Pats chatter

Comments from the Patriots' locker room:

WR Kelley Washington
(On the blocked punt)
"When I see a left-footed punter, I rushed in from the right side and got an opportunity to make a play. The wing was playing kind of soft and I just felt myself driving him back and before you know it I was right on the punter. You know I always try to make big plays for the special teams and it was a big play right before the half. It was just great execution as a team."

(On the punt earlier that Willie Andrews knocked back from the end zone and Washington downed)
"We practice those plays all the time and that was just great execution by Willie getting down there and hitting the ball and me backing him up and being right there to down the ball. Once again it’s just putting to work what we practice all the time and it was just great execution as a special teams group."

WR Jabar Gaffney
(On how the conditions affected the passing game)
"It affected it a little bit; the ball was a little wet and with the way the wind was blowing it made it a little tough. So it makes you do a lot of short passes instead of stretching the field a little more. Overall we got it done."

RB Kevin Faulk
(On the running game being the focus of the offense)
"If we wanted to win, we had to run the ball. That’s something that we came into the game knowing that we had to do and that’s something that we try to do. Whatever we have to do to win the game, that’s it. If we have to throw it underhand to win, that’s what we’ll do. It’s just a fact about doing your job and knowing that the guy beside you is going to do his job."

RB Laurence Maroney
(On getting consistent carries)
"You get a feel for the game. After you run a play a couple of times, you get a feel of how the defense is going to play it now and where you can make a person miss or where the hole might be. Running the ball a lot today, it gave me a chance to know where things were going to be before they happened."

(On developing the running game)
"Coming into the game we knew that when we ran the ball for the first two quarters it was going to be real difficult. We weren’t going to break one and we were usually going to have to stick with it and pound for two, pound for three. Eventually the defense was going to get tired and three-yard [runs] were going to turn into four and five and hopefully you’d break one. It was basically running downhill because you can’t make too many cuts on this bad field in the rain like this."

LB Tedy Bruschi
(on Richard Seymour forcing the first interception)
"That was a great hit. Usually when you have a ball like that, that sort of flutters and is short of the target, you have to look back to the rush and say he got a hand on his elbow or he was able to pummel him like Seymour did. He’s such a dominant force in there and whenever he explodes on someone like that - is able to finish a quarterback like that - you take notice."

LT Matt Light
(On the benefit of having that established with the possibility of playing games like this in January)
"You have to be able to play in what Mother Nature gives you. I think we’re a good running team. I don’t think we’ve necessarily come out and run the ball a whole lot, obviously, in the last three weeks, but we can run the ball. We’ve got guys that are good at seeing what’s going on up front and making good blocks. These are just things that we’re going to have to keep developing all the way into the playoffs."

S Rodney Harrison
(On red zone defense)
"It just helps us continue to build confidence. We were probably 31st or 32nd in the league so there was no other place to go but up as far as our red zone defense. The defense came out. We had guys like Adalius [Thomas] - he played his butt off. Junior Seau played tremendous football and the defense just rallied, stuck together regardless of the situation or the circumstance, and we persevered."

(On Richard Seymour’s play)
"Richard, he played tremendous. He’s a consummate pro, a guy that’s working his butt of to get back and trying to get back to form. He’s a guy that you’re happy for because you’ve seen his progress and coming off the knee injury, which I understand. It’s tough."