How Did The New England Patriots React To Losing To Jets?

Dec 27, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler (21) prior to the game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Malcolm Butler

On which injured player was the biggest factor…
It’s no excuse. Whoever is out there is out there. You just have to get the plays done. It’s not a guy missing that is messing up. It’s just playing football.

On the improved defense in the fourth quarter…
Just going out there and playing more aggressive. Playing good coverage. Setting the edge and filling gaps. Stopping the run game a little bit.

On if he beats himself up for giving up the big play in overtime…
Most definitely. That is in my corner. Yeah. You’re absolutely right.

On if he is taking it hard…
Most definitely. Anybody would. Not just me.

On the pass interference penalty called on him…
Yeah, I don’t have anything to say about that. I know exactly what you are talking about. Yeah.

Matthew Slater

On the coin toss decision…
Before we went out for the toss Coach told us if we won the toss that we wanted to kick off. Obviously as a player, you ask three or four times just to double check because you want to make sure you got it right. So we (went) out there (and) we won the toss. We chose to kick off just like Coach instructed us to. The only confusion was whether or not we got to choose which direction we get to kick the ball. Because we won the toss and we chose to kick off, then they got to choose which way they wanted to receive the ball. That’s the way it was explained to me. Obviously, we wanted to kick off. That’s what Coach wanted to do so that’s what we did. So when we won the toss we elected to kick off.

On what he discussed with the official…
Yeah, I was just trying to get clarification because we wanted to kick the other way but we weren’t able to make that decision because we won the toss and we chose to kick off. That was the end of our decision making. We didn’t get to decide which way we got to kick it off as well.

On if he knew that he did not get to decide the direction of kickoff…
No, I didn’t. That’s why I asked for clarification. There’s not much to it. We wanted to kick off. We won the toss. We kicked off which is what we wanted to do.

On if he questioned Coach Belichick’s decision to kick off…
No, I just asked him three or four times just to make sure I’m not the guy that goes up there (and decides), ‘Yeah, we want to kick off’. So I double checked three or four times. I think he was looking at me like, ‘Are you concussed?’ because I kept asking him. But that’s what he wanted to do. You never question Coach’s decision making. He’s the best in the business and we trust him fully. So that’s what we did.

James White

On if he was surprised on the decision to kick off in overtime…
No, we discussed it beforehand. We knew what we were getting into.

On the character shown in forcing overtime even with the injuries…
We didn’t play as well as we wanted to. We wanted to come out with a victory. We fought until the end but we just have to play better.

On not locking up the number one seed today…
It’s tough. We just have to learn from it and move on pretty quickly. Miami is another good team. It will be another challenge for us. We just have to come out and have a great week of practice and try and get a win next week.

On the amount of injuries for the team…
Injuries happen on every team. There are no excuses. Guys just have to step in and fill those roles and help the team win.

Steven Jackson

On how he physically feels…
The body feels good. (I had to) get used to getting hit again, that was the main thing. (I had to) make sure I’m running through the tackles (and) getting my shoulder pads down and being in football position which I haven’t been in awhile. It felt good. Now it’s just to build off what I have done today.

On it being a rivalry game…
A game like this is more mentally challenging because you understand it’s such an important game for both teams. It’s very high in emotions. You want to make sure you’re up to speed with your teammates and you’re competing at a high level to help put your team in the best position to win.

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On the mood and the message in the locker room after the game…
What you would expect. We have to play better football, we have to execute better, but forget it, learn from it and move on.