At the end of the day, the New England Patriots did not quite make enough plays to leave Seattle with a victory. They sure came close — quarterback Cam Newton was stopped one yard short as time expired of what would have been the game-winning touchdown — but now will have to fly back to the East Coast a 1-1 record. That said, the message coming from the team after the contest was not a negative one.
“Proud of the way that our guys competed here,” said head coach Bill Belichick during his press conference after the Patriots’ 35-30 loss against the Seahawks. “I thought our team competed hard. We scored, we covered the kickoff, got the ball back, and drove up to the 1-yard line, and Seattle made a great play. You have to give them credit, they deserved to win.”
New England certainly had its moments in the back-and-forth contest. The team jumped to an early lead when Devin McCourty returned an interception for a touchdown, and headed into the locker room at the half tied at 14. Even when the home team started pulling away in the third quarter and the Patriots suddenly faced an 11-point deficit, they were still in the game.
Quarterback Cam Newton, who completed 30 of 44 pass attempts for 397 yards as well as one touchdown and one interception, also spoke about the fight the team showed after the contest.
“All in all, the team fought. We knew what type of game it was going to be. I would say hostile environment, I’d still consider it a hostile environment with them being so comfortable in their home stadium. Through it all, you just have to battle adversity,” said the 31-year-old.
“Just moving forward, we have a lot of things to be optimistic about. We still have to get better. The reason why we play this game is for one stat, and one stat only. We didn’t get that statistic today, and that’s the win. So, for us, this leaves a disgusting taste in my mouth. I just have to grow and get better in this offense and hopefully have a better result next week.”
While Newton pointed out that he would like to get two plays back — an interception inn the third quarter that set up a Seattle touchdown and the unsuccessful final play of the game — he had an impressive showing in just his second game with the team. Not only did he post the passing numbers mentioned above, he also carried the football 10 times for 48 yards and two more scores. Just like last week against the Miami Dolphins, Newton proved himself a true dual-threat quarterback.
He was not the only offensive weapon to stand out against the Seahawks, though: wide receiver Julian Edelman had a career performance by gaining 179 receiving yards on eight receptions. The veteran pass catcher was a bright spot for the team, and looking for bright spots following the game.
“You have to look at the men in our locker room,” he said. “We learned a lot tonight from these guys. When you’re down two scores, four minutes to go, across the country against a really good football team, and you come back... We knew it was going to come down to the last play, we kept on saying that this whole week and it literally came to the last play. They got us, but I’m really proud of how we fought as a team.”