Stefon Diggs & Jaylinn Hawkins Address the Media | Patriots Press Conference

Stefon Diggs & Jaylinn Hawkins Address the Media | Patriots Press Conference

Five, six. Thanks. Great. Make sure y’all wouldn’t tell me. I would. What are the first things that come to mind when you think about the challenge this week against Tennessee? Um, another good team, another team full of talent. Uh, obviously the media is easier to kind of make it about uh like Coach Grapes going home and that kind of thing, but I think what’s going to travel is our identity and you know, being able to commit to the process week in and week out. Uh, I still feel like they’re a good team, you know, when things are shifting as far as like with coaching changes and stuff like that. You get, you know, you get a lot of different stuff. You get trick plays, you get things that, you know, they’re not going to hold anything back. Why not? And they’re gonna try to get on the right track and get some wins in the win column. So, you know, I just I expect them to go out there and play hard. You know, you know how I just It’s a national football game. So, how do you look at the situation? It’s not just Mike returning, a lot of players that played for Mike in Tennessee going back. Talked about the homecoming and what you’ve seen from players. How do you think that will affect those? You’re going to play hard. Like, you know, when you see your old guys or you see um coaches that you once played for and you know, you got a lot of love and respect for you, of course, you I mean, even small parts, you probably want to beat them, you know, but it’s just like each and every week. I feel like guys who play hard and love this game, they going to play with a passion. So you can expect everybody’s best shot. Steph, where does all we got? Is all we need from I think I just heard that from for real. For real. But long long time ago. I’m not I wouldn’t say I uh pat it or came up with it or nothing. If I did, somebody owes me some money. What’s the challenge of a a third straight road game for a team? Uh coach was preaching to uh earlier just like being a road warrior, you know, going on that going on that path of least resistance. You know, it’s just like, you know, it’s hard to go on the road. It’s hard to win on the road. You know, it’s hard to get wins in general. But, uh, you know, we’ve been on the road for consecutively for some weeks now. And, you know, I feel like we’re kind of getting accustomed to it and looking forward to coming back home next week, but right now we got to play what’s in front of us. Is being in first place in the big something that you guys paid attention to when it’s only week seven? No. Hell no. I think biggest thing is don’t drink the Kool-Aid right now. Obviously, they going to say a lot of good things about you. just it’s the second quarter of the season. You know, you break it up in quarters and uh don’t don’t buy into that, you know? I feel like you get distracted by how good they tell you you are. Um and you get to doing different things or not committed to the process how you were before. So, I don’t think this not that kind of team. We’re not we’re not that kind of team. I feel like uh we came in with the right mindset today trying to get back on track. We feel like we left a lot of a lot of plays out there. You know, even me um I feel like I I took a touchdown away from Pop. You know what I’m saying? I had some things going on out there. So, trying to be better and I’m back on the grind, you know. I just don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Don’t get caught up in that There’s neither here nor there. We’ll figure it out. You know, 10 more games from now. Talked to Pop last week and he said you guys in the wide receiver room have a very selfless mindset right now instead of selfish. How much do you think that that’s helping you, especially when Drake is really spreading the ball around week to week? I just feel like it helps you as a team. like uh going into games, I feel like uh when you schematically scheme for guys or players and you know a lot of guys have production and a lot of guys making plays. I told y’all from the get-go, we got a lot of guys that can make a lot of plays down the field and make plays at a high level. So you can kind of see it now. It’s kind of turning the corner. Um early on people were kind of talking about this guy and talking about that guy, but you know in the season everybody’s just doing their job and reporting on what they see. But now you can kind of see things turning the corner for like Pop and you see him making those explosive plays and playing like the player you kind of saw in camp, you know, but you know, good things take time. You know, we’re all growing and we’re all going and I feel like us equally spreading it or however the ball gets spread. He’s throwing it to the open guy. You know, it’s fun when a lot of guys are open with you like as well. You know what I’m saying? So to the openest guy, I guess, but it’s all fun. You went through a lot of the exact same motions that coach and a lot of players in this team are going to have going back to Tennessee. What are the keys in kind of maximizing what you can do in that moment, but also putting yourself in a spot where you’re not angry, you’re not, you know, in a place where you’re trying to do too much? I mean, I talked to my position coach about it. I talked to coach Josh about it um weeks ago. You know, he had told me his t as far as like going back and playing some of the old teams like he coached for and stuff like that. But I told him from my point of view, I don’t chase it. You know what I’m saying? I don’t chase the game. I just let the game come to me. Um you can play with a chip on your shoulder, but at the end of the day, it’s still football. You know, you can’t force anything to happen. I need a lot of things to happen in order for me to get the ball. But I just got to be ready when it’s time for me to get the ball, you know, and be prepared and just, you know, play my game, you know, don’t get caught up in the the hoopla and all the extra stuff. Just, you know, play football, you know. I feel like coach is going to be the same guy. I don’t I don’t like just him being he can’t go out there and play anyways, but he knows that guys like us, uh, you know, we going to go out there and give it everything we got regardless. Six weeks into when it comes to, how are some of the younger guys specific to your room and maybe some of the younger guys across the roster? I just feel like the young guys, you know, they’re hungry. Like I feel like Ethan, you know, got a little taste last week and we were all excited for him. And even Kyle, like I was pulling I was pulling for Kyle and I know nobody wanted that go ball more than Kyle. We’ve been itching for it all year long. Like Kyle’s fast. You know what I’m saying? He’s a he’s a pro. You he came in ready and I just It’s weird cuz you can see Kan Booty running down the sideline trying to see him like uh wanting to see him have success. I’m on the other side like oh there go Kyle. So, you know, uh part of being selfless, you know, you want to see guys do well, and those guys aren’t drinking the feeling. Those guys are grinding. You know, they want success. They’re young, so they’re hungry for it. And, you know, seeing that, uh, veteran players and guys who made plays in this league and done things like that wanting for those younger guys, you know, I just feel like it’s it’s building that that team camaraderie and that team bond. Um, and it’s and it’s real. It’s not fake. A guy running down the sideline to ce another receiver catch a go ball, that’s genuine. You know, I don’t vote for him. I was like, I’ve been there. I was young. And you know, I said I’m not going to say he didn’t do it, but I was like this a when I always look up, don’t look back. You know what I’m saying? As far as the ball, especially in the Superdome, it’s so dark in there. So, I just want I wanted her to catch it and you know, score it some more. So, you know, how much is selfish attitude helping you? We just got to I mean, to be honest, it’s something that none of us Well, I wasn’t really accustomed to uh to in its totality, but you get used to it, you know? Um doing your job. If you get tired of doing your job, you know what I’m saying? We just going to find somebody else to do it. if you’re doing your job and you’re grinding for for the man next to you. Kind of gives you a level of appreciation, too. Like, let him know that I’m doing everything I can for you to score. Um, and I know he’s going to do the same for me. Like, you’ve done you done seen or other guys running down the field 30 40 yards to on a pass play. Like, how’d you even get down here? You know what I’m saying? It’s just maximum effort and trying to see that your guy, you know, touches that paint and score. So, being selfless and uh having success is team success. And I feel like uh individual success breeds team success, but it’s all like it’s one way. We’re all moving in the right direction. So, you know, running game, we going to try to keep we we right there. There’s a couple players out there that I always say, man, it’s this close to popping. Just keep grinding. Six weeks into the season now, we’re all seeing a lot of improvements from Drake. What are you seeing? Same guy, you know. Um same guy come in each and every day. He grind, you know, crack a couple jokes. Uh he’s still keeping it loose, you know. He’s not too tight, you know. is not uh putting the carriage before putting the carriage before the horse. He’s out here grinding, you know what I’m saying? Each and every day. So, I’m just uh I think it’s surprising everybody else. Like I said, it’s not a surprise to me, you know? I’m super excited for him. But I’m also really looking forward to him like uh I feel like he can still get better. You know what I’m saying? It plays out there. He says, “Man, I wish I would have did this. I wish I would have did that.” And I see it. So, I’m I’m really looking forward to his maturation process. So far so good. But, you know, fingers crossed. Is he funny? Hell no. What has grown specifically your relationship with Drake? It seems that you guys have more decision making has obviously grown throughout the course of the year. How would you define your relationship with him to this point and how have you seen him grow as a as a player? I feel like uh you putting wins on tape, you getting open and catching the ball, the quarterback going to find you eventually. You know what I’m saying? Like he grow that confidence from seeing the guy open. Even if you’ll learn more from the reps that you know even if you don’t get the ball, you know what I’m saying? and he’ll look like, damn, like I actually should have looked on this side or I can count on this guy to do his job. And we kind of echo that in the room that even if you don’t get the ball, make sure you win on tape because the quarterback sees it. He’ll come back to it. You know, all good quarterbacks do. You might not hit it the first time, but he’ll come back to you. So for me, I’ve been doing this for a long time and get open and catch the ball is my game. So that’s all that I don’t know how he does it, man. You got me to buy it. I tell you that. But uh I just think that you respect him as a coach. Also, him being a player kind of adds another layer to it and he practices what he preach. He’s going out there grinding. He pushing on guys. He’s preaching maximum effort and he shows you that like um our success is a direct correlation for our practice and how we grind. So when you buy into the process and you see the results, it’s like the damn it does work. So um it’s easy to kind of go in and if you was going in and doing all these things and we weren’t winning, it would probably easy to be like, man, I’m not really I ain’t really jacking that. But uh things been going going pretty good so far. So buy into the process. Do what your coach and you know he makes it pretty natural. Everybody just play their position. Do they step your position coach down the finish? I can see it too. I mean, you know, everybody’s just locked in. Uh, not really worried about the he say, she say, the gas, you know, I call it poison. You can’t buy into the poison, you know, cuz that stuff will have you feeling high, have you feeling low. We trying to stay right here, even kill. So, but is it hard to not get ahead of yourself considering you guys do want to be playing? That’s the goal. But at the end of the day, then we control what we can’t control, which is today practice. You know what I’m saying? And that’s the only thing you can control. Can’t control the future. You can’t control the win outcomes. You can’t. So the biggest thing to focus on is the inputs that you put in. The inputs will give us the chance to have the outcome we want. So that’s that’s the main thing. Even though he is not only on it, um, treat everybody the same regardless of how he’s playing. Um, we respect our opponents. You know what I’m saying? You got to respect everybody. This the league. Um, anybody could do anything at any given moment. It’s any given Sunday. So, I think we come out with our standard and we prepare how we prepare and play how we play. And then we let all that stuff that they saying about, you know, who we playing this week, the any quarterback we playing this week, Cam Ward, whoever be, but we’re focused on what we got to do and take care of business on that standard and learn along the way, but even though you couldn’t play, you tried to watch the defense holding to three points in the second half, you know, that I mean, turned up. I miss my guys out there, man. It it was good to see, man. It’s just good to see everybody going out there playing, doing their job, playing sound defense, and having fun. You know, that’s the biggest thing, having fun, playing with that energy. Um, I think that’s contagious. You know, it helps offense, offense helps defense, you know, helps the team. So, I’m just happy to see I was happy to see our performance. There’s still stuff we can improve on, but um I was happy to see us go out there and get a victory. How much does Mike encourage that just part like in that locker room afterward? He’s like, you know, there’s a lot to clean up, but you guys have to enjoy this one. Yeah, always. He always, every day I practice, even um everybody, you know, I feel like that’s the biggest thing is that energy, having fun, cuz at the end of the day, this a kids game, you know, we’ve been doing this since it was young. We can’t forget that. We can’t lose sight of that. And so, you know, as grown men, I know this is our job, but we still have to, you know, have fun with it. You know, it’s it’s this is a fun game. Thank you.

Patriots players Stefon Diggs and Jaylinn Hawkins address the media on Wednesday, October 15, 2025.

DIGGS – 00:00-09:25
HAWKINS – 09:25-11:57

Subscribe to the New England Patriots YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/2IOD2e9
For More Patriots NFL Action: https://bit.ly/2Y1e9zz

#NewEnglandPatriots #Patriots #NFL

For more Patriots content: pillar.io/patriots
Stay up-to-date on Patriots news: https://www.patriots.com/
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newenglandpatriots/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/patriots
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patriots
Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@patriots
Get the app: https://apple.co/2vvd8mU