Live Coverage: Wilfork says goodbye

FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots are holding a retirement ceremony at Gillette Stadium for Vince Wilfork. Here are some of the highlights:

Robert Kraft is speaking

• Talked about how Bill Belichick couldn't believe the value in Wilfork falling to them at 21st overall in 2004.


• The Wilforks went on vacation with the Krafts on their trip after Myra Kraft passed.


• Kraft and Wilfork signed a contract that makes Wilfork a Patriot for life, and then Kraft presented Wilfork with his No. 75 Patriots jersey.

• His rookie year, as good as he was at Miami, we had a pretty good tackle in Ted (Washington), and Vince started at defensive end. I tell that to the rookies all the time.


• Vince was dominating at Miami, played 1 and 3 technique and was always going up the field.


• We played more two gap and some of our scouts doubted whether he could do it, and it took about one snap for him to prove he could be one of the best two-gappers in the history of the game.


• Has great feet, and obvious strength and also great football smarts. Vince is the best defensive lineman that I've ever coached at that. He could understand the scheme and what our opponents were trying to do.


• We ran the triple wham block for the first time against him in Houston and that shows the respect I had for him and his intelligence to know the opponent's blocking scheme.


• In captain's meetings, Vince was the kind of the captain of the captains. True voice of the team. The captains would tell Vince to bring something up with coach because they didn't want to do it.


• We'd be playing a team like Indianapolis with a great QB, and I'd tell Vince we can't let them run the ball. He'd say, 'Coach, just tell me what you need and I'll take care of it.'


• Those are the kind of things that Vince brings that you just don't realize. Great judge of people also. I think in 2008, he came up to me and said, 'I like this Mayo kid, I think he's going to be all right.' After about two days of playing with him. He was very adept at that.


• "I see Bianca and I see David and I remember when David was born. It was hot. She comes to camp ready to deliver day after day after day after day. She'd come early and stay late. Finally on the 5th she delivered. Two days later she was back out there again. I said to Vince, this is unbelievable, she's made more practice than a quarter of our team. We gave Iron Man t-shirts for making it through every practice in camp. I have one to Bianca, I had to."


• This a great family. They've touched everyone. They'd have the players over for barbecues. Positive feedback from the chemistry.


• Best defensive lineman I've ever coached. That's leader, player, everything.


• "Vince was never once time fined for being overweight or fail the conditioning test. There were times we were like, is he going to make it? I'm not saying he was ever overweight, but we always made the weigh in."

• I never missed a weigh in, but catch me 30 minutes later it might have been a different story.


• Thank you to my teammates for pushing me to be great, to be a leader.


• My teammates made me who I am.


• After playing 20 years of football, 13 of those years in the NFL, I'm finally calling it quits. From a game I truly, truly love. I'm calling it quits.


• I gave this game everything I had day in and day out. There were times I would wake up at 4 a.m. just to work out.


• I couldn't expect the best of the guy next to me if I didn't do the same.


• When people sleep, I try to work. Have to expect your job is always in jeopardy.


• Now it's to a point where it took a toll on me mentality. Physically, I could still play a while. After a while it took a toll on me mentally.


• I was a true champion. I believe I was the baddest person on the field every time.


• Why would the Super Bowl champions take a chance on me? Obviously there was something there that they thought they could be better. That challenged me my whole career.


• Mr. Kraft...Thank you for giving me an opportunity to live out a dream. I told my father who I wanted to become. Because of you, I was able to do just that.


• Coach Belichick, thanks for driving me. You always had a way to get to me. If it was a play or something you said watching film, or a play you pointed out, that drove me to be the best I could because I never wanted to let you down. Thank you.


• To all my teammates...I remember sitting in the sauna and there were like 12 of us in there. I told them, 'We're going to win Super Bowl 49. We're going to win because we have chemistry and I saw it right away.' No matter what people tell you, we won Super Bowl 49. We all had a job to do, we all held each other accountable. We all stepped up in leadership roles. We never complained, we never took nothing for granted. Thanks for trusting me and proving that we were champs.


• To the fans, I love you guys from the bottom of my heart. You always treated me and my family with the utmost respect. I loved playing for true fans.


• I didn't like Romeo Crennel at first because he was old school and he liked his veterans. But it drove me.


• I wanted to prove from the time I was drafted I was right for the job. I had the best coaches and teammates I could ask for, the best fans any person could ask for.


• There's only one thing I regret in my 13 years of playing in the NFL, is my parents didn't a chance to see their son live out a dream I said at the age of 4 I would achieve. I know they have the best seat in the house. Thank you David and Barbara Wilfork. I love you. Thank you.

• On importance to retire here: "It was very important. I spent 11 great years here. My resume wouldn't be what it was without New England. All the memories I've made, they wouldn't have happened without the Patriots. So I always wanted to come back and be a Patriot for life. I never wanted to leave but business is business. It was the right thing to do."


• I was always real. Sometime people like what I say, sometimes they don't. But I kept it real. I knew I had great teammates. I was happy (my teammates) felt comfortable enough that I could talk to Coach no matter the situation.


• Expectations in 2004: "As an individual my goal was to be a Super Bowl champ. In college I won a national championship. I wanted to be All Pro, I wanted to be Pro Bowl. But the thing I really wanted was to be a Super Bowl champion. In 13 years I missed one playoff, and we were 11-5.


• I was a nose tackle. As a nose tackle, it's not about you.


• I always wanted to be great. You can't be great without taking a chance. You can't. I don't care how good you think you are.


• Sometimes I took chances and they didn't work out, and Bill cursed me out.


• On Tom Brady: "I had the luxury to play with the greatest QB to ever play the game, hands down. ... Tom doesn't have the Randy Mosses and Jerry Rices and stuff like that. He has Gronk, he has Edelman. He has guys that proved to him they could win. Hands down he's the greatest. Give him four top receivers on the same field, what do you think will happen? When he did have Randy Moss and Wes Welker, he broke records. The guys he does have, I respect their game because they produce. Edelman was a special teams guy, he was hurt, his time is now. He's showing the world he's a good receiver. To play with the greatest, I will always cherish that."


• I played my first game here, played my last game here. I don't know it's a coincidence or what. I'm proud it ended right here. I had everybody in one place to witness my last game. That's pretty awesome.


• I don't have no plans. For 20 years I've been on a schedule. That last thing I'm going to do is get back on a schedule. I'm going to take a year off to do what I want to do.


• On winning a second Super Bowl: "It's hard to win. I think sometimes it looks so easy for a team that wins all the time. Winning is the hardest thing. This game is so demanding. The sacrifices you have to give to stand on top of that mountain... there's so much that goes into it. When you get a chance, you have to be ready for it. Two times we weren't ready for it. Two times we were. I had a great run. But over time, I never looked at it and said it's too hard to get there so I'll call it quits."


• Bill's still the same guy. That's one thing I respect, how consistent he was, how he runs his ship, what he expects. He hasn't changed a bit. Not at all.


• If I had to tell them anything, it would be prove it. Prove you're good. Prove you're a champion. I want to see it. Everybody else wants to see it. Prove that you want to be Super Bowl champions.