Projo Pats Blog

Hey all -

New England is conducting its first full-pads Wednesday practice in three weeks on the turf inside Gillette Stadium this afternoon.

Tight end Kyle Brady and guard Billy Yates were not present for the media-access portion of the session.

There were no players wearing black jerseys, so as of now, the team has not named any practice players of the week.

shalise

Looks like Bill Parcells is going to get to shop for the groceries in Atlanta. He is not, however, going to do the cooking.

The New York Daily News reported Wednesday morning that Parcells is on the brink of becoming director of football operations for the Falcons -- a franchise in disarray following the criminal prosecution of star quarterback Michael Vick and the abrupt resignation of first-year coach Bobby Petrino, who quit last week to return to college coaching, at the University of Arkansas.

"Under no circumstances," Parcells told Gary Myers, the Daily News' longtime NFL columnist, "is Bill Parcells going to return to the field."

Patriots fans will remember that one of the reasons Parcells left New England after the AFC championship season of 1996 to return to New York, where he won two Super Bowls with the Giants, to become coach of the Jets was a complaint that Pats owner Robert Kraft wanted him to ``cook the meals," but wouldn't let him "shop for the groceries."

If, as appears likely, Parcells takes the job in Atlanta, no moves will be made without his approval.

His first move will be to hire a general manager, and then work with the new GM to find a replacement for Petrino.

A lock to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the colorful Parcells is a brilliant coach and strong personality who'll bring expertise, credibility, and a winning attitude to the 3-11 Falcons.

Team owner Arthur Blank was left reeling by the fall of Vick -- the highly-paid, face of the franchise --and the departure of Petrino after just 13 games. Blank approached former Steelers coach Bill Cowher in hopes he would replace Petrino, but Cowher said he wasn't interested in the job.

Bringing Parcells to Atlanta would be a positive step in restoring stability to the franchise.

Even before he became head coach of the Cowboys in 2003, Parcells had said that, while he still loved coaching on Sundays, he wasn't sure he still wanted to do the

Click the play button below to relive Eugene Wilson's first-quarter touchdown in sound and pictures.

Play of the Week archive

The Sporting News has selected Patriots quarterback Tom Brady as its Sportsman of the Year, calling him the "perfect pick" for their annual award.

From the press release:

“Tom Brady has given us one of the greatest seasons in NFL history,” said Sporting News Sr. Vice President/Editorial Director, John Rawlings. “You can’t help but admire what he has accomplished – even if much of the NFL world has suddenly turned anti-Patriots.”

The Patriots wouldn’t be the Patriots – and the NFL wouldn’t be the NFL – without Tom Brady.

The Sportsman of the Year issue hits newsstands on Dec. 24.

Eight members of the undefeated New England Patriots were named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster today, the most for the team since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.

Quarterback Tom Brady, center Dan Koppen, left tackle Matt Light, left guard Logan Mankins, receiver Randy Moss, cornerback Asante Samuel, linebacker Mike Vrabel and nose tackle Vince Wilfork are the honorees.

Conspicuously absent from the list is defensive end Ty Warren.

The Pats also had eight Pro Bowlers in 1985. Last year, only Light and Richard Seymour represented New England in Hawaii.

Shalise Manza Young and Mike McDermott discuss the Patriots' win over the Jets and look ahead to potential playoff foes. Click the play button below to listen and watch.

Here are some excerpts from Shalise's comments:

On the defensive line: "Having Seymour back at 100 percent means that Jarvis Green and he can keep switching back and forth, and they can stay fresh and theoretically they can be more effective that way. The only problem right now is, without Mike Wright, you're kind of thin at backup for Vince Wilfork at nose tackle. LeKevin Smith is technically the backup right now, but he's a little bit untested in that role, so we'll see what happens with that -- if they might have to switch to a 4-3 a little bit more often than they have in the past."

On Laurence Maroney: "If you look at his numbers, for the 25 or 26 carries that he had on Sunday, there wasn't a single negative run. And I think that's the most important thing, because if you look back at his other games this year, he's had several runs for losses, whether it was one yard or two yards. And that's just not what the Patriots want. They want him to gain four yards, help keep the defense honest on the other side of the ball, so that they're not keying in on that receiving group all the time."

On Kelley Washington: "I've talked to him about it [and] he's said it took him a little while to get adjusted to the idea that he wasn't going to be on the field with his offense. And I think if you look at his snaps, it's been maybe a dozen snaps all season that he really has been on the field with the offense. He was signed as a free agent in March, and they didn't bring Randy Moss in until the end of April, and that really changed things for [Washington], because without Randy he may have played a bigger role in the offense, and who knows what the result might have been. ... He's definitely made a contribution [on special teams], and like he told me, the fact that he's on the field is better than not being on the field at all, so he'll take the role that he has, and he obviously he's excelled at it.

Toughest potential first-round playoff foe? "Jacksonville's a really tough team. I think they proved that Sunday, winning in Pittsburgh. ... I think if Jacksonville comes up here it will be a really big game. I don't really expect it to be a high-scoring game, and the Patriots really need to clamp down their run defense, and probably make David Garrard beat them with his arm, and see if you can get him to do that."

Read how Patriots' defensive lineman Richard Seymour is returning to top form as the team closes in on an undefeated season with another Super Bowl win as the ultimate goal. Also, URI might be leaning towards one of its own as the school's new football coach; and Bill Reynolds weighs in on the Major League Baseball substance abuse problem.
Download file

[There’s] not really too much different from what I said yesterday after the game. It was good to win. [It’s] good to be 5-0 in the division. Hopefully we can be 6-0 in the division. We’ll get a chance to do that this week and that’s something that we haven’t done around here. I thought yesterday that the elements had a little bit of an impact on the game. I thought one of the things we did well was not putting the ball on the ground. Ball-security was pretty good on both the kicks and passes and handoffs and that kind of thing, the actual possession of the ball, so that was good. We had - We turned the ball over a couple times when they weren’t quite able to hang on to it, so those were big plays in the game. [The] blocked punts kind of evened out, but as usual, the kicking game plays a big factor at this time of year and that’s something that we need to work hard on, continue to work hard on and I’m sure it will be a factor in other games as we wind down here. So now we’re moving on to Miami. [That was a] good win for them yesterday. They’ve been in a lot of close games this year. I don’t think their team is in any way a reflection of their record. They’ve been in a lot of tight games. We played Baltimore a couple of weeks ago [and] we know what type of team they have, so we have a lot of respect for the Dolphins - always have. They really, especially in the second half down there, hurt us a lot running the ball. They have some good runners, good skill players, Jason Taylor and their guys on defense, and we have a lot of respect for them in that phase of the game as well. So we’re shuffling past the Jets here and getting ready to move in to Miami.

What did you think of the way Richard Seymour played yesterday?
Richard had a couple big plays for us. I thought defensively, overall the entire team did a good job. [They] were good on third down, good in the red area. Richard and the defensive line were a part of that - Ty [Warren], Vince [Wilfork] - and I thought they all did a good job. We got some good production from our linebackers as well. I thought it was a good defensive effort. Any time you can hold a team to three points in this league, defensively, you have to feel good about that.

A couple of players were talking about being prepared for what they did offensively. Did you have the scout team work on the option quarterback and all that, and who in particular played the part of Brad Smith?
Troy [Brown] did. Troy was Brad this week, as a receiver and as quarterback and he had the different roles that Brad played in, so that was Troy. Yeah, we worked on that. We didn’t play the first one very well on the pitch. They kind of split us on that. We just didn’t play it very well, but I thought overall we did a pretty good job on that. We had some trouble tackling Smith. It looked like there were a number of times we had him kind of hemmed in, it didn’t look like he was going to gain very much and he came out of there with four or five yards. But yeah, that was something that we had worked on. Whenever you play the Jets, you have to be ready for that. They put him in the backfield a lot, use him at quarterback and we’ve seen those kinds of things before from them.

Considering the elements, how tough was that for Tom Brady? Were there specific things he couldn’t really do?
No, I don’t really think there were too many things we took out of the game plan -- a couple of plays with some ball-handling. It’s just we didn’t feel like that was the best situation to run them in yesterday, but for the most part, everything we had - probably 95 percent of what we had in the game plan, we were prepared to run. I mean, you never run all of it, but the elements were… You were there. You saw them. It wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t a sunny day in September, but it wasn’t… We’ve all been in worse. It was the same for the Jets. Everybody dealt with the same things, so that’s… Look, we’re in Boston. It’s the middle of December. I don’t think any of us are surprised if it’s not clear, sunny and warm out there.

You’ve secured home field advantage for the rest of the playoffs. How does that make you feel and how much of an advantage is that for you?
It’s good. It’s good to have that, but right now that’s not really anything we’re going to dwell on. We’re just going to get ready for Miami and get ready to play the Dolphins. That’s what we’re going to do this week.

I know you talked about it a little bit yesterday, but could you talk about Laurence Maroney and the job he did?
He got a lot of carries. We ran the ball yesterday quite a bit, partially because of what the Jets were doing. They were playing - Sometimes they only had a couple defensive linemen in the game. We felt like we had some match-ups there and I thought our offensive line did a good job of sorting out some of those formations where they were moving people around and stemming guys in and out of the front late and dropping safeties down and pulling them out and things like that. I thought our line did a good job on that and Laurence got his hands on the ball. I thought he ran hard, ran well in short yardage and goal line, had some good runs on the perimeter in early down situations - I think he did a good job, like he usually does. He’s done a good job for us all year. He’s a versatile guy that can run inside, run outside, has got the speed and ability to make big plays like we saw in the passing game a couple of weeks ago. He’s got the toughness and power to pick up a tough yard on short yardage and goal line. He did a good job for us on blitz pickup, as did Kevin [Faulk]. I thought both of them played well.

Tom Brady had a few carries, too, but it was hard to tell whether those were designed plays or if something went wrong and he had to tuck it and run.
I think there was one play where we just missed - We had an audible on the line of scrimmage and we weren’t quite all on the same page on that one. [On] another one, he pulled the ball when he saw a safety blitzing off the edge. [He] would have handed it to Maroney. I think that was a very smart decision. I don’t know what would have happened, but [when] you have an unblocked guy running right at the line of scrimmage and he gets there about the same time as the handoff, it could be big trouble. The downside on him keeping the ball verses trying to exchange it into a blitzing safety… I think it was a smart decision on Tom’s part.

Can you elaborate a little on Richard Seymour? He said the last couple of weeks he hasn’t been 100 percent, in terms of his knee. Is he where you would like to see him?
From where he started - he missed the first six games of the season, or seven, whatever it was - Seven, I guess it was. So for any player to start playing then, without any training camp - Unlike, say, Rodney [Harrison], who had 30-some practices in training camp - that’s a lot of ground to make up and I don’t think you make it up in one or two weeks. It’s a gradual process. Richard’s worked hard. You all know what kind of player Richard is, and he’s gotten progressively more reps as the season’s gone on, from his first few weeks back. I think that accumulation of practice time and timing and game reps and conditioning and different situations playing against different types of players, different types of offenses and those kinds of things, that’s what rounds every player into really playing shape, is being able to handle all of the different things that come at that position, whatever the position is, over an extended amount of playing time in games. Practice is good, but it’s not the same as games. I think all of those reps, practice and games cumulatively have helped him, and that’s probably really the way it should be.

With him being at Cleveland, I know it kind of changes your relationship, but is it nice to see Romeo Crennel doing so well?
Sure. Yeah, sure. Yeah, that was a big game for them against Buffalo. Both teams [are] right in the fight there. I’ve talked to Romeo several times. As I said last year, I think he’s done a good job there. The record doesn’t always reflect the progress of the team, and I think that was probably the case last year. I know the fans and media don’t always want to hear that, but I think when you look at it objectively and really try to analyze a team that you can see that. When we played them earlier this year, I thought that that was a good football team. I said that at the time and they are. And he’s done a good job there.

Kyle Brady went down and you obviously had to insert [Stephen] Spach, the new guy, in there and Wesley Britt. Were you pleased with the play at that position?
We were scrambling a little bit at that position. We brought in Steve during the week and of course Ben [Watson] was inactive during the game, and Kyle I think probably missed the better part of three quarters. I thought that Steve and Wes did a good job filling in, with the amount of repetitions and practice time that they had, which wasn’t extensive this week. But we didn’t have any major breakdowns. There weren’t any catastrophes. There were certainly things that could have been better, but there were things that were good, so if that’s the situation we get into, that’s why you try to build that versatility in your roster all the way back in training camp, with having different guys plays different positions. You never know when those situations are going to come up, whether it’s Troy at corner or defensive players at goal line and short yardage and so forth and so on. We were able to manage the game that way. It wasn’t ideal; It’s not really what we’re looking for, but it was a way to manage the game and we were able to come out of it with a win. If we have to do something like that again, hopefully next time it will be a little bit better.

A couple of times yesterday Randy Moss was in the backfield with his hand in the dirt. Was that to confuse the defense? He’s not a classic blocker.
He never stayed there. He motioned out. The Jets are a match-up defensive team and we had a couple of formations where the match-ups probably would be a little bit new for them or different from what they’d seen. [We] just tried to keep them off-balance a little bit.

Today's Sports cover highlights Laurence Maroney's efforts to keep the Patriots on track for a perfect season when yesterday's wind-driven snow grounded quarterback Tom Brady in the team's 20-10 win over the visiting Jets.

Download file

Chris Baker, tight end
(On fumble)
I was trying to get some extra yardage and get the first down. He just came in and made a great play. It’s part of football.

(On being satisfied that they played the Patriots close)
No. Satisfaction is coming away with a victory. We play to win, not play close.

(On missed opportunities)
Our defense came out and shut down their offense and gave us the ball in scoring position and we just couldn’t do anything. We knew it was going to be a close game, we just came up short.

D’Brickashaw Ferguson, tackle
(On taking satisfaction from playing the Patriots close)
That is not our mentally. We go out to play sixty minutes of hard football and we don’t come out with that victory, that’s disappointing to us. There’s some things we did nicely in the game that we can take away from the game, but the fact is we were not successful.

(On whether the outcome was due to lack of execution or the Patriots defense making plays)
I think it was a combination of us not doing things we needed to do. There’s a lot of things that go into winning a game and obviously we didn’t do it.

(On Chad Pennington’s performance)
He’s played in the league for a long time and he’s seen a lot of things. It’s unfortunate to see Kellen go down, but Chad stepped up like he always does. He’s a captain for a reason. He stepped in and he assumed the role of leading us.

Justin McCareins, wide receiver
(On the play in the back of end zone)
I thought I had it, but it slid around in my hands a little bit and the referees made a decision and that was the bottom line.

(On the game)
It was just very frustrating to lose another game. It has been a frustrating season and we still have two more games. We just have to pull together and get another win

Ben Graham, punter
(On the effect of the weather)
You cannot control the wind, and it is the same for both teams. We practiced in it all week. We new it was going to be windy, wet and cold.

(On the blocked kick)
I have not had a lot of time; I would like to look at it again. My job was to get the ball into my hands, and get the ball on the foot as quick as I can, and get it down field. It was not a great feeling.

Mike DeVito, defensive end
(On getting to play)
It was great to be able to get some play time, especially up here in my hometown.
I was disappointed with the outcome, but it was nice to get out there and move around.

(On the game)
It was a big week of preparation, but we approached it just like every week.

Darrelle Revis, defensive back
(On the defensive play)
It was great for us and we are making a lot of strides on defense. We left a couple of plays out there and you can’t do that on a great offense. You have to make sure everything is right and be at the right place at the right time and be doing the right thing. We were aggressive and played great, but they got us with the field goals and a few other things.

Victor Hobson, linebacker
(On the hype of the game)
It kind of gets your attention, but at the same time we have learned not to even pay attention to what people say outside the locker room. If we have been going by what everyone outside the locker room has been saying all season, we probably would be a distraught and separated team right now, but that is not the case. I think we came and we fought hard and showed a lot of character. You just have to give them credit. As a defensive unit we were able to slow them down tremendously, but that is what good teams do, they just find ways to win. That is what they (Patriots) did today.

David Bowens, linebacker
(On his blocked punt and touchdown)
Their protection slid over and I was able to beat the center one-on-one. The punter had a bad hold, so it forced him to hold it a little bit longer. I’m still not believing it. It was pretty exciting. Any time you can make a play like that in a game like this it is pretty exciting. I really didn’t know what to do [when I scored]. My role is to contribute any way I can. We didn’t get the win but as a team we showed a lot of people what we are capable of doing.

(On his last touchdown)
It was in high school, it has been a long time.

Victor Hobson, linebacker
(On the Jet defense)
We just played hard and executed the game plan. We played a great team with a lot of weapons. You have to stick to the fundamentals and make things happen and we were able to do that for the most part.

(On the elements)
It is part of playing football. If you can’t play in the elements, you shouldn’t be playing football. I like to step on the football field, whatever it is, snow or rain. I am just ready to play.

Andre Dyson, cornerback
(On the Jets’ defense)
I don’t think we shut them down, but we did a good job of containing them. We had a good game plan and we executed pretty well. We played harder and smarter and faster (than the last time they played). Sometimes you put in a game plan and don’t execute it. There is no such thing as a moral victory. We came here to win, gave it a good shot and fell a little short. They are a good team. There is a reason they have won as many as they have.

Coming in as such underdogs, do you feel like you guys proved a point today?
We came out and fought hard. We kept the game close. We had a chance to make plays to make it even closer, but we couldn’t get closer than where we were. We had opportunities.

How do you feel like your game plan worked?
We played pretty well on defense. We had a good game plan coming into the game. We knew some of the things we could do to slow them down and it held, to a point, in the game, so we weren’t surprised.

Do you take it personally when people say you’re going to lose by 50 or 60?
If you have pride, you’re definitely not going to let them-or want them-to say that. People coming into the game were saying they were going to score 70, not 50. We just came out on defense, and we were excited, playing around, jumping and having fun. We pretty much held them in check. We pretty much had a good game.

Did you hear anything interesting from the fans?
On the way here people in the neighborhoods, when we were coming to the stadium, they were doing the whole spy-the camera thing. Somebody threw a plastic rat on the field. So there were plenty of things going on.

Do you feel like this was a lost opportunity and that you left plays on the field?
We definitely left plays on the field. I’m sure they probably feel the same way. We had opportunities. And at the end of the game we still had an opportunity to make it a lot closer than it was, so we definitely left plays on the field.

What were the things you guys did consistently today?
I think we did a good job of moving around and making [Tom] Brady’s checks harder for him. He didn’t [have] it simple; He had to go through a lot of possessions just to get into a good place. I think that would probably be the thing we did.

To confirm, it was a plastic rat?
Yeah it was plastic. I thought it was real. Somebody said there was a rat and I thought it was real and I was like, “that’s tough.” I didn’t see it. I just heard about it.

Do you feel like the team has Eric Mangini’s back?
I would hope so. We came out and fought and that’s the mentality of this team and that’s the mentality of our head coach. We like to come in and fight and be aggressive, and he doesn’t really like to take anything from anybody, so that’s the way we play the game.

Can you talk about when you got hit?
We had a pass called with three wide receivers to the left. [I] dropped back, there was a little bit of pressure, a little bit of penetration, and instead of risking a sack I threw it away. The defender hit my right arm as I was throwing and then landed on me as when we went to the ground.

How painful was that?
It wasn’t anything immediate -- really just some pain when I got back to sideline and I started visiting with doctors from there.

Could you have come back into the game?
It was the coach’s decision on whether or not I came back, so Coach made the decision that he was going to let Chad [Pennington] roll, and I respect that decision.

Were you disappointed or upset?
I was still in the locker room when Chad went in. I support Chad just as he has supported me. It’s unfortunate in the grander picture that with how close this game was we weren’t able to come away with a win.

Did you come back to watch the game on the sideline?
Yeah, I was on the sideline. I was on the sideline for most of the second quarter and the whole second half.

Were you physically able to return?
Coach made the decision that he was going to stick with Chad, and as I mentioned, we all respect that decision. I did my best to support Chad.

What type of injury is it?
It’s being called a rib injury.

Can you talk about Pennington’s game?
Chad Pennington is a professional. He works hard, he obviously has a lot of experience and he’s a good quarterback. You expect nothing less than from Chad than to be prepared, and then when a situation like this comes up for him to have the success that he did.

How much pain are you in now?
I can feel it.

As you watched, do you feel like you guys let this one get away?
I think we definitely had an opportunity to win the game. We were in it throughout. It’s frustrating to come in here and play a good football game against a good football team in some pretty difficult conditions. The guys played hard and gave great effort and it is frustrating.

I just talked to the guys and talked about the opportunities that we had today and the opportunities that they created. We just weren’t able to capitalize on them. We were in the red zone four times and then couldn’t get the points that we needed to get. I thought, defensively, there was a lot of really good things today and not just in terms of the passing game, but the running game and the things that we are trying to do. I thought they did a nice job. This is a good football team that is obviously hard to beat and we had some opportunities to put ourselves in a very good position. We just couldn’t finish those.

Can you talk about your third down efficiency in the first half?
Yeah, it wasn’t very good. We weren’t able to do very much on third down until the fourth quarter, so the drives didn’t last very long and the defense was on the field quite a bit. It is hard to be effective without being good on third down.

Kellen Clemens was listed as probable with a rib injury. Was he close to coming back?
As we looked at it and we talked to the doctors, I thought it was best to continue on with Chad [Pennington]. And I think Chad did a nice job. It is another example of a guy who doesn’t get very many reps. When he was called on, he went in and I thought he did a very good job.

What was your thinking in using Brad [Smith] at quarterback? It was obvious that he wasn’t going to be a threat to throw.
We like that package and thought it was another way to get the ball to the perimeter and a chance to get the ball to one of three guys. So, either Brad, Leon [Washington] or Thomas [Jones]. You had an opportunity based on what they did with the front and thought that would be another way to attack the edge as well as have an inside presence with either Thomas or Leon.

Was that package in place regardless of Clemens getting hurt?
That is something that was not in reaction to Kellen’s injury. It was something that we had as part of the game plan.

What are your emotions like after the buildup to this game?
To me, it is a disappointment because of the opportunities that we did have today and because of how hard the players prepared and worked and, for the most part, executed. It is like the different games that we’ve talked about. When you get in those positions to score points or capitalize on a turnover or the need to protect the football-all of those things came into play today. We had some really good chances that we just weren’t able to finish up on.

I meant your emotions as it related to the spying thing, etc?
My emotions are related to the fact that the players prepared hard and fought a hard game and put themselves in the position to do some very good things. It is a very good football team that we were playing at home. We had an opportunity and weren’t able to quite finish. But, I am proud of the way the guys put themselves in that position and put us in that position.

What did Bill Belichick say to you at the end of the game?
I can’t remember. Good game or good luck or something like that.

What did you say to him?
Good game or good luck.

It looked like your defense was trying to give a lot of different looks by moving a lot of guys around.
Yes. We were trying to give as little information as possible. Tom [Brady] does an excellent job when he knows what you’re in and what he can expect, of beating the coverage or getting the offense into the right play. So, part of that is the ability to not give him too much information and to make it as difficult as possible for him to make those reads.

Clemens was reported to have a rib injury. Is that accurate?
Yes. I’ll know a lot more about it as we go.

Was he medically able to return?
It was a coach’s decision.

What did you see on the play when you got your punt blocked?
Initially it looks like it was a combination of a good move by their outside rusher, not very good leverage by us in terms of where we needed to be with the block point and our position, and also not being able to get the ball off quickly enough from the punter’s perspective.

Did you feel that was the turning point?
There was plenty of back and forth after that point and we had some good opportunities to score. We had the blocked punt; they had the blocked punt. So, we had some good chances after that.

Was Chad Pennington having difficulty hearing during the game?
He had some difficulties getting the signals from Brian [Daboll]. The coach-to-quarterback signals. But, we got it fixed and it was okay after that.

How long did he have to deal with the glitch?
I think it was a series or part of a series.

Are there any suspicions on your part about that?
No. That happens a lot where the helmets go in and out, different places.

Is there a possibility that Pennington could start next week?
I’ll have to look at everything and evaluate it. We have the injury. We don’t really have as much information now as we will later on and I’ll look at all of that stuff.

What about Laveranues Coles? It looked like he tried to go but couldn’t.
Yeah, he is tough. He did try and he’s been working to be able to play. He just wasn’t able to go as much as he would have liked.

Was that also a product of the conditions?
Sometimes that can happen when you get extreme weather or that element. But, I’m not sure if that’s exactly what it was or not, but that can happen.

Did you hear anything derogatory from the fans?
I think that there is a boatload of those comments, but that is what you get at every stadium.

With the poor third down and red zone play, do you feel like you guys let one get away today?
We obviously had some opportunities to make it real interesting. That’s what it came down to, third down and red zone efficiency, and a lot of time it does come down to those two areas. Being 21 percent on third down and then 0-4 in the red zone, you’re not going to win that way.

After you threw that pass to Justin McCareins in the end zone, did you have a feeling it was going to get overturned?
To be honest with you, just from my personal vantage point, I felt like there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn it. But that’s why I play the game and why the league gets paid to make those decisions. Once it was overturned, we had to move on to the next down and opportunity, and we still had opportunities to make plays even after that one.

Can you talk about finally getting into a rhythm?
The first series or two it feels weird because you haven’t had any reps throughout the week. I played Tom Brady all week, but I’ve been in this position before and I knew I had to prepare mentally and do some things after practice to stay as sharp as I can, understanding that I wouldn’t get any physical reps.

Did you put up as good of numbers as Brady [in scout team]?
I don’t know. I didn’t get a chance to count.

Do you feel like you guys proved a point tonight?
I don’t think you ever prove a point by losing. Our guys don’t feel that way. We’re not into moral victories, that’s for sure. We’re highly disappointed. We always feel like no matter what the records are coming into a Patriots-Jets game, it’s always a good game and a game we have a chance to win. And no matter what’s going on around us, we’ve felt that way. Our defense played exceptionally well; got some big plays on special teams [like] the blocked punt. Offensively we just didn’t do enough, so that’s disappointing.

What are your thoughts for next week? Do you hope to start?
I’m just going to be me. I don’t have any control over the coaches’ decisions. I prepare as hard as I can and do everything I’m supposed to do to be ready. And when I’m called on I’ll be ready.

Did the weather play a part?
There’s two ways to look at it: when you’re a little kid and there’s snow on the ground and it’s messy outside, you beg your mom and dad to let you go out and play. I really didn’t worry about the weather. Obviously, that presented some different challenges and I think your antenna goes up a little as far as ball security and making sure you do have a good grip on the ball, especially when you’re making a down the field throw because if the ball does slip out or something, bad things can happen. I just tried to block that out and be aware of the surroundings.

What were you able to exploit today?
I think our guys did a great job in space and we were able to get our playmakers the ball in space and let those guys make plays. We weren’t quite as successful as we want to be, especially in crucial opportunities such as third-down and red zone [opportunities]. That’s the difference in the game and that’s what all these kind of games come down to. It’s one thing to be successful in first and second downs, but third down and the red zone are where you make your money, and we didn’t make enough.

Was it motivation to try to beat the Patriots’ unbeaten streak?
We never talked about the streak. What was important for us is that it’s a division game and that we had a change to get our third division win. And any time the Pats and the Jets get together it’s exciting and a playoff atmosphere and there are good players on the field. We didn’t focus on [the streak], we just focused on what we needed to do to win and we had a good game plan, we just didn’t execute.

Was it difficult to get your rhythm back after Brad Smith went into the game? Do you take that personally?
I don’t take that personally because it wasn’t a surprise. We had a package for Brad and I knew as a quarterback, and we knew as an offense, that that package could be called at any time, so I didn’t take it personally . . . That’s what you have to do sometimes when you have [someone] like Brad who makes play like that, as a quarterback you have to be ready. It’s hard sometimes, but that’s no excuse. You have to come in and execute. I don’t have any excuses, The first time I got in was a third down and a completed comeback for 18 yards, so I don’t have any excuses.

Can you talk about how quick that transition from watching to playing happens?
The biggest difference in that you go from having no adrenaline to all of a sudden getting an adrenaline rush real quick. And that’s a good thing. That’s what you need to play this game. You can’t play it lax, you can’t play it not focused, you’ve got to have some intensity and some drive. If you don’t, you’re going to get hurt out there, so that was what’s different from going from kind of being a spectator and doing everything you can from the sidelines and all of sudden you’ve got to jump in there and start making some things happen.

Jabar Gaffney, wide receiver
(On if the game plan was to run the ball more today)
With the elements you need to keep the ball on the ground more. Maroney did a great job running with the ball and the line was blocking good.

(On how the conditions affected the passing game)
It affected it a little bit; the ball was a little wet and with the way the wind was blowing it made it a little tough. So it makes you do a lot of short passes instead of stretching the field a little more. Overall we got it done.

(On have you ever seen a game suspended for fans throwing snowballs onto a field)
That was my first time seeing that. It’s great [that] our fans are very passionate and they like to have fun out there.

(On how it feels to be only the 2nd team ever to go 14-0 in a season)
Winning the first 14 games is a feat in it self, we never set out to be 14-0 we just try to go one game at a time and try to win the next one and then the one after. We have done a really good job at that and we will continue to do that, we have the Dolphins coming in and we will go on and prepare for them and hopefully after that keep going.

Kelley Washington, wide receiver
(On the blocked punt)
When I see a left footed punter, I rushed in from the right side and got an opportunity to make a play. The wing was playing kind of soft and I just felt myself driving him back and before you know it I was right on the punter. You know I always try to make big plays for the special teams and it was a big play right before the half. It was just great execution as a team.

(On the punt earlier that Willie Andrews knocked back from the end zone and Washington downed)
We practice those plays all the time and that was just great execution by Willie getting down there and hitting the ball and me backing him up and being right there to down the ball. Once again it’s just putting to work what we practice all the time and it was just great execution as a special teams group.

(On going 14-0)
I think, as a team, we’re just playing. We’re going out day-in and day-out, trying to improve in practice and on Sundays. One thing about this team is that guys never talk about it. We hear in the media and from other people, but as corps, as a team, the Patriots and the organization, we take it game-by-game. I think that’s what’s special.

(On blocked punt)
It wasn’t just me. I might have blocked the punt, but there were other guys around that got their man and made it easy for me to block the punt. I think, overall, we had a good performance as a corps on special teams.

Ellis Hobbs, cornerback
(On the defense playing up to the standard set by the offense)
You kind of get overlooked with the type of offense that we have. You’ve got to give it up to them; they’re juggernauts out there as far as making plays when they’re supposed to be making plays, or when you don’t think they’re going to make plays. I think, ourselves on defense, we hold our end also. Check the stats - that red zone defense has started to come along. I think today, maybe we’ve jumped up to 28th. We hold our own out there. It just so happens that this is an offensive game. Fans love to see the ball in the air. They love to see the ball in Tom’s hands, which is fine. We’re going to continue to go out there and make big plays and play our style of defense.

(On Eugene Wilson’s performance)
That’s what we do. Whoever’s down; the next person steps in. We’re not asking you to go out there and make these spectacular plays, a couple of those did happen, but we’re not asking you to do that-just play the role that you are given. Eugene’s been in this position before, starting, coming out there and getting back into the swing of things. I’m happy for him [and] the way the game went for him.

Kevin Faulk, running back
(On starting the season 14-0)
It’s a great accomplishment but it’s not what we’re trying to do. As a team, we’re trying to accomplish something a little bit greater than what that is right now.

(On the running game being the focus of the offense)
If we wanted to win, we had to run the ball. That’s something that we came into the game knowing that we had to do and that’s something that we try to do. Whatever we have to do to win the game, that’s it. If we have to throw it underhand to win, that’s what we’ll do. It’s just a fact about doing your job and knowing that the guy beside you is going to do his job.

(On the weather being a factor)
To be honest, when you’re in the game you’re not really worried about it. You have to worry about your footing and everything, but as far as the conditions, you just play football.

Heath Evans, running back
(On playing in poor conditions)
You’d always rather have snow than wind and rain, but the weather really wasn’t