Quotes of Note: What The Patriots Said About Losing
The New England Patriots don’t typically have to answer questions about defeats at this stage of the postseason.
When the Tennessee Titans defeated them 20-13 Saturday in a wild card contest at Gillette Stadium, it marked the first time in nine years New England did not win at least one playoff game and the first time in 10 years it was eliminated on wild card weekend.
When it was over coach Bill Belichick and some of his players were quick to credit the Titans and offered their assessments of what they could have done better or differently.
A roundup of some of what the Patriots said following the contest:
• Coach Bill Belichick on the defeat: “This is a game where we came up a little bit short, had our opportunities. Obviously, a close game but just couldn’t make enough plays (Saturday) night. It’s always disappointing to end like this but it’s the National Football League, we’ve just got to play a little bit better and we couldn’t do it.”
• Quarterback Tom Brady on the Titans: “Just give them a lot of credit. They played good and kind of stopped us when they needed to at different points in the first half and the second half. [We] just weren’t able to get the job done.”
• Safety Devin McCourty on the difference in the game: “I think everyone feels like we expect to win and other teams don’t. But I think everyone expects to win. Especially, you talk about throughout the game, it was 14-13. I’m sure they expected to win, just like we do. We’re talking about a one-point game. And, when it came down to it, they made the key plays to win the game and we didn’t. That’s what it is in the playoffs.”
• Cornerback Stephon Gilmore on the outcome: “We gave it all we got. They were the better team (Saturday). They made more plays then we did. We fought to the end. They just came out on top."
• Running back James White on the Titans’ second-quarter goal-line stand: “I mean, we have just got to find a way to get in the end zone as an offense. We still had plenty of time to make plays after that drive. We just didn't do enough. Credit to the Titans, they are a great football team."
• Belichick on the Titans’ run game: “They do a good job on the running game. They’ve got a good offensive line. (Derrick Henry) is a good back. You’ve got to defeat blocks and tackle them. That’s what the game is against them.”
• Gilmore on Derrick Henry, who rushed for 184 yards on 32 carries: “We knew he is a great back. He has good vision. He is tough to bring down. He had a big day. We had opportunities we just didn't take advantage of it."
• McCourty on New England’s plan Tennessee’s offense: “[Titans quarterback Ryan] Tannehill’s a smart guy. They’ve played against us. We didn’t want to just line up in things and make it easy, but we knew we had to stop the run. Even when we got stops, we didn’t do it enough. … When we didn’t, they were able to make some plays and that created long drives, which we couldn’t get off the field.”
• Linebacker Kyle Van Noy on the difference in the game: “(Saturday), it was 14-13. Just little things and it's disappointing. Credit to the Titans, they had a good game plan and they executed it just enough to win."
• Tight end Ben Watson on the Titans: “We played a really good football team (Saturday) and they beat us. They deserved to win, and that is all you can say. That's why we play the game. We line up against our opponent, we play as well as we can. They were the better team."
