WR DEION BRANCH
*(On whether he was the intended receiver on the Seahawks' last offensive play... )
* I wish he had had the time to throw it. It didn't work out. We had just spoken right before, they had lined up in the same defense, they gave us what we wanted, but we just couldn't block it up.
*(On having a great day against his own team, but end up losing... )
*The biggest thing is that I would rather take one catch and win the game, then to have 4 catches and all of the other stuff that went on in the game. It's a sad thing for me with these guys fighting so hard, each and every day at practice, and then for us to go out and pretty much win the game for 3 quarters, and then we lose the game in the end. You almost would rather lose by three touchdowns than to lose that way.
*(On the 63 yard reception... )
*I was just trying; I ran about 30 yards before I even touched the ball. Then, once I got the ball in my hand, I was just trying to make a play. Once I caught it, I looked up and saw Junior, and I remember that he just signed back yesterday, so I looked at him, and I knew I could beat him. [laughter] Then, the rest of the guys were just out making plays, blocking, trying to spring me to the end zone. I ran about 60 yards across the field and I was done. I was done.
*(On whether it was difficult to play against New England... )
*I wouldn't say it was difficult. There are a lot of emotions running early on. It was good over to see them, and to get most of it out of me. I went over to their hotel on Saturday after practice, so I got half of it out of me, after I shook hands and hugged all the guys. It was a reality check. I'm going to play against these guys that I have won Super Bowls with. There are a lot of things with these guys, and then stepping on the field today. That is one of the reasons that I didn't go out early. I didn't want to turn it into a circus, with all of us out there hugging and laughing and joking before the game. I don't think that Coach Belichick would have been too fond of that with their guys, either. I think we both stayed away from it. Once I went out, during pregame, I shook hands and hugged with the ones I didn't see at the hotel Saturday. But, once the game got started, it's another game. I have to go out and help the team that I am on win the game.
*(On the first touchdown... )
*I gave the ball to my wife. I dream about that all of the time, and I finally got the opportunity to do it. [That's my first TD] in that end. Most of my touchdowns are on the other end.
*(On whether this day gives a feeling of hope... )
*That was the biggest topic that Coach hit on in the locker room. We have lost so many games this year the way we lost today. If we can just find a way to just finish a game. We just can't finish a game for some reason. I don't know what it is. But, like Coach said, we have to find a way to get it done before next season starts, for the ones that are going to be around here. We know we have a good team. We know that. We just have to go out and finish the game. I was telling the guys on the sidelines, when the score was 14-3, I just looked around and said, "please do not relax." That team across the way is not going to give up.
*(On what this win would have meant... )
*I don't think this would have been a spoiler for us. I think the guys in the locker room, we believe in ourselves, so we wouldn't look at it as an upset. This is a game that we went out and completely won the game in all three phases of the game, if we had won the game. The sad part is that we played so good all the way up until the end. One mistake cost us the game, but that is football. That is what happens in football.
*(On Seneca Wallace... )
*He was very calm, but doing a lot of screaming. He was yelling, I was yelling, too. I wanted this game so bad, I was yelling. He's a special player. You see glimpses of what type of player he can be but when he is at full stride.
WR WES WELKER
*(On whether he should be sore and bruised after the last two weeks... )
*I think everybody is, at this point in the season everybody is a little banged up. That is one of those things you just have to fight through to make sure you're ready to go on Sundays.
*(On how he gets up after the tough hits... )
*That's just part of your job. You're going to take some vicious hits out there, and you just have to make sure that you're bouncing back and getting ready for the next play.
*(On improving the third down conversions, compared to last week... )
*It's huge; it's something that we put a lot of work into: third down and the red area. We're trying to make sure that we can come through in those two areas.
*(On whether he was surprised by the comeback... )
*Not at all. We have a lot of veteran leadership, and guys are going to fight 60 minutes, and make sure that they're giving it their all each and every play. That is what this league is all about; to make sure that you're bringing it every single play.
*(On the big catch by Gaffney... )
*I think there were about 6 or 8 minutes left in the game, something like that, and who knows if we'll get another opportunity. So, we have to make sure that we take full advantage of it, and play the series as if it was our last one, and give it everything we've got.
*(On his play... )
*I'll do whatever they ask me to do. I just go out there and do my job each and every play, and do it to the best of my ability, and I think that's everybody's role out there on the team.
*(On Matt Cassel's leadership... )
*He did a great job. He took some hits, they blitzed us. They were coming after him, and he did a great job of keeping some poise and trying to make plays every opportunity he got.
TE JOHN CARLSON
*(On his fine performance today... )
*"No matter how many catches you have-or don't have, I guess-there's always something to learn from the game. That's why we watch film every week."
*(On whether he's had more success than he expected at the beginning of the season... )
*"Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. No matter what happened, it would've been a surprise, and in some ways, a shock to me."
*(On how it feels to have the most catches for a tight end in a season... )
*"It's just kind of a function of our situation. Obviously, when you have so many receivers hurt, and I was the only guy that's stayed healthy for quite a while on the receiving corps, the numbers are going to happen."
*(On how it feels to see Deion Branch make great plays today... )
*"It's great for the team. It's great for the offense. That gives us more confidence, I think, to know that we have that big play ability as an offense. Unfortunately, we just didn't quite do it."
*(On whether people were saying anything to Branch in the huddle after his big reception... )
*"We were all pretty excited. There were some big blocks on the play, and he made some great moves, and it was something that we haven't seen much of this year. It's great to have him back and have him healthy."
C STEVE VALLOS
*(On the final sack and fumble... )
*On that last drive, we had the opportunity. But we just didn't get it done. I have to change the protection on that. He just turned it up, and we just didn't get it done.
*(On whether somebody should have slid over... )
*Yes. I have to change it when he comes up. I have to bring the whole line down, and I didn't do that. That's the game.
*(On the effectiveness of the first drive... )
*We just executed. I don't know how many plays it was, but it was a lot of plays. We just executed the game plan. Right before the game we put out 15 plays that we want to start the game with. I feel like we did a real good job. It wasn't one of those big play drives, we got the first downs and kept moving the chains. It was really good for us as a unit. We scored a touchdown, and we didn't score a touchdown last week, and that was really tough.
G MANSFIELD WROTTO
*(On the emotions surrounding his first NFL start... )
*"Well, the first series, I was a little bit nervous, but it was a good game. I played physical. I played full-speed. If I messed up, I did it full-speed. Even though we didn't win, I feel like I stepped up."
*(On whether it took him a few plays to get in the swing of things... )
*"It did. The game plan was pretty simple, but like I said, the first series, I was a little bit nervous, trying to figure out my first NFL start. Then as the game went on, I was calm, collected, and I had a good game."
*(On the sack on Seneca Wallace at the end of the game... )
*"To be honest, I don't know. I had a pretty big guy on me. We're going to figure it out tomorrow. But again, the O-line played good, considering the situations with the injured players. We played very good, did battle against a good team."
CB MARCUS TRUFANT
*(On how the team will get a win sometime over the next three weeks... )
*"It just comes to down to: keep fighting, practicing hard, just trying to get over that hump. We know things aren't going as well as we would like them to go, but that's football. It's going to be rough sometimes, and we've been having a rough one. But we've got a lot of vets on this team, guys that have played a lot of football, so we're going to keep grinding and trying to get it."
*(On whether Deion Branch's big touchdown at the beginning of the game motivated the team... )
*"I think so. You know, we came out gunning, we came out fired up. We were playing great, the crowd was into it. It just came down to, we left some plays out there on the field and things didn't go exactly as planned. But kind of like I said before, we're going to keep fighting. Things are going to get better, but we just got to keep grinding."
S BRIAN RUSSELL
*(On Marcus Trufant covering Randy Moss... )
*I felt like that was a positive matchup for us. The only ball down the field I remember Randy getting was one that where Tru wasn't matched up on him. I think Tru can cover anybody, and we are going to rely on him to do that. But, we didn't do enough today as a secondary, as a defense, as a team. Kind of sitting here saying "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda" and that's no fun.
*(On the mix of heavy blitzing... )
*In the secondary, you always like being aggressive. It was great to me, but that puts the pressure on some guys to cover. We felt like we had chances to get the job done today, and we just didn't get it done enough times. We got them off the field several times, and then on that last key drive, we didn't. We felt real good about what we did against them, we just didn't quite finish the job today.
*(On the third and 10 play... )
*It's hard without looking at the film, I only know my small little view of it. I know we had pressured a few times, and we felt like we had opportunities, and they converted. That's not what you need on a drive where the game is in the balance. Those are the type of situations where I am saying we had a chance to finish up the game, there is nobody to point the finger at or look at. We just need to execute there. That has kind of been the difference for us as of late. We're pushing to turn that corner, and when we do, we're going to start winning a lot more ball games around here. It is just frustrating to let today's get away from us. The Patriots played good, they're a good team, congratulations to them, but I really feel, sitting in this locker room right now, that we had a golden opportunity, and that was an opportunity missed.
CB JOSH WILSON
*(On having the game slip away at the final moments... )
*"It was just a hard fought game, this year it seems like we just can't pull these close games on out. It was still a great game, I will fight for this team and I will be happy to go to battle with my teammates any day. This is a tough year."
*(On the play of Wes Welker... )
*"He is a tough guy who will run the underneath routes and do the crossing routes. He is quick and fast and does the dirty work, to be a good receiver in this league you have to do the things that he does."
*(On New England converting third-down conversions on the final drive... )
*"We were getting some pressure but they have some great receivers. [Matt] Cassel is a pretty good quarterback who was able to find some guys there in the end. We had some pressure on them and some tip passes but just couldn't come up with the big play."
LB JULIAN PETERSON
*(On defending Wes Welker... )
*"They caught sometimes in a blitz so we had guys running different directions and we have to make sure the guys rally and hold him up as quick as possible. He is a great player who made some good plays today."
*(On the feeling you let this game slip away... )
*"There have a been a few games this season not just this game. There were a couple of games we played good enough to win but we just couldn't pull it out. Maybe in the past we took the wins for granted because that's what we're used to, this year we have to cherish them as much as we can."
SS DEON GRANT
*(On the reason for letting close games slip away this season... )
*"I wish I knew, I wish I knew. Whatever it is we have to fix it before the next game. I want finish the season at 5-11, instead of 2-14."
*(On fixing the mistakes... )
*"At practice, we will find away. It means Monday, Wednesday and Thursday we will come up with some type of plan and we as players have to make sure we have good technique and get our defense off the field."
*(On this being a tough loss... )
*Definitely, this one we had it our hand again and it came down to the defense stopping them on the last drive and letting the offense run the clock out. It just didn't happen."
