DAN ORLOVSKY, QB
Q:Being from New England, how was it coming back home?
DO:It was cool - a good experience. Being from Connecticut and going to school at UConn, having a lot of friends and family members that are big time Patriots fans, and growing up here and knowing about the organization and the historical aspect of them, knowing they've been good for a long time, was nice. Anywhere would have been nice to play and have the opportunity, but the New England aspect added another story line.
Q:Being a star in Shelton, Conn., talk about that experience now that you are home.
DO:It's a great place to grow up, a great school to go to. I built a lot of great relationships there that I still have. That's where it all started for me. It will always come back to there for me.
Q:Do you have to go back to some of your UConn starting days now that you are starting?
DO:I love playing in the New England fall weather feel. It was nice to go out there and run around in the cool weather. But like I said, it was nice to go out there and compete.
Q:Can you separate a loss with playing pretty well?
DO:I don't have a desire to, to be honest with you. My goal is to go out there and win a ball game, bar none. The best chance to do that is to play well at this position. So, I just didn't play good enough to win today. I don't care about anything else; I'm at the point in my career and my life where I just want to win. So, it's hard for me to separate it and I don't have any desire to.
Q:Did you see Jerod Mayo underneath in the interception?
DO:Yeah I saw him; I just didn't put enough air on the ball. [It was] my fault.
Q:Were you thinking late in the fourth quarter that you could come all the way back?
DO:Yeah. We felt confident going into the game that if we stayed patient we could move the ball. That's kind of what happened. Throughout the first half we were able to do some decent things. In the second half, [we were] kind of forced into making some plays. The defense did a good job getting some stops and the offense did a good job of picking up some of the stuff they were trying to do and making plays in the outside. So, we fell short. I wish we had more time on the clock.
Q:Were things going as well as they could after the first quarter?
DO:Yeah, we went on a nice drive there. [I would have] loved to have punched it in for a touchdown. I probably would have had another guy open if I had put a little more air on the ball down there. That's what our goal was: to stay patient [and] continue to take what they were giving us. That's kind of what our model was and that was my thing this whole week, to stay patient and throw to the guys in my color jersey. Sounds pretty simple, but that was the goal. Like I said, we had a nice drive. Most times nice drives score; we didn't do that there, so that's something we'll have to work on.
Q:There were a couple missed opportunities.
DO:Absolutely, we should score.
Q:What was your goal? Making plays, not making mistakes?
DO:Score more points than them. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but that obviously was what my goal was. I think that watching film throughout the week, I had a mindset [that] defensively they do a good job of breaking people down, of not allowing you to stay patient. That's why they are so good. That was my goal: to stay patient, be completion driver and we were able to do that for a long part of the game. Guys made plays on the outside, but not enough. I hate to sound redundant, but we just didn't do enough.
Q:Did you feel comfortable with the offense?
DO:I felt comfortable, yes. Would more practice time help? Yes. This was the first week I've ever thrown to Reggie [Wayne] and Pierre [Garcon] so, just getting a feel for those guys. [What] we're looking forward to is watching film and learning what we didn't do well enough and moving on. Another week of practice will absolutely help; I'm looking forward to that.
Q:Is this a confidence booster?
DO:I just would have wanted to [win]. I came into the game confident. I don't think I can't play. I'm pretty confident in my abilities. I just wanted to win.
Q:What happened on that long drive where you took a sack pretty late?
DO:The long drive in the first quarter? Just probably didn't get the ball out of my hands quick enough. Down in the red zone everything happens just a little bit quicker, so that's something I'll work on this week.
Q:Was that frustrating?
DO:It's frustrating, but frustrating might be the wrong word; [it's] more like a missed opportunity. It's a 19-play drive. It's a heck of a drive, so you don't want to put a negative on that, but would we have scored a touchdown and do we need to? Yes.
ADAM VINATIERI, KICKER
(On being back at Gillette Stadium)
"Obviously it's a fun place to play. The fans are great, wild and crazy, and obviously there are some good memories here. Yeah, it's a special place to play, and any time you step on the field and play the game that you love, it's always fun."
(On getting booed by fans)
"They were pretty nice to me today. There was a little bit on the kicks out there, but that's to be expected. "
(Asked if he felt like Johnny Damon coming back after playing with the Yankees?)
"Well yes but no, I mean I never played for the Yankees so I think it's a little bit more of a hatred I think."
JACOB LACEY, DEFENSIVE BACK
(On the game)
"I think we came out really strong and unfortunately we had a couple guys go down early. So we had some guys come in and had to play different positions. We kind of had a meltdown toward the middle of the game and we finished strong."
(On Tom Brady)
"He's doing what he does best, and if we as a team don't have everything correct, he's going to take advantage of that, and that is what he did. We had some communication errors and some errors on some coverages. So that is exactly what Tom Brady did."
TERRENCE JOHNSON, DEFENSIVE BACK
(On his shoulder)
"I was doubled up at the gunner position and got down field and made the play on the tackle. I got up and felt a little odd feeling in my arm. I went on to the next play but I really felt something was wrong with it. I felt it pop a little bit. I went to the sideline and got it x-rayed and I am waiting for the results. I think it is bad luck up here for me, at least for the whole last year. It started off up here. I hurt my hamstring twice. I was up in camp here last year and pulled my hamstring twice and I was rehabbing until I got picked up by Indy (Indianapolis). It has just been bad luck here."
KAVELL CONNOR, LINEBACKER
(On Gronkowski and the game)
"He is definitely one of the best young tight ends in the NFL. It is just execution. I am not going to point any fingers. We lost as a team. It is just execution and we need to come out and execute better. We got out to a fast start and we need to maintain that through the whole entire game. We need to keep coming at them and maintain that energy and enthusiasm. They are definitely one of those up-tempo offenses like our offense is. We definitely don't have a chance to catch our breath and get the calls in. I felt like we were prepared for it and we definitely expected it.
(On the second half and Tom Brady)
"There was a lot football to play coming out in the second half. We just have to come out and execute and stick to our game plan. There was a lot football to play and anything can happen in a football game. You just want to keep trying and stick to what you know will work. He is a great quarterback and all the respect to him."
DWIGHT FREENEY, DEFENSIVE END
(On Matt Light)
"He's one of the toughest. He's always been. The combination of what they do and how he blocks, he's been doing it for years."
(On the Patriots picking it up in the 2nd and 3rd quarters)
"They changed it up a little bit. They went to some no huddle stuff, which they are one of the best, if not, the best team at doing it. We got some injuries. Our starting middle linebacker went down, our starting nickel went down and our starting corner went down, so now we're out-matched and they are running no huddle. Hats off to them."
PIERRE GARCON, WIDE RECEIVER
(On what they can take away from the game)
"There were a lot of positives at the end of the game, but we should of played like that the entire game. It's something we can build on and learn from."
(On play of Dan Orlovsky)
"There were a lot of great plays. We moved the ball down the field; we ran the ball well; he managed the game well. He did a great job."
JACOB TAMME, TIGHT END
(On the the play of Dan Orlovsky)
"I thought he played great. I thought he battled. Sure, he wasn't perfect, I am sure there were one or two that he would like to have back but he played like I thought he would play."
(On the play of the offense)
"New England has a good team but we felt like we could do some things out there. Early we did but we didn't finish a couple of drives and that kind of got us. We stopped ourselves a few times. They have good players but we do too. We are confident but we haven't done what we needed to do this year."
(On the Colts coming back toward the end of the game)
"People can say what they want to say about not playing hard but I think that pretty much shut that up right there. We want to win. It is frustrating that we are not and that we haven't but we are doing everything we can to get over that hump."
PAT MCAFEE, PUNTER
(On the onside kick at the end of the game)
"I think I hit it right. Obviously it wasn't perfect or we would have got it. Those are tough to get whenever the other team expects it. We just didn't come up with the ball. I felt pretty good about it. I hit the ball but I just wish we would have come up with it."
JOSEPH ADDAI, RUNNING BACK
(On the game)
"We kept fighting. Win or lose we know that playing New England is always going to be a tough matchup. It always comes down to that. The score was 31-24 at the end. Hats off to New England but we were making mistakes. We were jumping offsides. A lot of stuff that we did we stopped ourselves. We would like the "W" no matter what. You are going to win or lose and today we had the chance to win and we lost. We look at every game like we have a good chance and we have a good game plan but at the end of the game they won it. They did everything they had to do to win."
JERRAUD POWERS, DEFENSIVE BACK
(On how Rob Gronkowski is getting open near the end zone)
The guy is an athlete and he gets it done. He is a tough kid and he knows how to run the routes. It also helps when you have one of the greatest quarterbacks back there. He is a great player also. We expected what they were going to do. They run routes to the sticks and stuff but it still comes down to you have to go out there and play the game. Unfortunately we didn't get it done. Their guys went out there today and got the job done, plain and simple.
