Patriots chatter

INDIANAPOLIS -- Comments from Patriots players after the team's 18-15 loss to the Colts:

TE David Thomas
(on his personal foul)
“It was a mistake by me. Obviously they called it and I feel that it was a critical mistake by me and it really cost the team.”

WR Jabar Gaffney
(on putting extra pressure on himself for dropping a pass)
“They rely on me to make catches in tough situations. It’s the fourth quarter to put us up, they came back kicked a field goal and end up winning by three. If I make that touchdown we are up by one instead of down by three.”

OT Matt Light
(general comments)
“It was a kind of game we expected. It was going to come down to the fourth quarter and it was a hard-fought game. We had a chance to win it at the end. It didn’t work out that way. It was what it is. I thought we took what we could get. I think we did a good job of managing how we were going to play the game, the style in which we were going to go out there and it felt like as we went, we got better and we were sustaining drives. It was a good performance. They’re a good defense and I felt we did a good job of executing our game plan.”

LB Adalius Thomas
(on the game)
“The margin of error is always small. It’s like a division game, a rivalry. We didn’t play well enough as a defense. We go back to the drawing board, make corrections, and move forward ... When you lose, nothing is good enough. We knew they were an explosive team. They have guys who can catch the ball and they did a good job.”

CB Ellis Hobbs
(on the defensive effort)
“If you don’t play the game and you just draw it up on paper you think you are going to come out with a W. I think that’s why it hurts that much more. You have to take it for what it is. We are still 5-3. We go from here and we continue to play. We have an eight-game season, some division games coming up. It hurts right now. Just like a win, I take it for what it is today and then tomorrow it is out of my system.”

(on being confident going into the game with the Colts’ offensive firepower)
“Yeah, we were confident. This isn’t the first time I have played these guys. It’s not the first time that we have had success against these guys. We knew those were their powerhouses right there, (WR) Marvin (Harrison) and (WR-Reggie) Wayne, we stopped them. (WR-Anthony) Gonzalez stepped it up for them actually in the slot. It is what it is. It’s tough. You come in with a game plan and you execute for the most part, but it still doesn’t go your way, you have some question marks. You don’t know what is going on. It happens.”

(on being surprised that the Colts ran so much with all of the shuffling that has been going on in the Patriots’ secondary)
“I think so. But when you talk about a secondary shuffling, to shuffle and have guys coming in and not knowing what to do is one thing, but we got enough guys back there that get enough reps during camp, and throughout practices where once they are called upon those guys know what to do. It’s just a matter of getting them into the flow of the game and then just executing. We have enough guys back there who know what they are doing to cover up.”