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Speaker 1: Joining me now is Patriots Special Teams Captain Matthews Slater,

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Speaker 1: And let me ask you this. You guys are in

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Speaker 1: uncharted waters right now. What's the psyche of this football team?

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Speaker 1: You know, Steve, I think we're encouraged. You know, we

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Speaker 1: realize we have a lot of opportunity out in front

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Speaker 1: of us, so we want to just remain as positive

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Speaker 1: as we can take advantage of each and every day

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Speaker 1: that we can come into the building and play the

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Speaker 1: game that we love to play and try to do

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Speaker 1: everything in our power to make sure that we leave

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Speaker 1: no stone unturned and as we prepare and compete day

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Speaker 1: in and down. Did you see things back on Sunday

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Speaker 1: that we're uncharacteristic of this football team? You know, it's

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Speaker 1: just like you said, it's it's uncharted water for a

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Speaker 1: lot of us. And there are a lot of things

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Speaker 1: that we haven't experienced obviously, where we're at this point

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Speaker 1: in the season, what our record is, the way some

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Speaker 1: things have gone, it's all uncharacteristic of of my time here.

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Speaker 1: But you know, this is a new team, a new year.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna have to forge our own identity and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna have to make sure that We're continuing to build

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Speaker 1: upon the principles that we've always believed in, which is,

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Speaker 1: you know, hard work, team first, competitiveness, accountability, all those things.

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Speaker 1: Those things should never change, and I don't think that

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Speaker 1: they will. We just have to continue to push ourselves

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Speaker 1: to do a little bit more. You being the captain,

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Speaker 1: what is your message to your teammates? Look, I think

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Speaker 1: this is an opportunity for growth. No one grows when

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Speaker 1: things are just going well all the time. You know,

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Speaker 1: I know you and I have spoken about We've spoken

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Speaker 1: about adversity at length over the years, and I think

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Speaker 1: you know as men, this is an opportunity for us

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Speaker 1: to grow as professionals. This is an opportunity for us

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Speaker 1: to grow and as a football team. This is an

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Speaker 1: opportunity for us to grow. So if we approach it

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Speaker 1: with the right mindset then have the right kind of response,

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Speaker 1: it can be a good thing for us in the end.

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Speaker 1: Are you guys better than what you've shown? I believe

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Speaker 1: we are. I think we have a lot of talent

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Speaker 1: in this locker room, a lot of great coaches. I

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Speaker 1: hope that we can start playing up to what we

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Speaker 1: believe is our standard with the guys in this locker room. Well,

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Speaker 1: there's been a lot of doom and gloom, and you're

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Speaker 1: not a doom and gloom guy, so no, no, sir,

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Speaker 1: I give you that. But do you think your teammates

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Speaker 1: are aware what a win can do, because a win

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Speaker 1: can put you guys right back in this race right well,

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Speaker 1: you know, I think Coach Belichick has really emphasized that

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Speaker 1: we understand what this game means for us and for

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Speaker 1: the Bills. So the guys are well aware of it.

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Speaker 1: Now it's a matter of us going out continuing to

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Speaker 1: prepare this week, making sure we do everything in our

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Speaker 1: power to put ourselves in position to compete at a

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Speaker 1: high level. That's why you're the captain. Thank you very much, Matthew.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, sir, you got it.