How Did The New England Patriots React To 17-9 Loss To Buffalo Bills?

Dec 28, 2014; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) makes is way to the sideline as they take on the Buffalo Bills in the second quarter at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Tom Brady

Q: How tough was the week in general already knowing your fate and where you ultimately stand and knowing who was not going to be part of the game plan and maybe not game planning the way you might normally?

TB: Yeah, I think we tried to go out there and give a great effort. They’re a good team. They make it tough on you. They made it tough on us down there when we played them and they made it tough today. They’ve got a good team, but we’re looking forward. It’s tough – we always hate losing, absolutely. We didn’t make enough plays to win, but hopefully we make them in a couple weeks.

Q: It’s not like you’re not trying; you’re trying to have success offensively. It looked like you had a little frustration with some of the protection. Where is your comfort level with the protection you’re getting heading into this postseason?

TB: I think everything works together and the protection and the routes and the throws and the catches – offensive football and scoring points is about great execution. If it’s anything less than that, it’s hard to score unless somebody makes really a spectacular play. So if you have a breakdown on a throw, if you have a breakdown on a block, if you have a breakdown on a route, usually it doesn’t result in a good play. And I think obviously in the first half, we didn’t have enough good plays to score enough points. We’re trying. Hopefully we do a lot better job in a couple weeks. That’s what it’s going to take.

Q: How concerned about the offense should we be? It didn’t look great against the Jets and today is a little different given the situation, but how concerned should we be?

TB: We’re confident. We have a lot of confidence as an offense. We’ve been able to score points against a lot of good teams, a lot of good defenses. Nothing that we’ve done this past season is going to help in two weeks from now. What’s going to matter is how well we prepare this week and how well we prepare next week and how ready we are to go whenever we play. We’ll have a lot of confidence. I’m not worried about us lacking confidence going out there and executing. We’ve got a lot of good players.

Q: When you guys go back and look at the film from this month, are you guys not executing offensively or are teams adjusting and taking away some things that were working for you earlier in the season?

TB: That’s a good question. I think it ultimately comes down to how well we execute. I think we’ve played some pretty good defenses and defenses that really challenge you. We’ll be challenged in a couple weeks. Hopefully we’re ready to meet the challenge. I’d expect us to be at our best. That’s what this time of year requires. We’ll be playing a great football team, whoever it is. I think we’ve got a pretty good team. We’ll see where we’re at.

Q: You guys had quite a few starters inactive. How important was it for Brian Tyms? It looked like you were in a little bit of a groove with him.

TB: Yeah, he made a couple good plays there early. He’s done a good job since he’s gotten here trying to understand the offense and what he needs to do to really incorporate himself and find a role. It was good to see him make some plays today. We’re going to need it in a couple weeks. Hopefully Gronk [Rob Gronkowski] is ready to roll and Jules [Julian Edelman] is ready to roll and all the guys up front are ready to roll. That’s important. It’s good when you have your very good football players out there. We had a lot of good players out there today that made some plays. We just didn’t make enough of them today. We’ve got to be able to go out and do it in a couple weeks and make a lot of good plays.