Relaying what David Andrews, Matthew Judon, Devin McCourty, Bill Belichick and Mac Jones had to say to reporters after the game.
DAVID ANDREWS
It wasn't good enough and you know, hats off to them, they played a really good game and got behind early and just too much and not enough.
What do you think was the difference this time around?
Turnovers. You know, they're a heck of a football team. They just played a lot better than us tonight
The way you finished the season ...
Pretty frustrating. I think as a competitor, you sit up here and you you analyze everything and what you could have done better and you know a lot of guys in that locker room that have been here a long time ... I don't know. Just gotta be better and starts here in the next week.
Feel like it was a missed opportunity the way you guys finished?
I mean, yeah, anytime .... it's hard to get in the playoffs in the NFL ... you don't know how many opportunities you're gonna have. You don't know ... it's not promised and you know, if you don't take advantage of those opportunities, they're missed.
Does this have a feel of a last go-around for some guys on this team?
Yeah, I mean, there's finality in everything right? There's just finality in the team. There's guys who will leave. There's guys who will retire or there's coaches that will leave there's, you know, whatever it may be right it's a finality and that's just part of it and is part of this business and makes it hard.
To lose a game in that fashion...
Had a first drive going kind of missed opportunities. And then you know, just fell behind, just couldn't make it up. When you're down that big and playing third and long it's just not how you want to play the game and, you know, unfortunately kind of the last few weeks we've done that too much.
Bye week, can you point to anything that changed?
No, I mean, you know as a leader and stuff you just try to figure out what you can do to be better learn from whatever it is or look at the season as a whole and, you know, try to be better and try to go back to work and so that's all I know how to do is just take care of your body, get your body right, then prepare, get ready to go next year. And there's nothing we can do now that's going to change the outcome of what happened, you know, tonight or last, whatever you want to say last December, whatever. So, it's frustrating. It's disappointing. Like I said, it's a missed opportunity and they're all fleeting/
That interception, you guys were moving the ball.
Yeah, you know, turnovers, penalties. Can't really have those.
(Adam Richins for BSJ in Buffalo)
MATTHEW JUDON
From start to finish well, we was handled, it lost us the game. That's all. It's disappointing especially when it is no more games after this.
How frustrating was it on the first drive?
Every drive we couldn't come up with a stop, it was frustrating. It wasn't only one drive wasn't only one play. It wasn't one single player. It was everything. It was a whole game. So everything was kind of frustrating, honestly.
Why is that offense so hard to stop?
That's a good offense. They got good wide receivers. They got a really good quarterback. Decent o-line and now they implement the run game as well. Whether that's with Josh Allen or Singletary. So when they hit on all phases, intermediate game, short game, every run seemed like it was six yards. You know, that's very hard to stop. And so it was their night tonight, you know, you got to give credit to them. They watched film. They executed. They seen the holes and mistakes that we was making and he just kind of capitalized on us.
Did you come in with a different game plan?
We had a different game plan. We obviously we know what our mistakes and why we lost the last game and we tried to fix them. But like I said it was just kind of their night and they were just hitting on all cylinders and you know you just got to sometimes you just got to give credit to the other team. It just sucks when you can't play no more. It really sucks.
Your playing time...
It was just a package. It was just a package. We rolled out ... our some great players. Don't matter who starts the game. We don't matter who in the game. We got great players all over the place and they know how to play winning football and they know how to make plays. And so it didn't matter if I started or not.
Struggled after the bye, are their lessons to take?
Yeah. You know, it's just hard when you lose a handful of games coming down the stretch, after like you say after that success we had. So we got to go back and we got to just stay focused. I think that's one of the biggest thing, not saying we were overlooking things but we just got to you know when we had that type of success, you got to lock in even more because you know you go from the team that everybody like want to play like, this a feel good game, let's get our stats. And then we start winning some good games when we started winning some tough teams. You get a target on your back. We were like we know this team can lose and so but they winning and right now. So everybody looking at you like the feeling so you kind of just got to lock in even more when you on top
(Adam Richins for BSJ in Buffalo)
DEVIN MCCOURTY
Credit to them. Obviously not our best game. Sucks to end the season that way, credit to them, obviously. I mean, I don't think we got to stop on defense tonight so I mean just not how you want to end any season or how you want to play a game, playoff game. You know I think the reality of you know every time you step on the field in a playoff game it's last chance that team has to be out there on the field, that's at stake every time you go out there. I think for this group, you know, starting to season 2-4 and climbing back and building you know, it sucks to end that way. You know, I think we made strides this year coming off last year. Did some things well during the season, just didn't finish the away we needed to finish. That's how the NFL is, you know, teams that are playing good ball at the end find ways to win. That kinda usually keeps it going. We just didn't do that.
What do you think that the bills did different this time around that was so tough?
Shit, I mean everything they did? I think they just did a good job of you know, I think creating chunk plays good job in a running game. Allen, you know, I think the big scramble early, put them in scoring position. Like I said, we didn't get a stop so I mean, damn near everything they did offensively was a good play for them and you have no shot to win the game like that.
Any guess on why things fell so quickly?
If I could, I would have done everything to try to get it turned around. I mean, that's how it goes. I mean, like I said, you know this team, fought a lot during the season. I think even what Jude said of, you know, going from the team was 2-4. And you know, just fighting just trying to get back to being a team that was at the top of AFC at one point you got to execute at a high level once that happens and we just didn't for whatever reasons. We'll have a lot of time to think about it and that sucks. We've all been here before falling short in the playoffs. Obviously you don't want to go out like this. But we'll have a lot of time to kind of think and see why didn't go the way we want it to really after the bye week. We'll have to process that all offseason.
First playoff team to score every drive.
I don't know. I mean, I felt it. I knew it out there. Not surprising us. Practiced all week. You shouldn't really perform like that. So ... embarrassing, you know?
(Adam Richins for BSJ in Buffalo)
BILL BELICHICK
We just couldn't keep up with them tonight. Certainly deserved to win. Well coached team, their team executed well and we just couldn't do much anything. We'll pick up the pieces go back to work here and need to find a way to be more competitive.
Overall, how would you what you have to say about this 2021 patriots?
I'll do that later, kind of focused on the game here.
Effort defensively good enough?
Yeah, I said we couldn't keep up with them tonight and we couldn't.
Defending Josh Allen. You guys try different tactics?
They were too much for us tonight.
Considering how the team sputtered at the finish line, will it change the offseason?
Just focused on the game tonight.
Bill was that one of the best offensive performances?
They played well tonight.
Any thought to receive the opening kickoff?
We've got two choices. We chose to defer.
The first drives...
There's a lot of plays that didn't go well tonight. So I guess it's pretty long list.
Slow starts?
Yeah, I don't know.
Winovich not active?
We activated some players and activated other players same as we always do.
Wilkerson was elevated but not active
Based on the rules, I think that's what every team does. To elevate as many as they can to 55 and then make a game-time decision. But maybe not, I don't know. But that's what we did.
4th and short early in the game
Yeah, I don't know.
Coach, what do you have to say about Josh
Said we couldn't keep up with them. They were great tonight.
Was there anything new from Buffalo to you guys?
Well, they do a good job. They're well coached play well fundamentally, and they executed extremely well tonight. They do a good job
Accomplished a lot this year, leave a sour taste in your mouth?
We didn't play well tonight.
Hyde INT turning point
It was one of many good plays that they made that we didn't make.
Jones handle first postseason start
I don't know. We'll watch the film. ... They played well. We didn't. They deserved to win.
(Adam Richins for BSJ in Buffalo)
MAC JONES
INT by Hyde
Yeah, just not a very good throw. I can make a better throw. That's pretty much it. I think when it's the first drive of the game you don't want to do that and our goal was not to turn the ball over and it happened and just part of the game I guess, but something you can learn from when I watch the tape.
What did you learn from tonight in your first NFL postseason start? Obviously, it's difficult. The results
I mean, to try and play better than we did, I think just goes back to practice and just holding everybody to a higher standard. I know I'm rookie or whatever, but I could have done a better job of just holding everybody to that standard, myself included. And I think we'll make a lot of progress in the offseason with that and my leadership and just being myself and sometimes it shows on the field, but it's a result of, you know, how we prepare and we put a lot of effort into it's not like we don't do that, but I think just the little things show up in the game. Like tonight, just the little things for everybody, myself included. That's just something that I learned. And I'll just try to watch the tape and learn from it. But I do appreciate everybody on our team for having my back and I wish I could have played better and obviously we want to win every game we play in and hopefully we'll get a chance to have a really good offseason and funnel it into next year. That's all you can do.
Rock bottom?
No, I think, obviously, we didn't play how we wanted to play and every game is different. And we didn't have a chance to win the game and started me, you know, just not getting momentum early and not putting ourselves in that position. And then of course it's not how we wanted it to be and like I said I could play better. A lot of guys would agree with me that we can push each other harder to get that product on the field and I think there will be a lot of strides this offseason to get there and just working together, however we can and that's gonna show up next year.
Do you feel like weren't pushing one another down the stretch?
I think it was just, you know, every day's a new day, it's a grind. And you know with me, just, it's all about, you know, coming to work every day and and trying to put your best foot forward and there's a lot that comes at you. But we have a lot of good guys on this team that I learned a lot from in terms of leadership, whether that be addressing the team or how they lead and all that and obviously we weren't, you know, good enough tonight and a lot of that didn't show tonight, but it just wasn't our day and we got to try and put a better product on the field
You and Hunter Henry end of the game
Yeah, I think you know, that's personal between him and I but he obviously gave me great words of advice. And he's a guy that's played quite some time in, in the NFL, and I'm really happy to have him, you know, hopefully, for a while and I think he's a great player and he's a great person too. He means a lot to me. He's like a big brother, just like a lot of guys on this team are to me, so I appreciate him. And people have played a lot of snaps in the NFL that had encouraging words for me and I wish I could have put a better performance out there so that they could, you know, we could push together through the playoffs, but it's something that I'll have to live with and it'll motivate me for next year but I wish it could happen tonight.
Is the next step for me to become a big brother to become a guy that is not getting looked at like a rookie and seizing more of that
Yeah. I think you know you get more comfortable with anything you do if you're anything you do in life. I always relate it back to being a pilot. Like if you're a pilot and you've only flown so many times, you know by the time you have hundreds of flight hours it's just an everyday thing for you. So for me, obviously I was a rookie and you know, I played like that sometimes and I shouldn't have and I can play better. And that's my goal this offseason is just to advance and bring the guys along with me because we have great players all around me and I know we have a lot of progress to make and I'll just feel more comfortable with anything you do a second time around. Schedule, like routine everything so there's no excuses, but there's a lot that goes into it besides one thing
You've taken some losses harder personally. What makes you seem so different now more even keel.
Yeah, I think losing is terrible. And none of us wanted to do that tonight. But there's nothing we can do about it. There's a lot to look forward to and be positive about and learn from. There's nothing to hang our heads on. I'm super proud of the people that have helped me grow as a person. coaches, players, support staff and all that so I mean, there's a lot to look back on and just learn there's nothing to feel sorry about. It's just a learning experience to get better for next year.