The New England Patriots defeated the Tennessee Titans 33-16 and the Patriots players and staff seemed more happy with the bottom line than with how they reached their destination.
"Always good to win," head coach Bill Belichick said after the game. "Twelve wins, that's on the right track here. We did some good things today. We got contributions from all three units - a couple of big plays in the kicking game, couple big plays on defense, turnovers obviously and a score on defense, and made some plays offensively as well and took good care of the ball there.
"A lot of positive things, still a lot of football left here, a lot of things we can improve on and we'll keep working on that, but had a lot of guys step up and play and fill roles today that maybe they hadn't done as much of or maybe hadn't done any of in the past. That was good, too, but that's what you need from your team. It's a long season and we need a lot of different guys to contribute."
Injuries seemed to be a common thread with all of the players as the team had to, yet again, overcome a rash of serious injuries to win. Quarterback Tom Brady did everything but explicitly blame the injuries for the lackluster performance in the second half.
"We're learning as we go, and we've got new players coming in every week," Brady said. "Guys are going out, guys are coming in, and you're just doing the best you can to be productive and eliminate critical mistakes and take advantage of scoring opportunities. That's what we tried to do today."
It's hard for the offense to generate any sort of rhythm when a key player is injured every other quarter.
"The more good players you can have out there on a consistent, dependable basis, the more dependable and consistent your offense can be," Brady replied when asked about missing Julian Edelman.
It seems like the Patriots will be shorthanded without both Danny Amendola and Edelman for the final two weeks of the season, which means that Keshawn Martin is going to have to step-up in his reserve role.
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Alan Branch on Akiem Hicks' touchdown:
"We were dying laughing. The funny thing is when a big guy gets a touchdown, no matter what, it's going to be funny because it doesn't look normal and it isn't regular. It doesn't happen on a regular basis. The big fella got in there and he had to double-catch it for a touchdown, but we got the seven points and I was proud of the big fella."
Rob Gronkowski on playing in memory of his friend Dana Parenteau:
"I know he would want me to go out there and whoop some booty, which we did as a team. He's pumping me up before the games and loves seeing me go out there and ball. That's what we did today and I know he's up there and he's proud."
Matthew Slater on Danny Amendola's fumbled punt:
"I think we could have responded a couple different ways. We could have started yelling, screaming, and pointing fingers. Danny Amendola is one of the best punt returners in the NFL, so I'd put him back there 100 times out of 100. That's fine by me. Those things happen and we just continue to play through it. There was no panic and I think overall, we played well today so I was happy with it."
Final word:
"I'd say to be 12-2 is a good record," Brady said. "I know it's not perfect. There are certainly a lot of things we could do better, but it's good to be 12-2."