Harrison promises results, not excuses

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Rodney Harrison said he wanted to study film before he could put a final wrap on the Patriots' 27-17 loss yesterday to the Carolina Panthers, but the veteran safety already knows what happened. Anyone watching the game knows and those who participated in this struggle of Super Bowl XXXVIII combatants on a 90-degree day know even better.

''We're 1-1, which means we have a lot of work to do, which was evident after the Oakland Raiders game last week," Harrison said. ''If after we watch the film we don't correct ourselves and learn from all of our mistakes, we're going to keep losing games. We have an awfully tough one coming up [Sunday against Pittsburgh], so we'd better get it straightened out."

Harrison didn't necessarily agree the Patriots were outmuscled yesterday. In fact, he didn't think the issue of which team was more physical was even worth mentioning because, ''We lost. All that matters is wins and losses, not who was more physical. Who cares?"

In fact, nothing about the Panthers, who played with a sense of urgency after last week's 23-20 loss to New Orleans, surprised Harrison.

Harrison believes the team ''shot ourselves in the foot" on several occasions, including his own unnecessary roughness penalty on the tail end of a Stephen Davis run early in the second half. The infraction helped fuel a drive that was capped by John Kasay's 52-yard field goal, increasing the hosts' lead to 20-7.

''You can't keep shooting yourself in the foot and expect to keep making plays," said Harrison, making reference to New England's 12 penalties for 86 yards. ''Carolina played a better game that we did. We had opportunities but we didn't take advantage of them. We made mistakes, dumb penalties, missed tackles, dropped passes. We dropped a couple of balls that should have been interceptions. I could name so many different things. Some days you just have to chalk it up to having a bad day, but learn from it and move on. [You have to] see where you went wrong and where you can get better. There's room for every guy in this room to get better. That's what we plan on doing."

With a few jams between players, some shouting and shoving, and a lot of general chippiness, this was more than your typical game. There was a little more juice on the field than usual. The Panthers were playing without two-time Pro Bowler Kris Jenkins on the defensive line but still managed to penetrate New England's offensive front on a regular basis.

Harrison was part of a makeshift secondary (what else is new?) with injured cornerback Tyrone Poole back in Foxborough and Randall Gay sidelined by a second-quarter leg injury.

''You adjust [to injuries] during a football game, that's no excuse," said Harrison, who had a team-high eight tackles. ''You always adjust personnel-wise and scheme-wise. That's never an excuse. It's just a matter of us getting it done. Even though you got two corners hurt right now you still have to tackle [and you] still have to execute. You still have to knock balls down and you still have to catch balls."

Harrison said the team had a very productive week of practice, normally a good indicator heading into Sunday. That wasn't the case this week. Harrison said the team even practiced in a couple of 90-degree days which proved to be a good replica of yesterday's conditions.

''You can have a great week of practice but you have to play well on that game day," Harrison said. ''You have to play well on Sunday at 1 p.m. Practicing well gives you confidence and things like that, but you have to play well on Sunday."

Another thing that was lacking were the proper adjustments at halftime.

The Patriots didn't seem to make too many, or at least too many that worked. Halftime adjustments have been a hallmark of recent Patriot teams. Departed coordinators Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel were adept at adjusting on the fly.

''Without getting into specifics of what we did, at halftime we knew we had to play better football," Harrison said. ''We had opportunities. We have to raise our level. We have to make more plays and we did that partially from a defensive standpoint, but not enough. They were able to run the ball and do some things on short yardage near the goal line. They had success. We'll see what happens on the film."

Harrison respects the Panthers for their ability to play with such intensity.

''They play football. They play football," said Harrison, who repeated himself for emphasis. ''These teams have respect for one another, but I think they have a real strong dislike for one another. They wanted this game whether it be for their fans or coming off a disappointing loss. They wanted to use this game to gauge where they were at. We can slice it up and chop it up all we want, they won. You always have respect for a team like that. We knew they were going to come at us and be pretty physical. They have big-play guys on this team offensively, defensively, as well as special teams. It's nothing that we didn't anticipate. We give them a lot of credit but we didn't play the game we normally play."

Harrison was part of the scrum that appeared to prevent Davis from crossing the goal line in the first quarter, though officials ruled he broke the plane. Though replays indicated Davis never scored, the play was never challenged by the Patriots staff.

''Coach [Bill Belichick] is in charge of that, not me," Harrison said.