How Did The New England Patriots React To Losing To Denver?
By Cyrus Geller
Malcolm Butler
On his initial reaction following the loss
“It’s most definitely different from last year. I’m upset but then again not really. Everybody went out there and we played to the end. It came all the way down to the end, but that’s just the nature of the game. You win some; you lose some. We’ve just got to bounce back and come back next year strong. It came down to the end. I’m not upset. I am but I’m not because I saw us out there fighting. I saw both teams fighting. Especially that we fought to the end, I can’t ask for anything better.”
On if the Broncos did anything differently offensively than in Week 12
“No, not anything different. We’ve just got to go out there and make the plays. We just came up short. That’s a good team. I think we played them well. It just came down to a certain amount of plays.”
On if he thought the Patriots would tie the game on the final drive
“Most definitely. That was the goal. That was what happened. We just came up short. Everybody gave a great effort and couldn’t even be that mad. It is what it is.”
On QB Peyton Manning
“I never doubted Peyton since all the little buzz about him. Great player went out there today and played a good game. Salute to him.”
On the Patriots run defense
“We didn’t do a great job of stopping the run the first game. That was the mindset coming in, stopping the run. We just had to hold up on the back end. I think we did the best we could.”
On Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski’s missed PAT
“No one is perfect. That’s just life. We’re all going to make mistakes, but most definitely want those. We’re in this together. He missed it; we missed it. It’s a team effort.”
Julian Edelman
On his initial reaction following the loss
“It’s tough. You put a lot of time and effort in to put yourself in this situation and you’ve got to tip your hat to them. We didn’t play our best football, but they made more plays than us when they had to. That’s why they won.”
On if the Patriots got tired toward the end of the game
“We thought we were going to tie it. We practiced that situation a lot, and we just weren’t able to execute it on that play. We do have a mentally tough team to stay in the game mentally all the way down to the end. It just sucks when you don’t play your best game against a really good team, a really good defense – you can’t expect to win.”
On Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski’s missed PAT
“One play doesn’t define a game. There were plenty of opportunities for us to overcome that, and Steve nailed two field goals to keep us in it. It’s never just one play. Steve is a stud. We love him to death. No chance it is on him. No way.”
On if the Patriots’ offense changed in the fourth quarter
“We just made plays. That’s what the game comes down to, making more plays than the other team. Unfortunately, we didn’t make enough plays to go out and win in the AFC Championship.”
On if the loss is easier to digest, given the Patriots fought to the end
“It did display how physically and mentally tough this team is, but when you lose, it sucks.”
On Patriots QB Tom Brady taking a lot of hits
“Tommy is a tough S.O.B. I wouldn’t want to have any other guy in the huddle.”
On when he’ll watch today’s game film
“I don’t know. Personally, I’ll probably just get away for a little bit. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
On if the Broncos were throwing a lot of people at him
“They were putting guys in the right place and using two and cutting guys over here. They had a good gameplan. They just made more plays than us, and it’s unfortunate because you go to a game like this hoping you can play your best game and that wasn’t the case today. We’ll tip our hat to Denver.”
On if the loss was more stunning because the Patriots have consistently found ways to win
“No, you can’t expect to win when we didn’t convert on a bunch of things. We just didn’t make plays when we had to. Our defense stuck in there and kept us in the game. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t help them out.”
On the Patriots’ missed two-point conversion attempt
“We just didn’t execute.”
Next: Stephen Gostkowski Speaks