PATRIOTS HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK
Opening Statement:
"Well, theres no question about who the better team was tonight. I think that, obviously, I did a poor job of having the team ready to play; we didnt really do anything really well in any phase of the game-certainly not good enough to win. Lions are a good team; they played well-Jim did a great job with his team. They were a lot more efficient, a lot more ready to play and played a hell...a lot better than our team did. I dont feel very good about the job that I did, dont feel very good really about anything we did tonight. Really werent competitive and (we) obviously got a lot of work to do. I (dont think) theres any solution to that than to go back and work harder and try to correct a lot of mistakes. A lot of things...we need to do everything better. (I dont think) theres any one area that should be highlighted any more than anything else. I thought we had problems in every phase of the game. We obviously werent coached very well and we didnt play very well."
On what he can chalk this loss up to:
"I just tried to."
On any specific reasons they fell flat:
I tried to give you the best explanation I could."
On reasoning for protection issues:
"We didnt do anything very well. Didnt throw it, didnt catch it, didnt block, didnt tackle, didnt cover, didnt return. Its a long list. Didnt coach, we didnt do anything very well."
On if they had a game plan for this game:
"We do what we always do."
On Wes Welkers neck injury:
"I dont know."
On playing Brady as much as planned:
"We didnt have any plans."
On changing something this week as opposed to previous weeks:
"We played a different team. We didnt play very well against this team."
On tonights game having bearing on the fourth game:
"I dont know-it probably does. Maybe it does."
On Brandon Peytons performance:
"Its hard to find any big positives out there tonight. If (I) look at the film Im sure that when we look at the film, well see some things that were done well, probably not very many, but some and then well see a lot of things that werent done so well. It would be hard for me to evaluate anybodys performance just standing there trying to watch all eleven of them at once."
On Solder getting game time:
"I dont know."
On the late notice of injury report:
"We make the decision on all the players when we know, when we feel like can make the right decision, so whenever that is, thats when we make it."
On continuation of practice this week:
"Sure."
PATRIOTS QB TOM BRADY
On how hes doing:
"Well, it wasnt our best game, obviously. From the first series on, we just could never really get into a rhythm. It was just a bad night all around. You dont make excuses for it, (it) just wasnt a good night. We didnt play the way we needed to play, missed open receivers, a careless interception there. Youre not going to win games if you play like that. Theres only one way to get better-just get out to practice and get back to work, try to improve the things we didnt do very well and hopefully play better next week."
On getting pressured a lot:
"Well, I think we were trying to get the ball down the field a little bit, so you know, youre going to hold it and they have a good pass rush. We held up out there, for a decent amount of time. Ive got to do a better job of making quicker decisions and getting rid of the football and getting it to the guys who can do something with it."
On his disappointment over not getting the ball out quicker:
"Yeah, weve still got to do a better job with that theres no question about that. In practice it was better, but then you get out on the game field when it actually means something-it didnt really show up tonight."
On tonights game being beneficial:
"Well, I dont think necessarily that losing games and playing poorly ever helps. I think that we have to understand, like every week, when you play well, that there are things you need to do better. When you lose, theres things you need to do better and you dont want to ride the wave of emotions of, Oh were great and we suck and were great and we suck. Were confident as a team, weve just got to go play better and thats up to each of us individually. Coach always says do your job and he means it. When Im the starting quarterback and he says do your job, Ive got to do it very well and thats what he expects of me and thats what I expect of myself. Were going to get out there and try to do a lot better job."
On Detroit being a different team than the one they played last Thanksgiving:
"Theyre a good team; they were a good team when we played them last year-it was a close game until the fourth quarter. When we made a few plays in the fourth quarter, we showed some resiliency, but theyre a good team. Theyre good on defense, they play well offensively, theyre very well coached-theyre tough."
On communicating with WR Chad Ochocinco:
"Sure, we communicate quite a bit. Thats what it takes. He hasnt had the luxury of an offseason program that a lot of guys get and so were trying to really cram a lot of stuff in, but hes very receptive to it. Hes very competitive; he wants to do the right thing-he wants to do it well, as we all do. Thats what were working toward. I wish I could say we go out there and everything would be perfect every single game that we play and every snap, every drive wed score a touchdown and wed never have a negative play.
Look, its football. When you make a bad play, youve got to overcome it. Theres resiliency that comes into this game and mental toughness. Its all the things youre trying to build on as a team; trying to figure out what kind of team youve got. Things dont go, they dont start well, well, youve got to figure out a way to turn it around. When practices dont go well at the start of practice, youve got to figure out a way to turn those and make them into good practices. Then you string those good practices together, and youre going to have a good week. If one bad drive, leads to a bad quarter, which leads to a bad half, which leads to a bad game, youre never going to win games, because you always have adversity in this game.
We've always got to find ways individually and collectively, as offensive and defensive units – and ultimately as a team – for us to strive to perform at a high level and if it doesnt go well to try even harder and turn it around. Thats really what were going to work toward. Weve got a few weeks until the opener. Hopefully we make a lot of improvements. Weve got a big week coming up this week to see what we can do against the Giants."
PATRIOTS TE ROB GRONKOWSKI
On what went wrong offensively for the Patriots:
"I really dont have the answer to that. I personally just have to go out there play faster, play better and get the assignments right. Go out there and do my job so the team can rely on me. Just got to go out there and play faster."
On what the Detroit defensive line did that disrupted the offense:
"They have a great defensive line. From the (defensive) ends to the (defensive) tackles, youve got to block those guys because they are all great players. They can make plays. They are great players and youve just got to block them."
On the differences between the first two preseason games and this one:
"That we lost, obviously. We just went out flat. We have got to go out there - got to start off right from the beginning of the game - and if we dont start really fast, weve got to be able to come back the following drive and get it going."
PATRIOTS CB DEVIN MCCOURTY
On what went right in Saturdays game:
"That is tough to say right now. The overall gut feeling is that everything went bad, but we will watch the film. There is always some good things on the film, but right now, gut feeling just doesnt feel like we didnt do anything well tonight as a team."
On any surprises the Lions threw at them:
"I wouldnt say surprises, but I would say that they came out and outplayed us as a team. Weve just got to do a better job in that."
