Bill Belichick's post game comments after the loss.
Well, they were better than us in every phase of the game. I don't know any other way to put it. They were better coached. They played better on offense, defense, in the kicking game they covered better than we did. They were better. They were obviously the better team. You guys had a seat, right? You were at the game? They were clearly the better team tonight.
I mean we've got to do a better job than we did. To be competitive against a team like this, we've got to do a better job. We've got to coach better, play better. We've got to be better at everything - players, assistant coaches, we've all got to do a better job than this.
Tom Brady asked how confident is he that this young defense can regroup both physically and mentally and get going again?
Yeah, I don't think it's a lack of confidence. I think we have confidence every time we take the field. We feel like we have a good plan. We had a good week of practice. We felt like we knew our opponent really well. It felt like we had some really good matchups. Then, you get out on the field and it didn't amount to much. We've done it well at times throughout the season. At times, we've looked great. We're just not doing it consistently enough. Believe me, we're all searching for the problems. It's not like we all come in and go, ‘Oh, this is the problem, it's one little thing that's going to change our season.' It's got to be everybody working harder, doing their job and finding ways to do things better than we've been doing.
Randy Moss asked about the offense being out of rhythm and how it felt to have the two big road losses against the Saints and the Colts.
To be honest with you, no. It didn't feel like we had any rhythm. We had little spurts where we tried to gain that rhythm, but we just couldn't put things together. I don't know what to say, they played good football. Something that we haven't really seen on film, we had some self-inflicted wounds we had out there on both sides of the ball. There some things that you can't let a good team like that take advantage of - missed opportunities. They took advantage of them, we didn't. But we got our butts beat by what, 21 or something like that? I don't even know the score, but I know it was a bad one. You really can't let a team like that take advantage of missed opportunities.
Well, we have expectations set high, like we do. We take things one game at a time, but we really see each week what teams are made of. I think we've shown that we're up for a sec, we're down for a sec. We're back up, we're down. So it's kind of wavy right now. I know toward the end of the season, November and December is really when you want to play good football. I got big, big hopes and dreams for this team and I don't think Bill [Belichick] is going to let us down. I know he's going to put it to us this week and further on. We've just got to take our lashes, and keep working hard and see if it pays off.
TEAM TALK
- Erik Scalavino concludes the Saints were just too good, and the Patriots are not anymore.
- Game Notes: Patriots at Saints.
- Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (6.23 min.), Tom Brady (6.12 min.), Randy Moss (4.33 min.) Plus Transcripts.
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Patriots post-game quotes.
LOCAL LINKS
- Ian Rapoport recaps the rout of Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Superdome.
- Adam Kilgore points out the Patriots have yet to beat a team that would qualify for the playoffs if they began today, and yet to prove their defense is something more than papier-mache.
- Karen Guregian says the story wasn't the Patriots defense getting shredded, it was the offense's inability to take advantage of an undermanned Saints defense.
- Shalise Manza Young says last night's game was a Brees in Saints rout of Patriots 38-17.
- Bob Ryan waxes poetic about the Patriots getting thoroughly whipped last night. No other way to put it really.
- William Kalec notes Drew Brees was unmatched in his performance.
- Ted Lewis agrees that Drew Brees was simply perfect.
- Christopher Price offers his Ten Things We Learned from last night. One being they have no defense.
- Kirk Minihane says Patriots must wait until playoffs for answers.
- Mike Reiss offers his Three Up and Three Down.
NATIONAL NEWS
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NFL Game Center Recap, analysis, stats and
lowhighlight video. - Pat Yasinskas (ESPN) Saints acting like they've been here before. No fluke, Brees & co proved their legitimacy by destroying the Patriots.
- Mike Reiss (ESPNBoston) Saints make Patriots' defense face harsh reality.
- Chris Forsberg (ESPNBoston) Sour finish for Brady; He ends the game on the bench for all the wrong reasons.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Patriots show they're not among elite. Tough to swallow, but there it was.
- Don Banks (SI) Saints look unbeatable while dismantling Patriots.
- Alex Marvez (Fox Sports) Saints, Pats play a bit of role reversal.