Oct/03/14 07:47 AM Filed in:
Vince WilforkFOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Given his standing as the New England Patriots' second-longest tenured player, defensive tackle Vince Wilfork's influence in the locker room looms large. He guaranteed that in the wake of an embarrassing 41-14 loss Monday to the Kansas City Chiefs that the team will get better.
"I have full confidence in this team," Wilfork said Thursday after a full-pads practice. "We have a lot of great guys around this locker room that played a lot of football games and know what it takes to win. So I don't think we lack of any type of guys that don't know how to play football. I think it's just making sure we execute at the highest level and hopefully we can get back on track this week."
Wilfork was one of several players who reported that Thursday's practice was viewed as a good one -- physical and spirited.
"A step in the right direction," he said, before repeating the word "execute" and explaining that's what it ultimately comes down to for defenders. "Right now, it's time for us to start playing the way we know how to play as Patriots. We need to step our game up -- all of us.
"There are tons of things that we have no business doing and we should be doing better ... Little things that we've been doing that haven't been right, if we just correct those things, this team will be looking totally different ... It's fixable. We need to fix it and get better, and that's what good football teams do -- fix things and move forward."
Wilfork has seen good things in past weeks as well, but it's not transferring to games.
"The most frustrating thing is that you go out and have good practices and you can't get it together [when it counts]," he said. "We have to continue to believe in what we do, and just do it a little bit better."
Asked about the defense playing more aggressive, Wilfork explained that the team will mix up its game plan weekly.
"Sometimes we do it, sometimes we don't, but that's not saying it's wrong or right," he said. "You have to buy into it. We've won a lot of ballgames around here playing a certain way. That's not going to change, trust me on that. So I'm all for what we do around here. We just have to do it better, plain and simple."
(espn.com)