Skylar Thompson – January 8, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, January 8, 2023
Postgame – New York Jets
QB Skylar Thompson (Transcribed by ASAP Sports)
Q. How does it feel?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: Do you see my face? (laughter) It feels amazing. Throughout this whole entire year for this entire football team, to experience the things that we experienced and to finish it like this, it’s pretty special. I think it speaks volumes about the type of guys we’ve got in our locker room, and they’re willing to fight. That’s something that I’ve prided myself on my entire life is fighting, and I felt like that game today was the definition of just fighting. It wasn’t always pretty, but we did what we had to do to win and made the plays when we needed to to win. That is all that matters. I am very grateful to stand up here and be part of this team and to have the opportunity that I did today. It was special and meant a lot to me.
Q. When the outcome of your own game came, not only did you get the win, but the video board showed the score for the Patriots game for the first time. I’m assuming you didn’t know the score. When you see that, what’s going through your mind then?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: Obviously, we had to take care of business. I wasn’t paying attention to that at all until obviously after the game, seeing it. It just gives you butterflies, man, to have the opportunity to go to the playoffs. It’s something that we’ve talked about for a long time around here, and what? It’s been (20-plus) years since we’ve (won) in the playoffs, so that’s something that we’ve set a large goal to accomplish this year. Like I said, just the adversity that we’ve faced, overcoming what we have to get to this point is something to be very proud of and is very special.
Q. Can you take us into the locker room? What was it like? Did they give out any game balls? What happened?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: Yeah, game balls for everybody. Everybody was part of this win, from top to bottom. That’s what’s so cool is everybody is just so happy for one another, to see each other succeed. Everybody was making plays. That’s something that I tried to just preach before the game is just to trust the guy next to you, trust the preparation that we’ve put in and go make plays for the guy next to you and trust whenever it comes down to the wire, we’re going to make a play and we’re going to win the game. Having a one-play-at-a-time mindset is what I had all day today, just one play at a time. OK, one play is over, what’s the next play? What’s my call? What’s my read? Go through it and execute it the best I can to give us a chance to win. And we did that at the end of the day, and it’s awesome.
Q. Do you leave here thinking that – it’s a long week ahead, but do you leave here thinking you’re going to be starting that playoff game?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: You know, I’m soaking this in as much as I can right now. I have no idea what that’s going to look like. That will be something for a couple days from now, whatever that looks like. I’m enjoying this. It’s important to celebrate stuff like this for the time being and soak it all in, and that’s what I’m going to do.
Q. When you think about the storyline of this year for you, your last game of your rookie season is your first win as a starter, and you put your team into the playoffs. Could you have scripted it any better?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: No. No. I mean, it’s crazy. One thing that I’ve just held true to myself all year, because I’ve had my own ups and downs, and it’s been a crazy journey for me this year and just the experiences and situations that I’ve experienced. It hasn’t always been pretty, hasn’t always been perfect, but I believe everything that I went through set me up and prepared me for this moment. I had so much confidence coming into this game because looking back at this year, it was like, ‘What have I not experienced?’ I’m ready for this. I’m built for this, and I’ve prepared for this my whole life. I’ve just got to be myself, have fun out there and let the game come to me. I truly felt like I did that today.
Q. Where do you feel like momentum is with this team? It’s been a really streaky year for this team. It seems like you either win or lose and then go on that streak. What’s it feel like right now? Do you feel like you can get something going when it matters the most?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: Yeah, of course. That’s something that we’re working through as a team is not getting too high, not getting too low, stay right in between. That’s key for us to get where we want to get to. I think this is a great opportunity for us to get back in the win column, get some momentum going. Guys are confident. Seeing a win and feeling a win is important, especially going into the playoffs (and) going to Buffalo, which is a very good football team. We’re going to be confident, and I believe we’ve been confident all year. It’s great momentum for us moving forward.
Q. In a game like this where you don’t know if one play could decide it, it’s going to be low scoring, one mistake could decide it. As you’re going through, what are you thinking as far as managing that, making sure you don’t make that mistake and getting them and setting it up just to kick field goals if you had to?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: Yeah, well, not thinking about not making a mistake. My mindset was just to take care of the football. It’s having positive – there’s ways of saying that in a positive way to where it’s not a playing scared type thing, where it’s just taking what the defense gives us and trusting our defense. Our defense played so well today, special teams, everything, trusting that everybody is going to do their job. All I’ve got to do is put us in a position to score. If that is field goals, if that’s touchdowns, whatever the case may be, it’s having that one-play mentality that I was talking about. I think that really helped me manage the game and put us in a situation to win.
Q. Was there any one person, whether it’s teammate, coach, relative, who helped put you in the right frame of mind before this start today?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: I touched on this earlier in the year. I have so many great people around me – my family, my circle, the people in my life that I have are very special. Throughout this whole week, it wasn’t like anybody was telling me, ‘Hey, you’ve got to go be a hero. You’ve got to go save the season. You’ve got to go do this; you’ve got to go do that.’ It was just, ‘Hey, you’re prepared for this. You’re built for this, and this opportunity, this moment is what you’ve worked for and what you’ve lived for your entire life.’ I heard that from a multitude of people. That just – that kept me so calm and so just dialed in to the process. My college coach, Coach Klieman reached out to me, I want to say it was Wednesday, and just told me to trust my preparation and prepare. ‘You’re going to win this game with your preparation,’ and that’s something that he always told me in college. My quarterback coach in college reached out to me, chatted a little bit last night. It’s just those people in my life that I have great relationships with that know me and I know them really well, I got in contact with and just talked. I think the biggest thing for me this week was that I’ve experienced the week of preparation as a starter, so I knew what to expect. I knew what it was going to look like, I knew what it took. I felt very confident when I woke up this morning that today was going to be a good day. It sure was.
Q. Can you walk us through that last drive? Obviously, the penalty on WR Jaylen Waddle when you got a horse collar was a big swing. What was that drive like for you all?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: Yeah, well, season is on the line. What’s crazy is you would think that guys would feel the pressure, feel the – get tight and get anxious about making a play. But I felt we were very loose, very calm in the huddle. We have great leadership. Tyreek (Hill), Trent Sherfield, guys were speaking up, ‘Hey, it’s one play at a time. One play at a time. Take it as it is, trust each other, we’re going to do this.’ That really helped me just not trying to be a hero, just making a couple plays there, making a couple throws to get us in that situation to have a chance to kick a field goal and win it. And then Jason (Sanders) nailed it. It’s the true definition of just trusting each other, trusting your brothers, and guys pulled through and did their job, and it’s awesome.
Q. Did you watch K Jason Sanders’ field goal, or did you turn away?
SKYLAR THOMPSON: I was pacing. (laughter) Yeah, I watched it. I watched it. I had all the confidence in the world he was going to nail it. He did. It was awesome.
