Wilfork: ‘You’re going to have hits’

FOXBORO — Vince Wilfork briefly spoke to the media Wednesday from his locker at Gillette Stadium. The defensive lineman talked about the change in NFL policy regarding hits to the head and what that will mean for the Patriots.

How does the change in policy about hits to the head affect you and the team?
“I don’t know, I think as a defensive player, we don’t try, you know, big hits that we make. I don’t think there’s anyone in this game that plays the game and tries to injure anyone, but sometimes really in the heat of the moment, a split second, you just try to make tackles. So it is what it is, you know? I mean, it may slow some people down, because you start looking at game pace now, you know, suspension. You’ll have to take a look at it. I mean, as a defensive player, that’s definitely something we’re going to probably do now is try to alter our game. So, it is what it is. We’ll move forward and when it comes up again, you know, hopefully it don’t, never come up again, but, you know, this is football. This is a collision sport. You’re going to have hits. Sometimes people don’t understand this is a violent sport. It is what it is man.”

Is it naïve to think that it’s all about tackling or big hits?
“I mean, getting the ball, that’s what it’s about. Sometimes as a defender you’ll be out of position, or you fall in a certain way, or whatever it may be. Like I said, it’s only a couple seconds, or a split second. Not even seconds. I mean, just the timing is so quick when things happen. Like I said, I don’t think there’s anybody in this league that plays this game that tries to injure people on every play. That’s not what it is, but you do want to be physical. You do want to help, you know, your team needs. And you want to get the ball out, or whatever it may be. You want to be in the situation like that to make plays. But like I said, we just got to find a way to do it the right way, because they’re obviously cracking down on it, and it’s going to get tougher, so we’ll see where it leads.”

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(weei.com)