. They fielded questions but quickly attempted to shift the focus to the game on Sunday. In their minds, that is the sole reason that they are in Arizona. There is a goal of once again bringing home the Lombardi trophy and Seattle stands in the way. They have legacies at stake. Winning this game could solidify both Tom Brady and Bill Belichick as two of the best to have ever played quarterback or coached a team.
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Photo credit: Michael Johnson @visionsmaj
