Bill Belichick offers his post-game thoughts following the Patriots 28-18 win over the Vikings.
I really feel good about that win. I'm really proud of our football team. Those guys did a great job. Offensively, we had some big drives there after their first [drive]. Minnesota went up 7-0. Then we answered that with a long drive. Then at the end of the game when they came back to make it 21-18, we went the length of the field again to get points on the board and use up a lot of clock. We made a few plays on defense when we had to. It was just one of those games where Minnesota is a good football team. They certainly gave us a lot of problems, but fortunately we were able to hang in there and come out at half time in decent shape and then make a few plays there in the second half to win. It's a great job by our players. They really had a great week of preparation. They worked hard this week and the things that we wanted to do, for the most part in the second half we did. I felt like that was a big factor in us winning the game: players being able to execute the plays we needed at the right time.
Vince Wilfork talks about the defense coming up big on crucial third down plays down the stretch.
"As the game progressed, we settled in. In the early part of the game, I think we really weren't, I don't want to say we weren't tuned in, I think we were just so antsy, and we had to settle down. We know it's a couple of plays that it's going to come through and do. We just have to fight through it. Once we came to the sideline, made some adjustments, as a defense as we settled down, I think we started playing better as a defense. But the first couple of plays hurt us. The first couple of passes hurt us. But at the end of the day, once we settled down, we started playing the defense we know how to play."
Tom Brady describes what happened on his touchdown pass to Brandon Tate.
I was looking for Wes [Welker] and then I came back to Brandon. Brandon had just wheeled and went up the sideline and made a great play to uncover. I just caught a glimpse of him as I turned out of it and threw it up there. He was wide open and he made a great catch and a great run. He's so dangerous in the open field. He's tough to tackle. It was great to see the back of his jersey running. That was pretty sweet.
TEAM TALK
- Post Game Notes: Patriots vs. Vikings. Player and team milestones reached, records set and trends continued.
- Erik Scalavino analyzes the Patriots win over the Vikings and says they did it with defense.
- Erik Scalavino gives us a glimpse of the Browns week schedule.
- Post Game Quotes: Patriots and Vikings.
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Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (9.10 min. video), Tom Brady (4.38 min. video), Brandon Tate (2.53 min. video) and BenJarvus Green-Ellis (6.31 min. video) Plus transcripts.
- Vikings Post Game Presser: Randy Moss (4.48 min. video) plus transcript.
- Patriots Today - Big plays define the Pats' victory. (2.34 min. video)
- Locker Room Uncut - Post-game thoughts from the locker room. (4.06 min. video)
LOCAL LINKS
- Shalise Manza Young recaps the Halloween hurt put on the Vikings by the Patriots yesterday, capping off a strange week.
- Mark Farinella describes the plays of the game, and the Patriots' reliance on toughness and fundamentals to win.
- Mike Reiss breaks down the Patriots win with Bill Belichick having the Patriots in a familiar, but unexpected, position atop the NFL.
- Mike Reiss describes the post-game scene at Gillette Stadium, with the press hoards gathered for the Vikings/Favre coverage.
- Tom E. Curran says the Patriots are winning because they work hard and they aren't stupid.
- Ian Rapoport observes the Patriots win by just doing their jobs and shunning the hype.
- Mark Farinella says there should be an NFL stat for defense called "stops when it matters" because when the Pats absolutely needed to make big stops, they did.
- Dan Duggan describes the goal line stand made by the Patriots defense. Huge play.
- Mike Rodak offers his quick hits from the Patriots win.
- Greg A. Bedard offers one final look back at the victory over the Vikings.
- Jackie MacMullan writes Randy Moss sounds like a man who knows he made a mistake.
- Ron Borges lauds the play of Brandon Tate, noting he did an acceptable Randy Moss imitation with his 65-yard touchdown play.
- Monique Walker reports BenJarvus Green-Ellis has been making the most of his opportunities on the field, adding two more TDs last night.
- Mike Reiss notes that after some quiet games, BenJarvus Green-Ellis had a breakthrough Sunday.
- Danny Picard singles out CB Devin McCourty as a big playmaker for the Patriots. His interception last night helped clinch the win.
- Bob Ryan notes the drama will continue in Minnesota, even following Myron Pryor taking Brett Favre out with a perfectly legal hit with 7.31 min. left in the game.
- Karen Guregian says Randy Moss is now missing what he left behind.
- Kirk Minihane analyzes Randy Moss' speech and what a month of Brad Childress and Brett Favre will do to a guy.
- Michael Felger asserts Sunday's 28-18 Patriots victory showed exactly why New England did the right thing in trading Randy Moss.
- Greg A. Bedard notes Bill Belichick and the Patriots are sitting at 6-1 and looks at how they're doing it.
- Steve Buckley reminds us that there are only a handful of men on the planet capable of doing the job Brett Favre has done for 20 years.
- Juliet Pennington gets the fans' perspective from the Halloween game at Gillette stadium.
- Steve Silva offers a video clip of the fans at Gillette Stadium and their costumes.
- Christopher Price presents his ten things we learned Sunday. The Patriots and Vikings couldn't be more different.
- Tom E. Curran analyzes five points from the Patriots victory.
- Mike Reiss reports the Patriots are one of the NFL's best at securing the ball.
- Mark Farinella looks at who's hot and who's not following yesterday's win.
- Mike Reiss and Mike Rodak list their three up and three down for the Patriots.
- Dan Duggan offers the best and worst of Vikings-Patriots.
- Jerry Spar highlights Tom Brady's Monday morning call-in to the Dennis & Callahan show.
- Jerry Spar highlights Boomer Esiason's appearance on WEEI this morning.
- Ian Rapoport gets Kyle Arrington's reaction to learning he would cover Randy Moss. (47 second clip)
NATIONAL NEWS
- NFL Game Center: Minnesota Vikings at New England Patriots. Recap, analysis, drives and those nifty highlight videos.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Rapid reaction: Patriots 28, Vikings 18.
- Alex Marvez (Fox Sports) Favre, Vikes take it on the chin.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Patriots moving on nicely from Randy Moss.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Randy Moss loves and misses the Patriots.
- Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Week 8 winners and losers.
- Jason Cole (Yahoo! Sports) Week 8 Winners and Losers. Brett Favre (not the Patriots) put in the Winners column "for his toughness." Dear Lord...
- Peter King (SI) MMQB: Cowboys should fire Phillips now; 'Skins, McNabb head for split too?
- Kevin Seifert (ESPN) It's Loony Time for the Vikings.
- Don Banks (SI) Inside the NFL: Week 9 snap judgments.
- Mike Pereira (Fox Sports) Week 8s biggest calls. Pryor's hit on Favre "perfectly legal."
- Scott Garbarini (Miami Herald) Sunday Rewind: Again, Patriots a step ahead of the game..
VIEW FROM MINNESOTA
- Brian Murphy, Jeremy Fowler and Tom Powers (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Favre takes it on the chin; Vikings receiver Percy Harvin to have injured left ankle examined.
- Tom Powers (St. Paul Pioneer Press) The time has come... fire Brad Childress. "It was like being in a loony bin."
- Jeremy Fowler (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Randy Moss praises Patriots, second-guesses Vikings' strategy in postgame rant.
- Chip Scoggins (Minneapolis Star Tribune) Moss decides to talk ... and talk.
- Jeremy Fowler (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Going nowhere: Vikings season, like their play call late in the first half, has hit a brick wall.
- Dan Hickling (Minneapolis Star Tribune) Young Patriots praise Moss after having big games.