Madden, Taylor on Pats

NBC held a conference call today with play-by-play announcer Al Michaels, analyst John Madden, studio analyst Jerome Bettis and Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor.

The Patriots came up a few times during the call.

A couple of nuggets:

JOHN MADDEN
"They never say you're flying under the radar when you're the New England Patriots. All the accolades that they get, they deserve them. They played so well. [When] you watch them offensively, they were darn near perfect, defensively they were perfect. They have great talent that plays well and is coached well. They're just fun to watch. When you're America's team, what that means is that there's a large part of the people that are rooting for you but there's also going to be a large part of the people that are rooting against you. I think what makes for America's team is not everyone loves them. The original America's team was the Dallas Cowboys. There were those people that loved them because they were America's team but there were a heck of a lot of people that hated them because they were America's team. I don't know that everyone loves the Patriots but what they've done and what they're doing, you sure as hell have to respect."

JASON TAYLOR
"I watched the [Giants] game against the Patriots the other night like everybody else did in America, the effort and the way the Giants played and their approach to the game was great. I was proud of those guys and honestly proud of the Patriots and what they were able to accomplish."