Thursday, January 5th
Head Coach Bill Belichick
On the Damar Hamlin Situation…
“Damar Hamlin has been on everyone’s minds and their thoughts since Monday night. Our entire team and organization, on behalf of them, I’ve extended our thoughts and prayers to the Bills organization, their team, and also coach Taylor and the Bengals.”
On the football game coming up…
“Life is bigger than this game. This is one of those humbling moments for all of us.”
Special teamer Cam Achord
On the Damar Hamlin Situation…
“Yeah, I tell our guys you know, like I said, we’re human beings first. We have a love a passion for the game. We’re doing a coaching plan. We love to be out there. We do have a job. We’re at the heart of the core of everything is we have to understand people and understand we are going to talk about and deal with things differently. And the way I react maybe different the way another coach or player see the situation and how we deal with it and having an open line of communication with the guys able to talk, feeling safe, being able to talk in those moments in that atmosphere. And not just thinking like I keep everything Yeah, and that’s the one thing I’m doing is if you got anything to talk about on live family at home at any point, feel free to come to the office and talk to me”
On Bill Belichick handling the situation with the players…
“It’s been tremendous. Coach has done a great job.”
Center David Andrews
On this week’s preparation…
“This is unlike a football week I’ve ever had.”
On getting back on the field knowing what happened with Damar Hamlin…
“I don’t think you can block it out. It’s part of it.”
On the atmosphere the Patriots will face on Sunday…
“I’ve never played [in Buffalo] without it being a great atmosphere. As a player you know what it’s going to be like, to some extent. I think it’s going to be a great environment. It’s a big game.”
Safety Devin McCourty
On himself getting back on the football field…
“I try not to think much about myself and really just pray for Damar Hamlin. That’s the first thing I thought of.”
On the atmosphere the Patriots will face on Sunday…
“We’re competing because we love the sport. We’re not competing to hurt each other, we’re competing to win.”
Quarterback Mac Jones
On the Damar Hamlin situation…
Just a little quick opening statement. Obviously, the past couple of days have been tough for everybody. Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with Damar [Hamlin] and his family. Sounds like he’s definitely making some good progress and as a player, we love this game and it’s just tough to see that happen. We know that he loves this game too. Got a chance to compete against him a couple times here, just a great guy and you can see all the support around the world, really, just for the game of football and for him, his family. My thoughts and prayers are with him. I think the power of prayer definitely showed and I hope that he continues to make progress and all that. Definitely with him and definitely a tough, tough week for everybody here, but a lot of good conversation and we’re all here for him and his family.
On how practices have gone this week…
Yeah, I think listening to Devin [McCourty], there’s been a lot of really good conversations. It’s been tough for everybody, players, coaches. You just think about him in his position and we all just want him to be okay. At the end of the day, it’s all about conversations and coming together and just not taking anything for granted. That’s every day, coming to work and trying to have a positive attitude and just coming together and praying and doing all those things. There’s a game on our mind, but there’s also a lot bigger things than football itself. We’re definitely still feeling it and we feel for him and his family and all that. Just trying to do everything we can to prepare, but at the same time, we’re all there for him.
Saftey Adrain Phillps
On facing the Bills…
“It’s going to be tough. They’re always a tough opponent for us. And with the things that have happened, you know it’s going to be a super emotional environment.”
On the Damar Hamlin situation…
“It was a tough thing to see…that kind of put a lot of things into perspective.”
Special teamer Matthew Slater
On the last couple days…
“Myself, my family, our entire team, our entire organization have been praying for Damar. Our primary concern is that he makes a full recovery. I’ll sit up here and you’ll ask me a bunch of questions, but I want to make that clear.”
On advancing to the playoffs…
“I’d be lying if I said it was an easy thing to do.” On his role this week… “I’ve felt like my role this week has been to lead spiritually,”
Linebacker Matthew Judon
On the impact of Damar Hamlin’s situation…
“It’s been a process. Like everybody around the league, we felt the impact of it.” Friday, January 6th
Head Coach Bill Belichick
On the environment, the Patriots are going to face…
“Everybody will have to process it individually like we have been doing. It will be an emotional scene. In the end, we’re going there to play our best football game.”
On Jaokbi Meyers getting injured but coming back strong…
“He’s a tough kid, mentally and physically. He’s shown a lot of toughness and leadership, as he always does…glad we have him. Glad he’s out there.”
RB Rhamondre Stevenson
On Sunday potentially being the Patriots last game…
“Everyone on my team loves football. Everyone wants to play more football.”
TE Hunter Henry
On Damar Hamlin’s health…
“He’s not on our team but he’s a brother in this league…just to be able to have some positive news – we were all thinking about it. Just to get some good news, it was huge.”
On Matthew Slater…
“He is so wise, it is incredible to watch. Football wise – but also just as a leader, man he is one of a kind. It has been such a blessing to be able to witness that.”
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My name is Ben Belford-Peltzman and I am the creator and writer of The Patriots Beat. I am a 17-year kid who is an optimistic pessimist about the City of Champions. I started The Patriots Beat in August of 2022 and never expected to grow so much but here we are. Feel free to email Thepatriotsbeat@gmail.com with any inquires.
