| New England OLB Willie McGinest, who is playing in his
second Super Bowl, spoke with the media in New Orleans at a Patriots press conference.
Here’s a look at his responses: Q: Are you looking forward to go up against the
Rams’ tackles? They seemed to struggle against the Giants’ Michael Strahan.
A: Tucker is a good player. You have to take your hat off to Michael Strahan. He had a
phenomenal year. A lot of tackles that he faced this year had a hard time with him. I
don’t know if I’m just going to be mainly on Tucker, but I think that I’m
going to move around a bit. We always go to different things according to our game plan.
Sometimes I’m on the right; sometimes I’m on the left. I will see Tucker. We
will face each other quite a bit.
Q: Is there a sentimental feeling toward Drew Bledsoe since he has Super Bowl
experience?
A: We all lost that game together in ’97. It was kind of hard for all of us after
that game. I could see where Drew, he had not been playing, he comes in and has a good
game and I heard him say that was one of the things he’s most wanted since he has
been playing football. If you look at Brady, he’s had his chance and he led this team
all the way up to this point. I have confidence in both guys. Whoever is going to be out
there quarterbacking this team, I have confidence that he is going to do a great job.
Q: Compare the security from the last Super Bowl to this one, especially following
Sept. 11?
A: The lobby is a lot cleaner, there is more security on the floors and coming into the
hotel and everywhere that we go. I believe that the people in event staffing and security
have done a great job. I feel protected and I just feel that they’re doing a great
job. I have not thought twice about Sept. 11 since I’ve been here.
Q: What advice would you give your young teammates regarding the Super Bowl?
A: Basically, just don’t get overwhelmed with the Super Bowl and lose focus of the
game. There are a lot of festivities and things that go along with the Super Bowl and as a
younger player, you could get distracted or get into the partying or maybe hanging with
the family too much and not really paying attention to the game. Then, all of a sudden
Sunday’s here and you’re in the game and now you’re so excited with the
adrenaline rushing, and you’re kind of caught up. The next thing you know is the game
is over and it is a week later and then you’re like, what happened? The game is just
a blur. You have to stay focused, do what you have to do early in the week, and start
preparing yourself mentally.
Q: What did you learn from playing the Rams in the regular season?
A: The thing about the Rams is that you have to play them for a total of 60 minutes
because I think that we were up 10-0 on them when they came to Foxboro. The next thing you
know, they were up on us and kneeling down, running out the clock by running the ball.
They really have an explosive team. They move the ball very fast, high tempo. You have to
slow them down and take it one play at a time. You can’t rush with those guys and
really be focused. You have to try to keep their offense off of the field. If you’re
on defense, you have to have a lot of third-down conversions and keep them off of the
field on third down. As long as they can move that ball, it’s going to be a long day.
Q: What’s the Patriots’ defensive scheme against the Rams?
A: We are an aggressive defense. We are a physical defense. We are a scrappy defense.
We don’t bow down to anyone we’re playing against. We feel that we could compete
with anyone who lines up across from us. They are the best team right now. They have been
here before. They have one ring. They have the best record. We have to respect that. We
know what we’re facing, but I’m pretty sure that they respect what they’re
facing too.
Q: Have you had fun playing in this defense this season?
A: It’s definitely fun to play in. We use a lot of fronts, and talking about the
defense, you have to take your hat off to Romeo Crennel and Belichick and the guys that
are putting the defense together like Rob Ryan, because our defense is constantly
changing. It might be the same group, but the plays and different things that we do out of
the defense are constantly changing depending on whom we’re playing against. Just
like the Rams’ offense finds the defense’s weakness, we watch film and try to
study and try to find the offense’s weakness and try to attack it. |
