Antonio Gates, Tight End
(Asked if it was a conscious effort by New England to take him out of the game)
"Oh definitely. They would put a corner and a safety on me, or two safeties … they did a lot of different things to take me out of the game. I kept working at it, kept trying. The end result was I couldn't get the ball to come my way. When you come into a hostile environment like the Patriots, it's hard to start off in the hole. They had a tremendous game plan and they executed well. They gave us different looks, a combination of things, making it difficult for me to release off the ball. With the defensive end, linebacker and the safety dropping down to help once I released. They made a lot of funky looks, but I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the guys around me to make plays. We just didn't make enough plays today."
(On if taking him out of the game opened things up for the wide receivers)
"It did. Those guys were able to make some plays. [If] that helped them get open, then fine, but I wanted to do more. In the end we lost the game and that is what really matters."
Quentin Jammer, Cornerback
(On defending the no-huddle offense)
"The thing about the no-huddle is the fast pace and you got to get the calls in and match the tempo. Their receivers made some plays today."
(On turnovers)
"We thought the momentum was turning. But the thing about it is, they got turnovers and we didn't. That was the difference in the ball game."
Bryan Walters, Wide Receiver
(On the success of the Chargers wide receivers)
"We just worked hard and ran our routes. We had some success but ultimately didn't get what we wanted (the win). We have a potent offense, we are confident and capable of moving the ball, it was not unexpected, but we didn't get it done at times."
(On the lack of success in the red zone)
"We have to keep working at it, look at the film and correct our mistakes. We have a good offense, but we have to do better. I don't know, we moved the ball well, but we needed to do more."
Donald Butler, Linebacker
(On defending the Patriot offense)
"They didn't show us anything new, we just have to stop them and today we didn't do a good enough job at that. Our defense is aggressive and at times we got pressure but not enough."
(On getting pressure on Brady)
"We did that some, but not enough. Clearly he had more success than we wanted him to have. We have to do a better job at that."
(On not forcing turnovers)
"That is something that we practice. We go through that, stripping the ball. We weren't able to get any today, though. But it is something that we work on and something that we are conscious of. Today it just didn't work out."
Nick Novak, Kicker
(Asked if he was disappointed to not get a field goal attempt)
"Not at all. Maybe next week I will. I am ready if they need me, and I am looking forward to it, but the opportunity did not present itself today."
Antonio Garay, Defensive Tackle
(On the team and the defense)
"As a team we went out there and left it all out on the field. Some things just didn't go our way today. We'll have to look at the tapes tomorrow. A lot of stuff is what we didn't do. As a team, defensively, we still are doing some big things. But today we didn't win the game."
Eric Weddle, Free Safety
(On the team and the defense)
"The first half we just weren't playing as a group. We weren't on the same page and a lot of that had to do with the no huddle, and match ups. The second half we played real well. We communicated; we just couldn't hold it out. They earned it. They played lights out tonight. All the kudos goes to New England they played their butts off and we've got to better."
(On what could be done better)
"We just have to play as a group. You saw us in the third quarter; we were playing as one, playing at our tempo. We'll go back and watch it. It's humbling, and obviously we're not happy with our performance. It wasn't because of effort; we just got to make the plays."
Takeo Spikes, Inside Linebacker
(On the many chances the team had)
"It makes you more frustrated, because we never want to come into a game, not taking the ball away and then giving the ball away at the same time. The bright thing about this is that we still had an opportunity to win. I'm excited about what we have in this locker room. I'm even more excited now. We're getting more reps to play with each other, and for this team seeing is believing."
Billy Volek, Quarterback
(Asked whether the crowd noise affected their offense, and did he know about the Tom Brady situation with talking about the crowd)
"No, not at all, it wasn't really a problem. No, we didn't know anything about that."
(Asked how the New England crowd was compared to San Diego's)
"Our fans on defense get pretty into it, and are quiet on offense. New England's
did a pretty good job".
Jordan Todman, RB
(Asked what it was like to play here having gone to college at Connecticut)
"It's been a long journey, having gone to college, being drafted, and doing what it takes.
(Asked what it was like to come home)
"Ah man it was great. I got like 30 tickets for my family and friends, and it was cool to see them. Now, living in San Diego California, it's a long way from home. I didn't come here for vacation, man. I came here to play football, and to get a win. It was cool to see my family but we are still leaving without a win."
(On being used to being the number one back, what's the transition been like?)
"Well, it's been very difficult. You are going up against the best of the best. The competition is at a crazy level, and it's difficult to get on the field. You just do what whatever you can do to help, whether it's special teams, practice, anything to get the opportunity to get in the game.
Antwan Barnes, OLB
(On Tom Brady getting 23 first-down passes)
"Well they have a well-balanced offense. You never knew what the call was. I didn't know what it was."
(On whether the defense was coming together)
"Yea, we're coming together, but we still have some communication issues."
(On whether they got any pressure on him Brady)
"We definitely got some pressure on him, yeah, but he still did what he's going to do. And until we stop it, there isn't much we can do."
(Asked whether he went up against the rookie, Solder, at all)
"Number 76, no 77, not really, he really only came in on run downs, when they put an extra lineman in, he didn't really play."
(On what they thought about him consistently being receiver eligible)
"Well we knew it was going to be a running play. But, we still couldn't stop it. They got too much yardage, and did a good job leaning forward. They got just a little too much.
(On whether they game planned for Danny Woodhead)
"Oh yeah. Coach game planned for that, told us what to expect. Said to keep the edge, and we could have gotten a few holding calls, but it's the way of the game. When it's your day it's your day."
Corey Liuget, DE
(On being right there in the game, only down 6 points. Did you think that putting pressure on them would help?)
"Well you see they have such a well balanced offense. They can run the ball, they can throw the ball. You have the two great Tight Ends, they have Wes Welker, Deion Branch."
(On not being able to get any turnovers)
"Yea, well you always want to win the turnover battle, and have a chance to win. We aren't used to being down on turnovers, so it hurt us.
Vincent Jackson Postgame Press Conference
Q: Personally you made some plays, you got open and made catches…
VJ: Yeah, obviously you want the win first of all. It was a little bit more one-on-one, at least in the first half and so we had to take advantage of that. Unfortunately Malcom [Floyd] went down and got a little nicked up and I think that showed a little bit. They're a good team, well coached, well prepared and we can definitely play better.
Q: You've been in a lot of games like this where you walk away and can say, 'you certainly had your chances'…
VJ: Yes.
Q: Why does it keep happening and what can you do to overcome it?
VJ: This is a new season and this is the first time this San Diego Chargers team has faced this New England Patriots team, so there is no history to it. It just happened about an hour ago, so we'll evaluate this team's performance [and] we'll evaluate some things we can improve on. We obviously had some opportunities out there; we wanted to finish some plays, finish some drives, especially with a team like this because they're going to put up points. As an offense we definitely want to come up with these scores and at least a field goal every time. That's what we look forward to doing next week.
Q: After that last touchdown do you guys leave kicking yourself for not finishing the comeback?
VJ: We were out there fighting. I don't think anybody wanted to leave anything out there. They made some plays and we left some plays out there, but we made some plays when we had to as well to give ourselves a chance. So, hats off to them, they played well, [they] played better today, but we'll probably see them down the road and we'll be better prepared.
Q: The last touchdown was that with one hand at first?
VJ: I'm not sure; I'd have to go look at it. Philip [Rivers] just puts the ball up there and as a receiver you just want to have a chance sometimes. There's a few more out there that I think I wish I would have been a little more aggressive towards. We were just trying to score points and finish the game.
Q: Mike [Tolbert] was pretty down in [the locker room]. What's your message to him?
VJ: This is a team. That's what we call ourselves as far as offense, defense, and special teams. Everybody takes responsibility in this game and we'll go back and learn from it, lick our wounds. This definitely doesn't fall on one man's shoulders. This is a team game.
Q: Is it harder to absorb a loss when it's this close or when it's 42-0.
VJ: No. A loss is a loss. It doesn't matter if you lose by one or we lose by 20. There are some things we definitely did well in this game and there are definitely some things we can do better.
Q: Norv Turner said that he flipped you and Gates a few times, is that why you had such a great game?
VJ: I think so. I think it took them a little bit of time to adjust to that. They definitely will take into it, they've done that in the past and so we didn't know what they were going to throw at us today. We were hitting those crossing routes and when they made adjustments. We were able to continue to make adjustments and continue to hit some running backs out of the backfield and keep them on their heels. Again, hats off to them. They had a good game plan against us today.
Q: Finishing drives was a problem. What was the number one problem other than turnovers or was that what really kept you guys back?
VJ: Yeah, that's what it is. You've got to finish. As an offense our goal is to score points and our defense's goal is to stop them, special teams' is obviously field position and taking care of the ball. You've got to come away with the points, field goals or touchdowns – that's our job. We'll go back, look at this film and we'll be better prepared next week.
