NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS - HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK - Ingles

(opening statement) “First of all, congratulations (New York) Giants. Won a championship, they’re a good football team and they’re well coached. They obviously played well tonight. Very competitive football game, they just made a couple more plays then we did. By the way our guys played, fought, fought all year, fought tonight, and we had our chances. We just couldn’t quite make enough plays. Giants made a few more than we did. Really isn’t too much more to say about. Can’t fault the effort of any of our players. They played as hard as they could, we could have just played a tiny bit better. It was obviously a very competitive football game.”

(on his thoughts about the safety) “It’s not my call.”

(on what plays they could have played a little better on) “There was 100 plays you could be talking about and I would take a lot of them.”

(on if he allowed them to score that touchdown at the end) “Right.”

(on if he can take them through his thought process on letting them score the touchdown) “No. Ball was inside the 10-yard line, a 90 percent field goal conversion (in that territory).”

(on if he’s second guessing anything he did at all tonight) “Sure, could have done a better job in a lot of things.”

(on specifically what he could have done better as a coach) “There’s a lot of plays out there.”

(on how he thinks his offensive line played tonight) “I thought they played well. They competed well. I thought they did a good job. Everything we did could have been a little bit better, but it was very competitive. We just came up a little bit short tonight. That’s about all there is to say.”

(on challenging the catch made by wide receiver Mario Manningham) “It was close. It was close, but it was a good catch.”

(on how the defensive secondary performed) “We made a few plays, we had our moments, and they made a few more plays than we did.”

(on what he tells his players now) “My conversation with the team is between me and the team.”

(on Tom Brady’s 16 straight completions and how he assessed his play) “I felt we played competitively. We had our moments where we moved the ball, where we stopped them. We were in the lead for a good part of the game. I thought all of our players played competitively. We just came up a couple plays short.”

(on if he let the Giants score on purpose) “Yes. Yes we did.”

(on if this hurts more than the last time they faced the Giants in the Super Bowl) “No, I can’t compare it.”

(on what he said to Tom Coughlin when they shook hands) “Obviously, that’s between me and coach Coughlin, if that’s alright. Thank you.”

(on if he feels good about the way they played in the game) “C’mon, you don’t feel good after you lose this game.”

(on having some trick plays that worked) “It was wild out there. Hey, it’s the Super Bowl.”


(on having 12 men on the field) “I believe that was early in the game, in the first quarter. That was definitely a mistake, no question.”

(on if the three receiver, one tight end package worked well for them in getting some momentum) “We mixed up personnel groups. We felt confident. We felt comfortable in several of the different groups that we used. It was three receivers, two tight end. Three receivers, one tight end. Two tight ends, two receivers. We used multiple.”

(on what he said to his team after they got off the field) “That’s between me and the team.”

(on what his team did well) “I thought we competed well. I thought we played hard. We fought right until the end, and we just came up a couple plays short.”

(on the job cornerback Kyle Arrington did on wide receiver Victor Cruz) “They’re players. They played well, they played hard, they competed well. We just came up a couple plays short.”

(on how Danny Woodhead played tonight) “Again, I think our whole football team, I’ll pretty much say the same thing about everybody they competed hard, played well, and came up a couple plays short. That’s a good football team. They made a couple more plays than we did. I don’t think there was any area of our team that didn’t compete well, that wasn’t competitive with them. We ended up a couple plays short.”

(on if he felt Wes Welker should have made that catch) “I don’t know. I didn’t get a real good look on it. I’m sure he did his best. He’s caught a lot of passes for us.”

(on how much this one hurts) “It’s not a good feeling to lose this game.”

(on the Giants pass rush) “They have a good pass rush. I felt we pass blocked them pretty well, but they have a good pass rushers. They put some pressure on us.”

(on if he was surprised that running back Ahmad Bradshaw tried to stop himself before crossing the goal line) “He got past the line. I don’t know.”

(on how much respect he has for this team and the way they prepared) “I have a lot of respect for this team. I’m proud of this team. I’m proud to be the coach of this team. (I’m) proud of the way they fought and performed all year. They gave their best tonight. It’s just, we were short by not very much. We were short.”

(on if Rob Gronkowski not being 100 percent affected Tom Brady early on) “I don’t know. I wouldn’t say so.”

(on scoring on the opening drive of the second half and what the Giants did to not let them score again) “I wouldn’t say anything that they haven’t done previously, new plays or anything like that.”

(on if he had won, would retirement have entered his mind) “I’m just here to talk about the game.”

(on whose responsibility does it fall for the 12-men-on-the-field infraction) “It’s obviously a mistake. It’s a coach’s substitution and we just, obviously, made a mistake there, just like they (Giants) did on the last play of the game there. They made a mistake.”

(on the pass Eli Manning threw to Mario Manningham) “He made a great play on the sideline. The coverage was tight, but it was a good throw and a good catch. Still wasn’t much space there, but the ball was in there and he made a great catch. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes you play good defense and they make a great throw and a great catch.”

(on how they played against Eli Manning) “I thought we played very competitively all night. (We were) a couple plays short.”

(on why Eli Manning is so successful in fourth quarters) “He’s a good player, we all know that. They have a good offense, they’re well coached, they have a good offensive football team. They have a good quarterback, running backs, tight ends, good receivers, good offensive line and they’re a good football team.”