Projo Pats Blog

December 30, 2007 - January 5, 2008 Archives

Tom Brady's record-setting regular season earned him the NFL's most valuable player award.

Brady is the first Patriots player to earn NFL MVP honors; Gino Cappeletti and Jim Nance won AFL honors in the 1960s.

"As I have learned over the course of my time with the Patriots, the most meaningful accomplishments are always the ones I have celebrated with my teammates,” said Brady after learning of the MVP announcement. “I am certainly proud of the success that we have enjoyed so far this season. I consider myself extremely fortunate to play for an organization like the New England Patriots. The Kraft family, Coach Belichick, and all of my teammates and coaches have created a winning tradition that we all are proud to be a part of. For that I am most thankful."

Brady became the first quarterback in league history to throw 50 touchdowns in a season, breaking the record of 49 set by the Colts' Peyton Manning in 2004.

Journal photo / Bob Breidenbach
The New England Patriots practice this afternoon in the practice bubble at Gillette. Junior Seau, Mike Vrabel (#50) and Tedy Bruschi stretch at the start of practice. The Patriots have a bye week this week and will play next weekend at home.

We've just been tossed from the Dana-Farber Fieldhouse where the players are once again in full pads as they work on some fundamentals and team-specific things in advance of their first playoff game next week.

There were five players absent: Kyle Brady, Asante Samuel, Ellis Hobbs, Nick Kaczur and Kyle Eckel.

Ty Warren, who was absent yesterday, was on the field today. Kyle Brady was present yesterday but not today. Samuel, Hobbs, Eckel and Kaczur were all missing yesterday as well.

shalise

Hey all --

We've wrapped up the chatty portion of the day here at Gillette, and are waiting to head out to the team's practice session, which once again will be held inside the Dana-Farber Fieldhouse.

Bill Belichick opened his press conference by acknowledging his AP Coach of the Year honor, saying, "it's something I appreciate -- there's a lot of great coaches in this league. At the same time, the players and the assistant coaches, they deserve a lot more credit than I do."

Belichick also mentioned offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels' announcement last night that he will not interview with Baltimore and Atlanta.

"He said what he has to say and I don't have much more to add to it, but I think Josh is an outstanding coach, he does a great job. He has a tremendous future in coaching. But as he said, all that aside, we're all focused on the playoffs."

In the locker room, Mike Vrabel, Adalius Thomas, Rodney Harrison and Brandon Meriweather all drew media crowds, and defensive coordinator Dean Pees also chatted with a small group of reporters.

Pees said the Pats did take a step back as far as red zone defense against the Giants. In one of the touchdowns, he said, there was a communication issue, and on another there was a technique problem.

shalise

The Patriots have released a statement from offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who reportedly had received interest from Baltimore and Atlanta for their head coaching openings:

"I am very grateful for the chance to interview for NFL head coaching positions but I have decided not to pursue those opportunities at this time. I plan to focus all my attention on our postseason preparation."

Journal photo / Mary Murphy
Head coach Bill Belichick answers questions from reporters Thursday as the Patriots returned to practice after time-off since last Saturday's win against the Giants.

Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots was named the National Football League's Coach of the Year after leading his team to an undefeated regular season.

The Patriots were 16-0, making Belichick the first coach to lead his team through the season without a loss since Don Shula did it with Miami in 1972.

The perfect record earned the Patriots' coach 29 of the 50 votes from a nationwide media panel in balloting conducted by the Associated Press.

The season started with the NFL fining Belichick $500,000 and the Patriots $250,000 plus the loss of a first-round pick in this year's draft after the team was caught videotaping New York Jets coaches on the sidelines Sept. 9.

Green Bay's Mike McCarthy was second in the balloting, receiving 15 votes for leading the Packers to a 13-3 record and the National Football Conference North Division title.

Dallas' Wade Phillips and Jacksonville's Jack Del Rio each received two votes, while Indianapolis' Tony Dungy and Tampa Bay's Jon Gruden got one apiece.

Belichick won the award in 2003 after leading New England to a 14-2 regular-season record, winning its final 12 games before claiming the second of three Super Bowl titles.

-- Bloomberg

Happy New Year, everyone. We’re definitely in one. It’s a privilege, of course, to be involved in the second season here in the NFL, the new one where everybody’s undefeated and we’re all starting at the bottom. We’re going to take these couple days and try to emphasize and work on the team that’s most important, and that’s our team, and do the best we can to try to improve our situation heading into next week. We know that whoever we play is an outstanding team, whoever that will be. They’ll be tough and we’ll have to be at our best, so that’s what we want to try to do, is try to get our game to the highest level we can [and] work on things that we need to work on, regardless of who we play. There’s certainly a lot of generic and fundamental things that we can improve on and that’s where we’ll try to put our emphasis. Once we know who we’re playing, [we’ll] certainly turn it all toward that opponent. That’s kind of where we’re at for this week.

I know we’ve covered this before over the years, but when you’re in a situation where you don’t really know the opponent, how much time do you have to spend preparing for all of them at this stage of preparation?
Well, we have people on our staff that do the advance work like they always do, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re just doing more teams than we usually do, but some we have different degrees of familiarity with [them]. We’ve seen them all within the last roughly calendar year. The main thing right now, like I said, is rather than spending a lot of time on all three teams and wasting it on two of them that we spend time on our team, which there are a lot of things that we need to do and [we’ll] try to work on that. Then once we know who it is -- We’ll have a better idea Saturday night and won’t know for sure until Sunday.

How much of a luxury is it to have these two days to work on what you need to work on, and are there one or two things that you’ve seen develop over the last few weeks that you know you need to work on?
I think we can sharpen up our game in all of the areas. There are certainly plenty of things for us to do in the next couple of days in all three phases of the game - running game, passing game, you name it. Fundamentals. There are a lot of different bases to cover, and it’s an opportunity for us to work on those things without being opponent-specific and as soon as we know who the opponent is, then we’ll turn to that. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get some benefit out of these days and improve our team. That’s what we’re going to try to do.

When you look at the season as a whole, it seems like there’s been a change in the complexion of the games, the way the games have turned out. In the beginning, obviously, there were a lot of blowouts, but at the end there were a lot of tight games. Why do you think that is?
I don’t know. It’s the NFL. Most of the game are that way, but really we’re not all that concerned about any specific game. We’re just trying to look to improve our team and get better the next few days here and move on to whatever the next challenge is. I think the analysis and all of that of the season is - Take it with a grain of salt. We’ll look at the things we need to do better and try to formulate our best and strongest team going forward, so that’s where we’re at.

Will Josh McDaniels be interviewing with Atlanta and Baltimore on Saturday?
I don’t have any comment on any other team’s situation and any comment on that would have to come from . . . Any people who are involved in on our end, it would come from them.

Have you granted permission?
That’s all we have to say. I’m sure you have a lot more questions on it, but really I don’t have anything to add.

The first of these two games is being played Saturday at 8:00. Will you come in here to watch that, or how does that work?
I don’t know. But I’ll definitely watch it. That game will have -- that could be one of the teams, so I’ll definitely watch it.

But you don’t know if you’ll come into the office to watch it?
No.

Might go to a sports bar?
Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking. Maybe hit a couple of them -- first half, second half. Get a different flavor for it.

Is it the kind of thing where you’ll watch with the staff or do you just wait for the film?
I’m not real big on TV scouting. It’s hard to see the game from the coaching standpoint, the way we need to see it. But it’s interesting to see how it goes. It’s AFC playoffs, so we’re interested in that, but we’ll wait until we get the game tapes and break those down rather than try to break it down off TV.

Will the players have Saturday and Sunday off?
We’ll give you that schedule probably tomorrow. It’d take some of the thrill out of it for them if they got it from you.

How is this week off different, because it’s the first time in a long time you haven’t had to focus on just one team.
We’re working on us. We’re working on the Patriots.

Does that mean more fundamentals?
It means everything. There’s a lot of things we have to work on and we’ll address them in a priority and in a structure that we feel like is most beneficial for us over the next two days.

Could you talk a little bit about Kevin Faulk? It seemed like in the game the other night when Tom Brady needed a big third-down pass, he was there getting the yards he needed.
Kevin has done a great job for us through the years. He’s been one of our most consistent and dependable players. He has so many roles - special teams, pass protection, running the ball, catching it, third downs, other downs. He’s been a downfield receiver, third-down receiver, screens, draws, those kinds of plays. He’s done a good job for us. [He’s a] hard-working kid. He’s one of the most respected players on the team [and was] elected a captain this year by his teammates, so I think that speaks a lot to Kevin right there. Even though he’s not one of the highest play-time players, I think when he’s in there he’s very productive and he’s one of the most respected players. Coaching staff, organizationally. He’s a terrific kid - Great team player, has a great attitude, works hard and performs well.

When I spoke to him earlier this week, he said if he wasn’t playing football he’d be coaching it. Do you think he’d make a good coach?
I’m sure he would. I’m sure he would.

Is there anything about him as a player that . . .
[He’s] smart, works hard, is very instinctive, has a good feel for the game, has a very good background, does a lot of different things. I think he’s well-versed in the passing game, the running game, special teams, training. He’s involved in everything and he does a good job in all of those areas. I’m sure he would.

Can you discuss how far Brandon Meriweather has come from day one to now in terms of his development and how much of a comfort-level you have developed putting him out there?
I think Brandon’s made good progress, just like any rookie. [He] comes in and there’s a lot - There’s a different level in the game between college and pro football and then there’s a new system to learn and new terminology, different offenses and different opponents and that kind of thing. Brandon’s worked hard. He’s certainly come a long way. He still has a long way to go, like every rookie, but he’s made a lot of progress, he continues to work hard and be attentive and gain from all of the experiences that he has, both in the classroom and on the practice field and the game field and all that that he can continue to improve.

When you drafted him, was his versatility the biggest selling point in your mind?
Well, when you draft a player you get the total player. You get everything, so that’s what we got and that’s why we took him. He is a versatile player. That’s one thing that there’s… There are a lot of things that he does well that were reasons why we drafted him.

Can you talk about your offensive line? They’ve allowed 21 sacks and you threw the ball almost 600 times this year. That’s a pretty impressive ratio and a lot of times it seemed like Brady had a lot of time to throw.
I think, as I’ve said many times, I think the passing game is a total team effort. It’s a function of everybody and the line has an important role in it, as does the quarterback and the receivers and the scheme, and so the ability for the receivers to get open and have the quarterback - give the quarterback someone to throw to, for the line to protect him, for the backs and tight ends and receivers to the degree that they’re involved in protections or adjustments. So it’s all a part of that. I think that to have a good passing game you have to execute it at all 11 spots on the field, not just one or two. Certainly the offensive line deserves credit for their role in it, as do the other players for theirs. Really, it all needs to function together for it to be effective. [You] can’t have a one-man band.

You’ve had some injuries, especially on the right side, and guys have stepped in. Is there a common denominator that allows those guys to step in?
We work all of our players in there throughout the course of training camp, practice… I think everybody plays on a regular rotational basis. You never know when that’s going to happen, so they’ve really been in there pretty much since day one - all of our receivers, all of our tight ends, all of our backs and all of our linemen. I think through the course of practice they all work together and if they ever have to - when they do have to play together, then there’s hopefully less of a communication gap and we’re able to go out there and function efficiently, no matter what combination of people we have in there. And we play a lot of people anyway. We have different groups and different combinations in there, so I think doing it for an extended period of time hopefully helps our communication and our execution.

Saturday Wesley Britt - this is related to what was asked earlier -
The sports bar question?

Wesley Britt, every time he came in, he had to report as an eligible receiver. Was he specifically in the game to help Ryan O’Callaghan deal with some of the pass rush? Maybe chip away at the guy coming off the edge?
Well, we went into the game with two tight ends. Ben [Watson] had been out for a little bit. Stephen’s [Spach] a little bit newer to the system, so having Wes, Steve and Ben there gave us three. In a lot of cases we played two at the same time, just in order to give ourselves some depth on the formations. Those different personnel groupings, we felt like we needed to have the third person, third player ready to at least line up in the tight end position or area. So those were the three guys that did it at one time or another in the game.

So it wasn’t necessarily their pass-rush and the need to give another player some help with that?
We used the formations and the plays that we thought were best against the Giants and, as I said, just to give ourselves some depth at those areas. We didn’t want to go into the game with only two players and then if something happened we’d get knocked out of all of those formations and all of those personnel groupings we had three-for-two. So Wes was one of the three.

What’s your evaluation of how O’Callaghan handled himself?
I mean, our offensive line went up against a very good defensive line and they made some plays. We made some plays, but it was competitive. Certainly [Michael] Strahan, Osi [Umenyiora] and [Justin] Tuck are three of the better pass rushers in the league, all on the same team, so it’s pretty good.

Does Stephen Gostkowski hitting those three field goals help boost his confidence at all, not that he necessarily needed it?
He’s hit most of them all year, as he did last year. I don’t think confidence is an issue. Good kicks, but no, I don’t think confidence is an issue.

Have you been surprised by Wes Welker’s ability to block, especially the block he threw to spring Laurence Maroney on the touchdown?
You know, he’s had several of them for us and that was a good one. That was a good one. That was a key play and I thought Laurence ran that play well by keeping it tight away from Russ [Hochstein], who was actually unblocked, but Wes has had some big blocks all year - the Washington game, some of our wide receiver screens, things like that. Wes is a complete football player. [He’s a] very unselfish kid. [He] does whatever you ask him to do, whether it’s return, block, catch, clear out, whatever it is. He does a good job. He hustles, plays hard, is physical. He’s not a big kid, but he’s physical and he’s tough.

It seems like you’ve been more willing to give the ball to Laurence Maroney down at the goal line as the season’s gone on. Is that a random occurrence or a plan?
I don’t think it’s anything that’s specifically been orchestrated or a big-time goal or anything. It just kind of worked out that way, but we’ve always had confidence in him. He’s a good runner. He can get tough yards, he can break plays, he can run inside, he can run outside. I think he’s a pretty versatile back. I don’t think there’s any issue or any problem giving the ball to him really in any situation. I think we all have confidence in him and he’s produced in any situation. He’s had a couple of big runs in short yardage. Whatever play he gets in on, I think everybody’s comfortable with him carrying it.

As we wrote earlier, the Patriots are practicing indoors today with the sub-zero temperatures outside and are in full pads.

Five players were missing from media access: Asante Samuel, Ty Warren, Ellis Hobbs, Nick Kaczur and Kyle Eckel.

Two players were in black jerseys as practice players of the week - Billy Yates and Santonio Thomas.

Hey all --

Bill Belichick and the Patriots are back to work today after the players had four days off to rest and enjoy their accomplishments during the regular season.

Belichick called it a privilege to be involved in the second season and that the team will take the time over the next two days to work on the "most important team, and that's us." The Pats' practices over the next couple of days will focus on fundamentals and fine-tuning in all areas of the game.

As for reports that both Atlanta and Baltimore have asked for and received permission from the Patriots to speak with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Belichick said he would not comment on another team's situation and didn't confirm that permission had been given to either team.

In the locker room, usual suspects Rodney Harrison, Junior Seau and Richard Seymour all faced the even larger than we've become accustomed to media throng, as did Laurence Maroney.

Today's practice will be held in full pads, but with a temperature of 8 degrees and a wind chill in the negative numbers, it will be inside the Dana-Farber Fieldhouse.

shalise

Jim Donaldson taps Randy Moss and Wes Welker as the perfect combination in the Patriots' sensational receiving corps, and Shalise Manza Young adds more on the Patriots' 16-0 regular season. Also, URI routs Fairleigh Dickinson University last night, while PC looks to Weyinmi Efejuku to jumpstart the Friars tonight at Marquette. Download file

Tom Brady was today named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week, the fifth time this season he has gotten the honor. It was also the 10th time a Patriots player won an AFC weekly honor during the course of the regular season (Randy Moss won twice, and Ellis Hobbs, Mike Vrabel and Asante Samuel each won once).

Brady completed 76.2 percent of his passes for 356 yards in Saturday night's regular-season finale against the Giants, throwing his 49th and 50th touchdown passes, the first quarterback in NFL history to have a 50-TD season.

Shalise Manza Young and Mike McDermott discuss the Patriots' win over the Giants and look ahead to possible playoff foes. Click on the play button below to see and hear the show.

Shalise Manza Young writes on the "Pats' trip to perfection." Also, get Paul Kenyon's take on why the URI men's basketball team has improved so dramatically, as well as Bill Reynold's view of this year's PC hoops season.
Download file

The Patriots have announced that a limited number of tickets are still available for the team's AFC Divisional round playoff game on Jan. 12 at 8 p.m.

The tickets will go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., but there are some provisos: they will only be sold via Ticketmaster (ticketmaster.com or 508.931.2222), there is a four ticket per person limit, and purchases can only be made with a Visa card (they're a league and team sponsor).

Prices, set by the NFL, are as follows: $164, $130, $115 and $95.

BY JIM DONALDSON
Journal Sports Writer

It's certainly a Happy New Year for R.I. native A.J. Smith, the general manager of the San Diego Chargers.

Smith, a Cranston native who played high school football at Bishop Hendricken, and began his NFL career as an unpaid film-grader for the New England Patriots, has been given a 5-year, $11 million contract extension by Chargers president Dean Spanos.

That means Smith, who'll be 59 next month, now is signed through the 2014 season.

The timing is significant, with the Chargers facing a playoff game this weekend against the Titans in San Diego.

It was almost a year ago that Smith, in the wake of San Diego's disappointing, home-field, AFC semifinal playoff loss to New England, fired coach Marty Schottenheimer, even though the Chargers had gone 14-2 in the regular season.

It was the sixth straight postseason defeat for a Schottenheimer-coached team. He also lost with San Diego in 2004, and had dropped four in a row when he was coaching in Kansas City in 1993, .94, '95, and '97.

Convinced that Schottenheimer was not the man to take the Chargers to a championship, Smith replaced him with Norv Turner.

That was a controversial hiring, because Turner had a record of only 58-82 in seven years as coach of the Redskins (1994-2000) and two with Oakland (2004-05.) He had just one playoff team -- the '99 Redskins, who won an opening-round game before losing in the NFC semifinals.

After losing three of the first four games this season, Turner's Chargers have come on strong and won the AFC West with a record of 11-5 and are favored over Tennessee this weekend.

Clearly, Spanos has confidence in Smith.

And why shouldn't he, considering that, in the four years Smith has been at the helm, the Chargers have won three division titles?

Greed is good -- if you're the NFL, and the networks that televise the league's games.
But not if you're a fan of the New England Patriots.
In what clearly was a matter of dollars and cents, rather than common sense, the NFL -- as expected -- scheduled the Pats' AFC semi-final playoff game in Foxboro for Saturday night, Jan. 12. Which, from a financial standpoint, makes sense, because the undefeated Patriots are the league's biggest TV attraction.
New England's game Saturday night against the Giants at the Meadowlands got huge ratings. An average of 34.5 millions viewers were tuned in to see if the Pats could become only the second team in NFL history to go unbeaten in the regular season, making the telecast the most-watched, regular-season, NFL game since the Cowboys hosted the Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day, 1995.
So it's no surprise that the league wanted to, once again, put the Patriots on in prime time.
From a competitive standpoint, however -- given that the games are going to be played in mid-January -- wouldn't it have made more sense to have the Patriots play Sunday afternoon at 1, when it's possible the sun might be shining, rather than schedule the Colts, who play indoors in the RCA Dome, for that time?
Green Bay, where it's likely to be even colder than New England, has the Saturday afternoon at 4:30 time slot for its NFC semi-final game, and the Cowboys will play Sunday afternoon at 4:30 in Big D.

Today's sports cover chronicles all 16 of the Patriots' regular-season wins in this record-setting season.

Download a copy of today's sports cover in .pdf format.

Randy Moss's sense of comic timing is impeccable.

At his press conference last night, Moss was asked what he thinks of the international coverage his team has received -- the questioner was a journalist who flew in from Japan.

"I've never been in that situation to know that we're worldwide but it's a good feeling," Moss said.

"I can't speak that language, but just tell 'em we said wassup man and we appreciate the support."

Classic.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – It was one throw.

One long, beautifully executed pass play.

But its completion, aside from being a thing of beauty, was historic.

In one pass from Tom Brady to Randy Moss, the New England Patriots staked their claim to the NFL’s first 16-0 regular season, Brady became the first quarterback in league history to throw 50 touchdown passes in a season, and Moss caught his 23rd score of the year, also a record.

And the 65-yard Brady-to-Moss bomb wasn’t intended for Moss when New England broke the huddle. Facing third-and-10 at their own 35 after Brady underthrew Moss a bit on a go route down the right sideline on the play before, the play called for Brady to hit Wes Welker for the first down.

But the Giants’ defense trapped Welker, and Brady checked to Moss, who was wide open this time, having run past safety James Butler and with corner Sam Madison apparently hurt on the play.

Pass, catch, run, touchdown, 16-0.

New England’s 38-35 win over the Giants last night was every bit as hard-fought as several of their wins were seemingly easy. New York travels to Tampa Bay next weekend for its opening playoff game, but the Giants had no intentions of taking the night off and letting the Pats waltz to their 16th victory.

New York became the first team this season to score on their opening drive of the game against the Patriots, and just the fifth club to get a touchdown in the first quarter. The Giants led the game at halftime, 21-16, and by 12 points with less than eight minutes left in the third quarter.

As they have done all season, however, New England made plays when it needed to, from hard-earned second-half touchdown runs by Laurence Maroney, to a timely interception by Ellis Hobbs, to Mike Vrabel’s recovery of New York’s onside kick after it drew within three points with 64 seconds to play.

The offensive line deserves a great deal of credit in this one too: without Stephen Neal and Nick Kaczur and facing a dangerous defensive line, the patchwork unit held up well, as Brady was sacked only once and hit twice.

“All the credit goes to the players,” Bill Belichick said. “They stepped up and made a lot of outstanding plays at critical times in the game, especially in the second half and in the fourth quarter. They came through like they have all year.”

While it was their 16th in 16 tries this season, the win was also New England’s NFL record 19th consecutive regular season win, eclipsing the mark of 18 they set over the 2003-04 seasons.

Belichick isn’t big on singling out players, but Moss is one player who has come through game in and game out. The 10-year veteran has cherished his football rebirth, and last night said he sensed great things from the moment he arrived in Foxboro.

“I’m very blessed and fortunate to be in this position, to do what I love to do, and that’s play football,” Moss said. “There are some opportunities in life that you don’t want to pass up, and I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to play for the New England Patriots.”

The formerly mercurial receiver began the season with four straight 100-yard receiving games, and with an even 100 on six grabs last night, finishes with nine overall, totaling 1,493 yards and the record 23 touchdown passes. His teammates started lauding him as a leader, and NFL observers scratched their heads – Randy Moss had never been described as a leader and good teammate.

But he knew, clearly, that even his worst day with the Patriots was better than his best with Oakland, where he spent two stormy losing years.

Last night, he spoke words most veteran Pats never would, but they rang true:

“Hats off to us. As a football player, as a fan of the game, my hat’s off to this organization.”

E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Bill Belichick was excited.

No kidding, he really was.

Which shows you just how big a deal it was that the Patriots beat the Giants, 38-35, Saturday night and became the first team in NFL history to go 16-0 in the regular season.

"That was some way to finish the season," Belichick said. "It is really exciting to be a part of this football team.

"We feel good about what we've accomplished. Pretty soon, we're going to have to turn the page and move on, but I am happy for the players. You work all year to try and win every game, and to win them all is great. I'm very happy about it."

Joy was evident throughout the New England locker room Saturday night at Giants Stadium.

"It's been a special year," said wide receiver Wes Welker, who, in his first season with the Patriots, set a franchise record by catching 112 passes. "It means a great deal. We talked about playing winning football one game at a time, and that is what we've done so far, and what we need to continue to do."

"We always got everyone's best shot," said veteran defensive end Richard Seymour. "I think that is what makes it so special.

"It wasn't something we talked about a whole lot. It was great to do it. I don't know how to put it in perspective at this point. It's something that, when you walk away from the game one day, you will be able to look back upon and say: 'That was a special team.' It's great to be among the elite."

But there's no looking back for the Patriots now. Instead, they'll be focusing on their AFC semi-final playoff game two weeks from now at Gillette Stadium.

"The only thing we can do with it being a historical season," said record-setting wide receiver Randy Moss, "is enjoy it for 24, or more than 48, hours. We have a tough game in the second round of the playoffs. There's no telling who we're going to play, but you know it's the playoffs and anything can happen. It's one game at a time and, if you lose, you're out.

"Like I said, I think we can enjoy this for what we've accomplished for no more than 48 hours, then we get down to the nitty-gritty and get ready for the playoffs."

E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It wasn't surpassing Jerry Rice that made Randy Moss happiest, it was silencing his critics.

"I don't think me breaking Jerry Rice's record was special," Moss said at his post-game press conference. "I think shutting you guys up was really what made it special

"After all the negativity, and all my critics, I think this reall yis a good feeling, to be able to come and have a season like this."

At the age of 30, and coming off the worst season of his career with Oakland, Moss had a season for the ages, breaking Rice's record by catching 23 touchdown passes -- two of them coming in the Patriots' come-from-behind, 38-35 victory over the Giants that enabled New England to become the first team in NFL history to finish the regular season 16-0.

Moss had 98 receptions for a league-high, 1,493 yards in his first year with the Patriots and their star quarterback, Tom Brady.

"My mindset," said Moss, "was to come here and have a hell of a season. I knew what they had here -- the coaching staff, the guys, the success they've had here over the years. Now, what the numbers would be, I really didn't know. I just wanted to come here and play some good football."

Moss has played great football all year, and was terrific once again against the Giants. He scored the Patriots' first touchdown on a 4-yard pass from Brady on the first play of the second quarter, and then put the Pats ahead in dramatic fashion in the fourth quarter when he hauled in a 65-yard scoring bomb.

Only the play before, Moss had tried to come back on an underthrown pass by Brady that would have been good for 50 yards, but couldn't quite hang on to the ball.

"I tried my best to come back and get it, because I saw one guy -- I don't know if it was the cornerback or the safety -- fall, so I knew it was my change to try to get that catch and move the offense a little closer to the end zone.

"But I missed the ball and jogged back to the huddle, and the very next play, they called a play was really designed for Wes Welker to go out and get the first down, but the corner and the safety trapped Wes, and tried to trap Tommy into throwing the ball there and getting the ball picked off. But Tommy made a good read."

Moss made a bad decision after catching his first touchdown pass, drawing a penalty for excessive celebration after dancing in the end zone and then spiking the ball emphatically. That proved costly for the Patriots as, kicking off from their own 15, they were victimized by Domenik Hixon, who returned the ball 74 yards to a touchdown.

"I don't usually dance," Moss said. "But I decided to try to have a little fun. This week, it was the 'Tootsie Roll.' I kind of got in trouble with coach Belichick, but, hopefully, he'll look past that.

"We're grown men," Moss continued, "but we're still little kids at heart. I love what I do in between the white lines. I'm very blessed and fortunate to be in this position."

And the Patriots are very blessed and fortunate to have Moss playing the wide receiver position.

In the Giants’ locker room after the game, the buzz word was “momentum.”

As in, New York feels it has good momentum going as it prepares for a first-round playoff game in Tampa Bay next weekend despite the loss to New England.

“This is a pretty good momentum builder coming out of a game like this,” defensive lineman Justin Tuck said. “We are still disappointed because you don’t want to lose, but I think it gives us the gauge that we wanted.”

Backup center Grey Ruegamer: “It is a great momentum builder, but we still lost. So I’m pretty ticked off about that. When you play a team like that, you want to gauge yourself and you want to win. We played to win and we just came up a little short at the end. We lost but we are in the playoffs.”

Safety James Butler, whom Randy Moss blew past on his way to touchdown number 23: “The way we played tonight is definitely a momentum-builder going into the playoffs. But you still want to win this game. There are a lot of positives that we can take out of tonight’s game. We were hustling, we were aggressive, and we were playing hard-nosed football tonight. And that is the same kind of attitude and intensity that we have to bring into next week’s game.”

But linebacker Antonio Pierce apparently didn’t get the momentum memo.

“It is a confidence builder,” he said. “That is the best team in the league, probably hands-down in the regular season. I thought we played toe-to-toe with those guys. But you have to play four quarters. You have to play (darn) near perfect against them.”

E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- "Mike Vrabel is a guy who I'm not surprised by anything he's able to do."

So said Richard Seymour after Vrabel put the finishing touch on the Patriots' perfect season by cleanly catching Lawrence Tynes' onside kick at the New York 41 with just over a minute remaining, preserving New England's historic, come-from-behind, 38-35 victory.

The players sent on to the field when an onside kick is expected are known as the "Hands" team. And, if you're surprised that a linebacker would be on it, well, you haven't been watching Vrabel in his seven seasons with the Patriots.

Vrabel has a great pair of hands, as he's demonstrated time after time playing tight end in goal-line situations.

He has caught 10 passes for the Patriots over the years, and all of them have been for touchdowns. Two of them have come this season, and two others were in Super Bowls -- one against Carolina, the other against Philadelphia. He once had two TD catches in one game -- against the Jets in 2005.

But it's on defense that he primarily earns his paycheck. He leads the team this year with a career-high 11-1/2 sacks. Although he doesn't have an interception this year, he has had 10 since coming to New England from Pittsburgh as a free agent in 2001.

"He's a football player," Seymour said. "He makes a lot of plays. If Tom Brady were to do down, he could probably step in and play quarterback."

He also has 10 career interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown

Some things are just harder for some people to let go of than others.

After New England’s win over Miami last night to seal an undefeated regular season, the always-outstanding Dolphins media relations staff sent out some quotes from members of the 1972 Miami team, which went a perfect 17-0 in winning Super Bowl VII.

Head coach Don Shula, quarterback Bob Griese and a few other players all sent their congratulations to the Patriots for their accomplishment, with several noting that they know New England’s quest doesn’t stop at 16-0.

But then, at the bottom, was Mercury Morris. Morris has repeatedly said that he’ll welcome the Pats to his “neighborhood” when they start to move their things in next door. But apparently, 16-0 isn’t close enough for Morris:

“My feeling about it is as consistent as it has been all year. It doesn’t matter to me whether or not they win them all because it doesn’t affect anything we’ve done,” he said. “When all the dust clears, the best they can do is stand beside us, and in the end, that’s not a bad thing. I will welcome them to the neighborhood with my Mr. Rogers sweater on, but first they have to get to the neighborhood.”

Guard Bob Kuechenberg also offered reluctant good wishes.

“They’ve done a heck of a job thus far. But now the exhibition season is over and the real season begins. Obviously, if they can win their first playoff game, beat an even more dangerous Colts team, and then Brett Favre or the Dallas Cowboys in the Super Bowl, I will be the first to take my hat off to them. If they can pull it off, they will have earned it,” he said.

“But my heart is dead set against it. The ’72 team is uniquely immortal in American sports and I don’t want us to lose that special place. We will forever be immortal, and if they win every game in front of them, then they will join us among those ranks. They will have deserved it and I will congratulate them. But something in my heart makes me feel that we accomplished something so special that it forever sets the standard of excellence in sports.”

E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- "It doesn't get any better than that," said Tom Brady, flashing that winning smile.

It surely does not get any better than 16 wins in 16 games -- a perfect record in what, so far, has been a perfect season for the Patriots and Brady, their just-about-perfect-in-just-about-every-way quarterback.

"My job," Brady said Saturday night, "is to figure out what's going on out there, and get the ball to the open guy."

Nobody has the game of football figured out better than Brady, who rallied his team from its largest deficit of the season -- 12 points, midway through the third quarter -- to not just a thrilling, but a truly historic, 38-35 victory over the Giants.

He threw 42 times and completed 32 of them, for 356 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception. The two TD passes brought his season total to 50, breaking the NFL record of 49 set by the Colts' Peyton Manning in 2004.

Brady broke the record in dramatic fashion -- with a 65-yard bomb to Randy Moss four minutes into the fourth quarter that gave New England a lead it never relinquished.

"Individual records," he said, "aren't as important as what I experienced tonight. What I'm most proud of is that, playing a playoff team on the road, and down 12 points in the second half, we found a way to come back and win. That showed toughness and character."

Brady has both of those attributes in abundance, along with a highly-accurate right arm, self-confidence that inspires his teammates, and an absolutely brilliant ability to find whatever receiver is open.

Which is what he did on the long, touchdown pass to Moss.

"The play was designed to go to Wes Welker," Moss said. "Tom made a great read.

"My job," said Moss, "was to clear out an area so Wes could get the ball for a first down. But two DBs tried to trap Tommy into throwing that ball."

Seeing Welker double-covered, Brady spotted Moss racing past strong safety James Butler, near the right sideline, and hit him in stride.

Just one play earlier, with an onrushing lineman about to bring him down, Brady had underthrown Moss on another deep route.

"I wish I'd made a better throw on that one," he said, shaking his head.

The next one, however, couldn't have been better.

Like the quarterback himself, it was as good as it gets.