Running back Ray Rice called it the fondest moment of his NFL career.
His 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage against the Patriots in the 2009 wild-card game was a play that was singed into memories and highlight reels.
But in the eyes of the New England Patriots, it’s a thing of the past.
Nose tackle Vince Wilfork and Head Coach Bill Belichick spoke to the media this week about Rice and other Ravens topics:
NT Vince Wilfork
How many times have you watched his 83-yard run from the 2009 playoffs?
“It doesn’t have any relevance to what we’re doing. That’s something that was back a couple years ago. This is a new ball club. I’m pretty sure they have guys on their team that weren’t on their team and I know we have guys on our team who weren’t there.”
What makes Rice so tough to play against?
“He’s a tough, tough football player. His size doesn’t matter because he has a big heart. I think the guys in that offense rally around him. If we can contain him and slow him down, I think we’ll be OK.”
How good of shape will you be in if you can stop Rice?
“We’ll be in pretty good shape. I think it all starts with that guy. Obviously, he’s the best player on the field for them. The more he can do for them, the better they’ll be. We understand that.”
What have you seen from quarterback Joe Flacco?
“He has a great arm, that’s first and foremost. He has great poise in the pocket. He’s probably one of the toughest guys in the pocket. Even though he may get hit at times, he’ll stand in and take a lick to pass the football. I think he does a real good job when he gets time to get the ball down to his receivers to make plays. We have to make sure we also slow that guy down, because he can be tough at times.”
Are you better than your stats suggest?
“We don’t pay attention to no stats. We know how we feel about this team. We feel real good about the guys we have on our team.”
Head Coach Bill Belichick
How much motivation do you take from the early losses in the playoffs the past few years?
“We don’t really care too much about what’s happened in the past. We’ve won some, we’ve lost some, but right now this team is focused with the Ravens, what we have to do this week and how we can best prepare and perform well on Sunday. That’s really all that matters. I don’t think some game that happened two years ago or five years ago or anything else, I don’t think that really has an effect on this game.”
What kind of off-field relationship do you have with Head Coach John Harbaugh?
“I think we have a good relationship. I see him from time to time. I spend a little bit of time in that area because of my roots being back there. We’re both pretty entrenched in what we’re doing. But Indianapolis or league meetings, stuff like that. I enjoy talking to John, I think he’s a great guy, does a good job with his football team. I have all the respect in the world for him. This week, I hope our team can play a little better than theirs, that’s all.”
Is Joe Flacco a good deep thrower?
“Yeah, real good. Good deep thrower and he’s got good deep receivers, starting with [Torrey] Smith. He’ll throw it down there to [Anquan] Boldin and Rice coming out of the backfield on those wheel routes and tight ends they run a lot of vertical routes, seams, middle reads, things like that. They have a lot of guys that can get the ball down the field too. Lee Evans, we all know what kind of deep receiver he is.”
What are the challenges in defending Rice both running and receiving?
“Yeah, very, very tough guy to defend. Similar to problems that we’ve had with [C.J.] Spiller, Reggie Bush in Miami, guys like that can run the ball inside, can run the ball outside, can run with power, can take short plays and go for long yardage, can take wheel routes and close routes and routes out of the backfield and out-run the defense and get behind them. He’s a tough guy to matchup on and he does so many things that you try to stop one thing and you’re vulnerable somewhere else.”
Can you talk about the younger players that the Ravens keep adding to the defense?
“Absolutely. Again, the Ravens have done a good job of bringing young players into their system on a regular basis. They’ve been in the playoffs four straight years, they’ve won playoff games the last four years – nobody else in the league can say that. I think that speaks a lot to not only their talent, but also their consistency and how well they’ve performed over that period of time. It’s not easy to do.”
