Paul Spicer, Defensive End
*(On the game plan)
*We knew coming in you have to get them off on third down, regardless of if they are a four-down team. We had them a couple of fourth downs, but you have to make stops.
That is something we did not get done today.
*(On holding Randy Moss to one reception)
*They did not get to sixteen and zero by just Randy Moss. I think Wes Welker did a great job; he has been doing it all year catching passes underneath.
*(On the loss)
*What happened today is that you cannot make mistakes against a good team. We made our share, including myself. It was nobody's fault, we take a win and loss the same way here as a team.
Maurice Jones-Drew, Running back
*(On the Patriots)
*They don't make mistakes, they execute real well. It is tough to face a team that way. When you make mistakes they just capitalize on them. Their offense is great and they just make things happen.
*(On the key to the game)
*Turnovers were the thing. We had two and they did not have any. So it is tough when you turn the ball over against a great team like that. There is not much more you can take away from the game, a loss is a loss.
Reggie Haywood, Defensive End
*(On how Tom Brady was patient and made his throws underneath the coverage)
*You have to give him credit, because that is just intelligent. If you look at the defense and you see Cover Two and we're doubling Randy Moss all the time, you have to take what we give you. Tom definitely did that but you have to give the wide receivers credit too, because they broke tackles and made yards after contact and just made some big plays and that really hurt us.
*(On the play of his quarterback David Garrard)
*Dave put us in a position to at least win. A lot of people didn't expect us to put up that many points and Dave came out there and he made plays throwing the ball and with his feet. That first touchdown was a great play. He was getting hit and he continued to see the open man and delivered the ball to him. The defense just let us down at some points during the game. We take a lot of pride in our defense and it hurts more because we had the opportunity to affect the outcome of the game and we couldn't step up to it.
Matt Jones, Wide Receiver
*(On first touchdown play when Garrard was being tackled)
*He has an unbelievably strong arm and his athletic ability with his strength is what allows him to get it off. He's a real strong guy and most of the time arm tackles are not going to take him down.
*(On the Patriots)
*They are a great team, and as a fan, you don't see a team like that until you look back until the early 90's Cowboys. Just watching them, they're a special team. We played ok, but it wasn't good enough.
Fred Taylor, Running Back
*(On the game)
*You try to play as mistake-free as you possibly can. They made a few more plays than we did tonight and they deserved to win.
*(On the game plan to beat the Patriots)
*We had a pretty solid game plan. Our game plan is always to try and establish the run. Going into every game this year, we realized every team would try to stop the run, but David (Garrad) can throw the ball and that's where we have an advantage; we have a quarterback that can throw the ball. But they did a great job on defense. We thought we had some opportunities to do some things, but they got a few turnovers and I want to give them all a lot of credit. They definitely deserve it.
Ernest Wilford, Wide Receiver
*(On the game and the play of David Garrard)
*He played tough, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to win. We have to go home and evaluate the film and move on. Right now, we just have to take our time and evaluate what was going on and hopefully most of this team will come back.
*(On the Patriots' Offense)
*This offense is a tough offense. We know they have a great offense and it was going to be a high scoring game. Unfortunately they put more points on the board than us. Hopefully for us, we have this playoff experience and we can come back as a stronger team next year.
Daryl Smith, Linebacker
*(On the game and the play of David Garrard)
*They have a great team and a great offense. They came out and executed. They executed better on defense than we did and they came out with the win. He has been playing pretty good, and every time we were down he would come out fighting and scratching to get us back in the game and most of the time this year we were able to come out on top. This game we just were not able to pull it out. We just have to come out and work on our execution because you can always improve.
Terry Cousin, Cornerback
*(On the game)
*We just didn't execute defensively when we had them second and long a few times and we end up missing a tackle and then they are third and short. Then we give them a chance to convert. If we make our tackles, especially at the beginning of the game, and limit them to no explosive plays, those are things we talk about doing. A few times we had six defensive backs out there and they hit with the run. That is their game plan and they are going to run when needed.
Sammy Knight, Safety
*(On the game)
*We didn't want to give away the deep ball, but in the process they killed us underneath. We had to make plays and then get off them off the field on third downs. They made the plays and we didn't. That's the bottom line. We did a good job pressuring of them at the end and he made a play and scrambled. We are going to look at this, grow from it, and come back next year and be ready. We had a pretty good game plan, but they made the plays to get us off the field on third down and we didn't. We gave up too many big plays and missed tackles.
*(On Tom Brady)
*He played well. He didn't force anything and we tried to bait him a couple of times to throw it, but he didn't take it . He is just going to take what you give him and that's the type of guy that he is. He would rather throw underneath and short. He has done that his whole career. He has made a living out of throwing to the backs and tight ends and now they got Moss (Randy Moss) to stretch the field and they let Welker (Wes Welker) work underneath.
Brian Williams, Cornerback
*(On the game)
*Had we gotten them off the field at least three of their possessions, I think we would have been in good shape. Our offense was moving the ball well and it was a high scoring game. They kept moving the chains and we couldn't get off the field when we needed to.
*(On covering Randy Moss)
*I think it had a lot to do with me covering him. We were together in Minnesota for three years and we definitely had our battles over the years. The coach told me I had him and I was looking forward to it. We were doubling him and running cover two to take him (Randy Moss) out of the game and they just went to other options.
