How Did The New England Patriots React To Losing To Denver?
By Cyrus Geller
Stephen Gostkowski
On the missed extra point in the first quarter
“I just feel terrible. All day, these guys put their bodies and lives on the line and for me to come out here and miss a kick, it’s a nightmare scenario. I can’t even explain how I feel right now. It’s just a complete shock and I let a lot of people down. It’s not a good feeling.”
On if anything specific went wrong on the play
“I just didn’t hit a good kick. I’m not one to make excuses. I should have made it. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of those. Sometimes, timing is everything. I never would have thought that missing a kick in the first quarter would be the difference in the game, but that’s why you have to be good all the time. That wasn’t the case for me today.”
On whether he takes the blame for the loss
“I’m always upset when I have a bad play. It’s part of the job. I feel sorry for myself but I’m not expecting others to feel sorry for me. I work hard to be good and I came up short today. I let a lot of people down today, the guys on our team and the fans. All I can do now is stand up here and take it all on me. I feel like I lost the game for the team and I should have been out there kicking that tying extra point and helping us go into overtime. I just have a feeling that I can’t put into words. There’s nothing I can do about it now. I had a good week of practice, just sometimes things don’t fall your way.”
On whether he was hoping to get another chance to make up for the missed kick
“Again, anytime you have a bad play you want to get back out there. I was hoping and praying for an extra shot and I didn’t get that. These are a lot of tough guys out there and I hate that I couldn’t join them in the toughness and in making all the plays.”
On if he felt good about the missed kick as it left his foot
“It just wasn’t a great kick. You have to be ready to go on your first kick and I just didn’t have a good kick.”
On what are his feelings moving forward and looking back on the season as a whole
“It just stinks. It’s a nightmare. You want to help the team win. You don’t want to the reason you lose. It’s not a good feeling. I deserve all the blame that I get and I’ll try to hold my head up high. I’m not going to make an excuse, I should have done better. I’m sorry I couldn’t come through.
Devin McCourty
General
“We fought hard. We felt we had a good team and we wanted to be playing in the Super Bowl, but we fell short and have to move on.”
On how he felt the defense played
“We did some things well. They made some plays which proved to be the difference. It was a tough game between two good football teams, but it was a couple more plays that they made which was really the deciding factor.”
On if he felt home field advantage made a difference for the Broncos
“No. I mean it was a 20-18 game and they played better. I don’t care if we were at Denver or New England or anywhere else across the country, they just played better football today.”
If it was tough to see Patriots’ QB Tom Brady continue to get sacked throughout the game
“It’s part of the game.”
On TE Rob Gronkowski’s efforts today
“This team is resilient. You can talk about every player on this team going out there and trying to execute when it matters most. ‘Gronk’ made some huge plays and we expect that out of him. He went out there and did more than we could ever ask of him.”
On if they saw what they expected to see from Broncos QB Peyton Manning
“We knew we were playing one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time. He played really good football and got them a win.”
On what halftime adjustments they made
“We just executed better. There were some plays (in the first half) that we were right there for, but they just made the plays in the first half and we made them in the second. But nothing we did was really different.”
On if the defense was aligned correctly on the Broncos first touchdown reception by TE Owen Daniels
“We’ll have to watch it and see what happened. It happened fast; we talked about it on the sideline but we’ll have to see when we go and watch tape.”
On team coming up short
“You have to play your best football when you’re in the AFC Championship game. Every game comes down to just a couple of plays, but especially when it’s a 20-18 game. It’s always just a couple of plays; they made them, we didn’t.”
Logan Ryan
On his initial reaction following the loss
“We fought to the end and didn’t get it done, simple as that.”
On if QB Peyton Manning exhibited more mobility and accuracy than expected
“No, he’s a good player. He always has been. A decent game, I felt like we played pretty well defensively. We just didn’t get the turnovers we needed and wanted to get to give our offense extra possessions.”
On if the game felt uncharacteristic to the Patriots’ performances this season
“No, we were an onside kick away from maybe kicking a field goal to win so nothing uncharacteristic. It’s just the way the ball bounces sometimes.”
On if the loss was more emotional because it was such a close game
“We’ve won this [AFC Championship] game; we’ve lost this game. It hurts either way. You fight so hard. We had a whole bunch of believers and a whole bunch of guys and felt like we worked hard enough, and they worked hard, too.”
On Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski’s missed PAT
“He made every other kick after that. To me, he’s the best kicker in the league, always has been. He’s made many game-winning kicks and after that, he made every single kick they needed him to make. To me, that’s why he’s the best at what he does.”
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