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It looks like Bernard Pollard is suffering from a case of sour grapes. The man known as the “Patriots Killer,” a nickname he earned after tearing Tom Brady’s ACL back in 2008 while playing for the Kanas City Chiefs, picked up right where he left off after his clean tackle on Rob Gronkowski in the AFC Championship game. It didn’t look good initially for Gronkowski, but now it seems like Gronk will be a full-go for Super Bowl XLVI.Pollard came up with a deflection on a long ball to Matthew Slater that gift wrapped Jimmy Smith an interception with 7 minutes left in the game. The turnover caused by Pollard didn’t amount to a score on the resulting possession for Baltimore, but momentum was building for the Ravens. We all know how that turned out in the end when Billy Cundiff missed a game tying field goal wide left.Pollard doesn’t give too much credit to his opponent for winning this game. In fact he doesn’t think the Pats game plan will work against the Giants at all.
Bernard Pollard joined KILT in Houston with Josh Innes and Rich Lord to discuss reports that Billy Cundiff wasn’t ready to kick the game tying field goal in the remaining seconds against the New England Patriots, his reaction to Cundiff’s kick sailing wide left, Lee Evans sitting in the locker room for 40 minutes after the game without taking his uniform off, his opinion on Super Bowl XLVI and his reputation as a “Patriots Killer” living on after his tackle on Rob Gronkowski.
There are reports that Billy Cundiff wasn’t into the game in the remaining seconds. Did you see that on the sideline? Have you heard that he wasn’t as mentally ready as he should have been?
“Well you know what actually I heard that they were trying to find him. Now is any of it true? I have no clue. Some people were saying he was confused because the Jumbotron said third down, which I looked and it did say third down and one and that actually happened a couple of times in the game where the chains were saying third down and it was 1st and 10. I don’t know if they did it on purpose. I don’t know what they were doing, but to sit here and speak on his behalf for it, to blame him for rushing out there and try to get off the kick? Well first of all we can’t blame the player. We had a timeout. It sucks. You wish – like I said you wish you could turn back the heads of time, but you can’t.”
What is going through your mind when you saw Billy Cundiff’s kick sail wide left?
“To be honest with you I mean we’re all sitting on the sideline and I think it would have been better for us if it would have been straight and then went left. I think from the get-go it was left now. We knew that from then on you know it was over. I believe our team knew…we knew if this thing got to overtime…we knew we were going to the Super Bowl. I think we played a really good game. We had some things where we made mistakes or whatever, but just for the most part dinking and dunking wasn’t going to win. That wasn’t going to win in 22 seconds. I could say it over.”
Is it true that Lee Evans sat at his locker in uniform for 40 minutes after the game?
“I have no clue. The receivers, the higher numbers, are down and away from us. I mean I know when I walked out and I’m usually in the locker room for a long time after the game anyway, when I walked out Lee was walking out as well. I mean if he was, we as players this is what we play for. We play to go to the Super Bowl. We play to win the Super Bowl. Everybody wants that ring and I really honestly truly believe we left our hearts, everything that we had on that field and some guys they hurt and it sucks because like I tell so many of the young guys, like I told people when I was in Houston…Year in and year out man the team is going to change. It is going to look different. Look at Houston you go from a 4-3. You go from Frank Bush to all these coaches. They are going to fire everybody. Now you got a whole new scheme in and players making plays and just looking like ‘Okay well who is this defense that we didn’t see in 2010? Now we see this whole new transformation in 2011?’ That’s one thing that these young guys gotta understand. It is different and it’s going to be different for us this year.”
You got an opinion on Super Bowl XLVI?
“My opinion? I really hope the Giants – I just hope they just put a thrashing on the Patriots. I really do. To lose to a team like that the way we played. We played a good game. You gotta look at the experience of the team. You gotta look at what do the Giants have? They got a front four that is relentless. They got a secondary that is really, really good. They got a linebacking core that has been with them. The dinking and the dunking man? It’s just not going to happen. They are going to have to take shots down the field. I think the Giants watch our film and watch the film of the season. They gotta take away their big time players. [Rob] Gronkowski I think he is coming off that ankle, so I don’t know if he will be 100%.”
Your reputation as the “Patriots Killer,” continued yesterday with the tackle on Rob Gronkowski huh?
“Oh man that is fine and dandy. Like I said to a lot of people it is part of the game and this is what happens. If you don’t like it? So what. I am going to go out there and I am going to play me.”
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