Head Coach Bill Belichick

Postgame Press Conference

August 24, 2018

Q: Opening statement

The Panthers obviously did a good job tonight. Coach Rivera, his staff, their team played well in all three phases of the game and outplayed us across the board for four quarters. We have a lot of work to do, it really wasn't any part of the game that was very competitive. We just have to go back to work, and see if we can find a way to do a few things better that we did them tonight.

Q: Do you use a game like this as a wake up call?

We just have to go back to work. Obviously have a lot of work to do, weren't able to accomplish much tonight, didn't play well in any three phases of the game. Just have to go back to work and do a better job than that.

Q: Were you pleased at all with the way Phillip Dorsett has done?

We have been in camp for a while, three preseason games, there have been some positive things along the way, but tonight we just weren't very competitive against a good team. We did a few things, made a few plays in the red area, gained a few yards, but in the end couldn't really do much.

Q: How difficult is it for you to cut down your roster, to tell guys that you didn't make the team?

Yes, it is hard, it's a part of the job. Guys work hard, they give everything they have. All teams have to be down to a roster limit in a few days, in a week. We all know that's what we signed up for, participate in this. It is what it is. It's always hard, you are affecting lives of people that have worked very hard, their families and so forth, but in the end we have to do what we feel is best for our football team. That's what we will try to do.

Q: Can you learn more from a tough game like this than a game where you have playing well in all three phases of the game?

We learn from everything in training camp, try to put it all together.

Quarterback Tom Brady

Postgame Press Conference

August 24, 2018

Q: Is the team where you'd like it this far into preseason?

I think we all would like to play better. I think any time you go on the road and play a good team you've got to make the plays. I think tonight's a great example when you don't and they do. We didn't do much in the first quarter and got behind. Then you fight uphill all night against a good team it's tough to win. So hopefully we can take something from it and get back to work and see if we can do a better job next time.

Q: Takeaway from tonight

I think it's a lot of execution that we need to certainly get a lot better at in the next couple of weeks, because we play obviously, next week and then they all count after that. If you want to put them in the win column you want to go earn them and we certainly didn't play that way tonight. We just didn't…our execution wasn't good enough to score enough points.

Q: Phillip Dorsett

Yeah, Phil did a good job. He made some good plays. He's done a good job through the spring and through training camp. He's been dependable. He's been out there. It's been great to watch. We got him late last year and I think he's been banging it out, trying to find a role and he's done a great job with his opportunities.

Q: Confidence in (Cordarelle) Patterson and (Phillip) Dorsett

Yeah, definitely. That's how you've got to earn the trust of the coaches and your teammates – to just get out there and do it in real life circumstances and play clocks and situations and signals and it's just we're all going to have to all be on the same page. Everybody work hard at it. We've got two weeks to figure out who's going to be out there doing it and try to go out and do better each time.

Q: Your execution on 3rd and 4th down conversions

Very important. I mean we had the ball for a minute in the first quarter and that's a tough way to start, but you know, you've got to dig your way out of that hole and the 2nd and 3rd quarter we had a chance for a touchdown and got the penalty – made a tough situation there. We had another opportunity on a 3rd down play we didn't come up with, but we've got to move the ball down the field and score points. That's what the offense is out there to do. We're not out there to go out and punt or kick field goals. We're out there to score points and hopefully score touchdowns. Our execution needs to be better. I mean you look back at a lot of the things I thought about in the second half, all the things that we could do: it's a lot of us. It's not so much what the other team is doing, although it's a very good defense, our base execution needs to be better.

Tight End Rob Gronkowski

Postgame Press Conference
August 24, 2018

Q: Did it feel good to get out there?

Yea, it definitely felt good just to get out there, get your feet wet get some plays in. We had a nice drive, it felt good.

Q: After a game like that, what does Bill (Belichick) tell the team?

We just have to keep working harder and everyone just has to keep getting better, including myself. I have to get out to practice next week, get a good practice this weekend, work hard, get better in the run game, pass game and just have to keep improving.

Q: Whole tight end group seems to be working hard the whole preseason and really emphasizing on the blocking part of it.

We definitely take pride in our blocking, definitely as a unit. We like to bring toughness to the table, but we also have James Develin in the mix too. He is a great, great guy to be a part of the blocking game with. We just have to keep improving though, we have to keep going and we have to keep improving.

Q: Do you feel like you are about where you should be right now?

You always want to be better, you always feel like you can better, just have to get back to the drawing board and keep doing what we have been doing knowing just have to keep working hard to get better.

Patriots Players in the Locker Room

Wide Receiver Julian Edelman

Q: The offense's performance

We really didn't execute very well in certain situations. I had two key drops that could've extended the drives a little better. But a penalty and a bunch of stuff – it wasn't our best performance, so we're going to look at the film and see what we could do better and go back to the practice field and work on things.

Q: Wide receiver Phillip Dorsett

He's worked hard. He's explosive. He's competing. So he's doing good things, but you have to ask the coaches on that, I'm not a talent evaluator. But I like him and I like playing with him. He made some big plays for us today so we'll go from there.

Q: Getting reps in the third preseason game

I like getting any reps in any game. I don't know about this whole third game thing that everyone talks about. It was good to go out there – play against a good defense, a well-coached team, a lot of really explosive, good players – and see what you've got. So we proved that we have a long way to go, and we're going to have to get back to the boards, back to the working and go from there.

Defensive Back Duron Harmon

Q: The game as a whole

It was good. Obviously, we didn't play the way we wanted to play. Didn't execute the way we wanted to execute. I think that we got to play together and do some good things together. We did some good things but not enough good things like we would've wanted to.

Q: No major injuries suffered in the game

That's always good when you can come out of the game completely healthy. Obviously, there are some things we need to fix up and get corrected so that we can be better the next time we step on the field.

Q: Holding Carolina to four field goals

That's always good. We always talk about being good in the red area, forcing teams to kick for three points instead of giving up touchdowns. That's one of the positive things that we can definitely take from this, but we need to do better on not letting people get down there and driving on us to help create better field position.