A transcript of Ravens quarterback Kyle Boller with the local media:

On the Patriots’ defense: “They’re a really good defense. They have a lot of name guys. I think they have some great corners. Obviously, the names speak for themselves. They got ‘AD’ [Adalius Thomas] now and he’s just a heck of an athlete. [I] was with him for four years, so I’m very familiar with him. But they’re a great defense.”

On if it helps knowing what Thomas likes to do on the field: “A little bit. I kind of miss his voice in the locker room, so I’m sure he’ll be talking out on the field. But he’s a great player, just a guy you’ve always got to be accountable for where he’s at. He can be on one side and next thing you know, he’s all the way on the other.”

On if he feels like he needs to go into the game with a shootout mentality: “Well, you can look at it that way. But the main thing is when we have the ball, we have to put together some really nice drives. The longer that we have the ball, we keep their offense off the field. So we’ve got to really just do a great job of just executing and converting on third down and keeping ourselves out of long third downs so that we can continue to put together some long drives.”

On if he feels like the Ravens need to play a perfect game: “Yeah, I mean, you’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They’ve played very, very well. The main thing is, we’re going to have to make some plays also. We’re going to have some opportunities, and we've got to have some guys make some great plays, have the ball bounce our way a couple times. That’s the main thing. We’ve got to go out there and just execute and, like I said, establish some really good drives. Get those six-, seven-minute drives and 10, 12 plays and ultimately put points up.”

On what he took from the Eagles game: “They had a lot of big plays. They brought some pressure against the Eagles and AJ [Feeley] did a good job of staying in there and giving his receivers a chance to make plays, and they did that. They were pretty aggressive, but like the tape showed, when they had the chances to make plays, they did that. That’s why it was a close game.”

On if he can ever remember playing a game as a 20-point underdog: “No, I can’t. As a player, you don’t really think about that. You just think about the task at hand: that’s playing a great football team. It’s an opportunity, it’s a challenge, and anytime you get a chance to step out on the football field, hopefully you can take advantage of that.”

On what makes Tom Brady as good as he is: “He’s just very fluid, very smooth. He really understands the offense and where he wants to go with the ball. He stands in there, can go through his reads. But he has that confidence. He’s been in big games and he’s played in a lot of games where he just has it down. He knows it inside-out, and I just continue to watch how smooth he plays.”

On if the Ravens view this as their Super Bowl: “Sure. Every Sunday [is] with where we’re at in our season right now. We have a great opportunity to go out there and play the best team in the NFL. So if you can’t get fired up for that and get ready for that, I don’t know what’s going to get you going. We have a great opportunity to go out there and play the Patriots, and hopefully come away with a win. Just go out there and compete and have fun.”

On playing on Monday night: “I love playing at night, for one, and then obviously, it’s always cool to play on Monday Night Football. I look forward to that, and just being out there with my guys.”

On if he can sense a mood change in the team this week: “Sure. I think, especially after last week and prior weeks, we’re just excited to get back out there. We want to get this thing going in the right direction. The Patriots happen to be the team that we play next. We know the type of team that we can be, and we’ve got to just go out there and continue to execute and just get that confidence going and get this thing going in the right direction, because we know that we can do that. So, I look forward to Monday night.”