Bill Belichick was pleased with the way his players won Sunday.
That was really a nice performance by the players today. I thought those guys really did a good job. We had a real good week of practice with the holidays and everything. But I thought they did a good job of being focused all the way through - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday [and they] just carried it right into today. I thought they played a real good football game today. The players stepped up. They made play after play. We just did a lot of things right out there. I'm really proud of them. I thought they earned what they got today. It's a good win for us, a real good win. Right now we'll just enjoy it here for a little while and then kind of figure out what's next. But it's good to walk off that field as AFC East Champions this year and I'm really proud of the way the players stepped up and played today.
Randy Moss comments about the fan on the jumbotron wearing his mask.
It was entertaining. You know, I had a lot of teammates wanting me to mess with the guy. He put a little humor into it and I enjoyed it, man. That's the thing about having fun. When things go right, you get the fans in the game, you get the players in the game, so it was a stadium full of fun today and I think we all enjoyed it.
Tom Brady answers whether Bill O'Brien's game plan was getting multiple positions involved on offense.
Yeah, everybody was involved. Randy [Moss] had three big touchdowns. You know, anytime he scores, that's big for our offense. He's such a great target. He made some good reads in there. A few of those plays were ad-libbed on those touchdowns. Bake [Chris Baker] had another one. He's made a couple of really good plays for us this year and we've just got to continue to find ways to spread the ball around to different guys. And Wes [Welker] was great as usual. He took some really big hits in there. The running game really complemented our passing game and I think that's what we're going to need going forward.
TEAM TALK
- Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (8 min.), Randy Moss (3 min.), Tom Brady (7 min.), Wes Welker (3.20 min.) Plus Transcripts.
- Post Game Quotes: Patriots.and Jaguars.
- Game Notes: Patriots vs. Jaguars. Team and player milestones reached and records set.
- Erik Scalavino notes the Patriots are playoff-bound following their 35-7 disposal of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
LOCAL LINKS
- Albert Breer wraps things up from Gillette and gives the coaches credit for making first quarter adjustments when Ron Brace was having trouble with Brad Meester. Myron Pryor filled in nicely for Vince Wilfork.
- Shalise Manza Young recaps the Patriots 35-7 pasting of the Jaguars, and their relief at clinching the division title with its accompanying playoff berth.
- Ian Rapoport reports the Patriots reclaimed the division title with their 35-7 beatdown of the Jacksonville Jaguars, noting 11-5 wasn't good enough last year but 10-5 is now.
- Karen Guregian observes there haven’t been many games this season where fans felt they saw the best of Brady or the Pats’ offense - but this was one of them.
- Robert Lee analyzes Sunday's game concluding that it was all Patriots on both sides of the ball.
- Jim Donaldson notes that good times rolled again in Foxboro and the Patriots will be playing another game at Gillette in the postseason.
- Mark Farinella notes this Patriots team looked like a team that deserves to go back to the playoffs.
- Dan Duggan notes yesterday's extraordinary performance has become the norm for Wes Welker, who broke his own team record for receptions in a season with 122. Even after missing 2 games, Welker leads the league and is tied for 3rd best in NFL history.
- Chris Forsberg notes Wes Welker broke his own franchise season record for receptions yesterday, catching all 13 passes thrown his way to bring his season total to 122.
- Mike Reiss reports the Patriots hit their season high 197 rushing yards against Jacksonville.
- Mark Farinella points out the safeties played a huge role in the 35-7 victory over the Jaguars, and that's one of the main reasons the team is returning to the playoffs.
- Mike Reiss lists who's up and who's down following the Patriots victory.
- Christopher Price offers ten things we learned and talks about the fun exchange between Randy Moss and the fan in the Moss mask.
- Mike Reiss presents ten fast facts from the Patriots' victory.
- Ron Borges offers the Best and Worst of yesterday's game.
- Steve Buckley talks about the return of the Moss Mask and the Patriots having a lot of fun at Gillette on Sunday.
- Albert Breer notes Leigh Bodden is happy to be going to the playoffs for the first time.
- Kirk Minihane says for the first time since 2006 the Patriots might be peaking as they head into the playoffs. In the past six weeks they’ve gone from Super Bowl favorite (or co-favorite) to playoff non-factor to the team that no one wants to play.
- Mike Reiss asserts the Patriots' impressive showing against Jacksonville offers reason for hope.
- Chris Forsberg notes Tom Brady's run of success against the Jaguars continued Sunday.
- Ron Borges points out that after clinching a playoff berth, anything more these Patriots do is a bonus.
- Mike Petraglia details Jacksonville's fourth-and-2 attempt from their own 35 yard line in the first quarter, and what Jack Del Rio was thinking.
- Boston Herald Patriots Notebook: The Pats D took away the Jaguars best weapons, then took away the ball; Fred Taylor (11 carries, 35 yards) played in his first game since October and came away with former teammate Maurice Jones-Drew's jersey; Patriots played without Vince Wilfork and his replacement, Myron Pryor, had five tackles; For the 4th consecutive game, the Pats didn't allow a sack or a hurry; Shawn Springs is starting to get his swagger back; James Sanders delivered the hit of the game on Marcedes Lewis.
- Mike Reiss lists the Patriots 2010 opponents along with the AFC East at home (Colts, Ravens, Bengals, Vikings) and away (Chargers, Browns, Steelers, Bears, Lions).
NATIONAL NEWS
- NFL Game Center Jacksonville Jaguars at New England Patriots. Recap, analysis, stats, drive charts and those nifty highlight videos.
- Tedy Bruschi (ESPNBoston) Caldwell and the Colts picked the wrong time to rest.
- Andrew Perloff (SI) Against the Grain: Week 16 notes.
- Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Sunday Rewind: Week 16.
- Charles Robinson (Yahoo! Sports) Colts throw in the towel on perfection.
VIEW FROM JACKSONVILLE
- Vito Stellino (Florida Times-Union) Another Jacksonville Jaguars season slips away.
- Michael C. Wright (Florida Times-Union) Fred Taylor makes some memories at reunion.
- Michael C. Wright (Florida Times-Union) It's no mas for Jaguars against Moss, Brady.
- Michael C. Wright (Florida Times-Union) How the game was lost.