Pats chatter

Comments from the Patriots' locker room:

RB Laurence Maroney
(On how it felt to play a big part in the win)
"It felt good. You had a lot of critics talking about our running game and the productivity of the running game early on in the season. It felt good to go out there and run the clock out with the running game."

(On if the team ran the ball more because of Tom Brady’s struggles)
"Well, you never know what to expect. We come into the game and we try to be balanced. Hopefully, the pass will work. If the pass doesn’t work, hopefully the run will work. I really didn’t know what to expect or how many carries I was going to get. I just know that whenever they did call my name I was going to be ready."

(On how things changed in the second half)
"They played tough the first half, they played tough the second half but it seemed like they started giving ground in the second half. We just kept pounding them and kept pounding them and eventually those little two-yard runs started breaking into eight and ten yard runs."

CB Ellis Hobbs
(on red zone defense)
"Big, big. You talk about time after time how offense puts people in the seats, but defense wins championships. Tonight you saw that how time and time again those guys got into the red zone and time and time again we kept saying no, no not today. We were making them score field goals. Eventually the offense started clicking and we just got rolling, like I said it was a team effort."

TE Kyle Brady
(On running more tight formations -- with three tight ends -- in the second half)
"Well we had all those things in our package coming in, in our game plan, and (the Chargers) weren’t necessarily going all cover 2. There was a lot of times when we were in there, where they were rotating safeties down to try to prevent things we wanted to do in the running game. So in the second half, I think we just committed to it a little more and got a good feeling when a few of the plays went well. That always makes it a little easier for an offensive coordinator to continue with certain personnel and play calls. I think we did that and really started to kind of roll."

C Dan Koppen
(on the final drive)
"It was great. You always want to end the game with the ball. To put together a drive like that in the biggest game of the year, I couldn’t have pictured it any differently."

S Rodney Harrison
(on winning the AFC title)
"I think, the older that you get, the more you appreciate the opportunities that you get. When you get older, those opportunities start winding down because you can’t play football forever. It’s pretty special to be a part of this team: 18-0 and just to have the opportunity to go to Arizona after all the distractions and everything that was said and everything that was done with this team. To keep that focus, I’m just proud of it."

TE Benjamin Watson
(on the running game)
"Well I mean its always been there, but, you know, we’ve just been going another route for most of the year, and now as time starts to get colder and its harder and harder to throw the ball, so we’re starting to run it. And Laurence does a great job, Heath, all our backs, Kevin, do a great job of hitting that hole and making plays."