Tom Brady speaks to the media following yesterday's loss in Buffalo
On overcoming mistakes: We played a good football team. We made too many mistakes. It's tough to overcome as many mistakes as we did. (Buffalo) made a lot of plays and they've got a good team. They're a good coverage team. They made some good plays in the pass game. They took advantage of some opportunities that they got. We fought to the end but it just wasn't enough.
On giving up the 21 point lead: It's never easy; (Buffalo) came back last week. We were expecting a four quarter game and we had our opportunities. We didn't really take advantage of them like I wish we would have. We had too many turnovers, too many penalties and allowed (Buffalo) to get some easy plays there. They took advantage when they needed to.
On being shocked by losing after having the lead: It's a four quarter game and you play for 60 minutes. Things change fast. (Buffalo) gets a few plays and made a few turnovers. Before halftime we're going in to score and Bryan Scott makes an interception on the sideline. They go down and score. We start the second half with an interception. If you let them back in the game like that, a team that is explosive in the pass game like they are, they took advantage of it.
On how quickly things change: It's football. It's a few plays here or there. We've been on the other end of that before, too. You've got to play for 60 minutes. You've got to keep your foot on the gas pedal and play mistake free. We certainly didn't do that. (We had) too many turnovers, too many penalties, too many scoring opportunities that we missed. That's why we lost the game. On if it was a helpless feeling at the end of the game: (Buffalo) got a good break. I wish (Fred Jackson) would have went into the end zone to give us a chance to get the ball back but he didn't. The refs changed the call. They had an opportunity to run the clock out and kick the field goal. It's smart football.
Wes Welker talked at the podium after his record-setting performance.
On his overall thought of the night: I think the turnovers really killed us in the end. We were able to do some good things out there and moved the ball pretty well and things like that. We get in key positions, we can't turn the ball over and make some of those mistakes and pick sixes and different things like that. We didn't play very good complimentary football with each other. And the Bills came out there and played hard and kept fighting and they were definitely a tougher team than us today.
On the cause of New England turnovers today: I think it's multiple things. You know, I'm sure Tom [Brady] will tell you, bad throws and different things like that, that ultimately we got to be on the same page and we're all accountable for it and making sure that we're in the right spots making the plays we need to.
On how tonight's game detracts from their usual game: Pretty much it detracts everything. I mean, we lost the game. You know, what should be a great fun day of breaking records and doing all those things, it's totally the opposite. I think it shows that we've got a long way to go and we got to step up across the board and make plays and understand that we just can't play like this.
On Brady and game interceptions: I think anytime you turn the ball over you definitely, especially in the situations we were in, it's never good. It's never good for your psyche, it's never good for the team and never good for scoring points. It's definitely something we ultimately, all collectively, you know it's not just on Tom. It's everybody getting on the same page and understanding that we're in this together. And we all need to make plays and we're all accountable for it.
TEAM TALK
- Post Game Notes: Patriots at Bills. Team and player milestones reached, records set, trends continued and more.
- Erik Scalavino recaps the loss and offers his analysis.
- Post Game Pressers: Bill Belichick (4.05 min. video plus Transcript) - Tom Brady (5 min. video) - Wes Welker (5 min. video)
- Post Game Quotes: Patriots and Bills.
- Patriots Today - Pats collapse in loss to Buffalo. (2.51 min. video)
- Patriots Today - Player thoughts from Buffalo. (2.14 min. video)
LOCAL LINKS
- Ian Rapoport recaps the Patriots implosion in Buffalo.
- Mike Reiss gives us us his initial reaction to the loss to the Bills and tells us what it means.
- Zuri Berry says the last time Tom Brady threw 4 interceptions he was on his way to a 14-2 season and his second Super Bowl victory - on Sept. 7, 2003 against the Bills.
- Greg A. Bedard reports there's pressure on the Patriots to improve the defense.
- Shalise Manza Young reports the Patriots couldn't get out of its own way for parts of the second half, putting Buffalo atop the AFC East.
- Karen Guregian points to the myriad of mistakes that cost the Patriots the game, calling it football suicide.
- Christopher Price believes the key moment was Fred Jackson's play to the Patriots one-yard line.
- ESPNBoston Patriots Gamecenter: Patriots 31 - Bills 34.
- Christopher Price tells us ten things we learned Sunday. There's no defense for this loss.
- Mike Petraglia recaps how a record-setting day turned into a nightmare for the Patriots.
- Chris Forsberg notes the Patriots loss spoiled Rob Gronkowski's homecoming.
- Ty Law and Troy Brown break down the breakdowns on the Pats defense.
- Ron Borges details another week of failures for the defense.
- Dan Shaughnessy chimes in with plenty of smarminess to squeal that the game was so bad, the locals were mocking us in Buffalo.
- Mike Reiss charts the snaps played by skill-position players on offense and an says Ochocinco didn't capitalize on his chances.
- Mike Reiss looks at the positional groupings utilized by the Patriots and offers his analysis.
- Joe Sullivan details the final 1:48, a slow death for the Patriots.
- Boston Globe Patriots Notebook: Chad Ochocinco got his first start but dropped a sure TD pass; Only having one TE on the roster made a huge difference; Kyle Arrington had two interceptions for the first time in his career; Zoltan Mesko was limited all week in practice but averaged 46.7 yards punting yesterday; Jets executives in Oakland cheered when watching the Patriots lose to Buffalo (heh heh).
- Ian Rapoport Patriots Notebook: Chad Ochocinco said the TD pass "just got away from me"; Rob Gronkowski had 7 catches for 109 yards, dominating the Bills DBs; Bill Belichick was involved in an animated discussion with the officials trying to call a timeout at the end of the game; Logan Mankins was heated after Sawne Merriman got in a late hit on Brian Waters after the whistle; Kyle Arrington had a big day with two interceptions early in the game.
- Kirk Minihane tells us what went wrong and what went right in yesterday's loss.
- Mike Reiss gives us his 3 up and 3 down for the Patriots.
- Mark Farinella tells us who's hot and who's not after Sunday's loss at the Ralph.
- Ron Borges picks out the best and the worst from yesterday's game.
NATIONAL NEWS
- NFL Game Center - New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills. Recap, stats, analysis and highlight clips.
- Don Banks (SI) Bills learned resiliency after last year's heartbreak, and more from Sunday's games.
- Peter King (SI) MMQB: Long-suffering franchises finally experiencing some good times.
- Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Brady starts second decade as Pats starter.
- Howie Long (Fox Sports) It's believing time for Buffalo.
- Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) NFP Week 3 Sunday replay.