On what his emotions are right now:

“Disappointed. I think we obviously didn’t play very well, and if you don’t play very well against a good team, it’s not going to be very competitive. It’s unfortunate. We just couldn’t make any critical plays when we needed to.

On the fact they threw it so much compared to how many rushes they had and if that was a function of getting behind or if that was part of the game plan:

“We got behind in the second half there and became one-dimensional and just couldn’t string enough good plays together to get the ball in the end zone.”

On the fact he said earlier in the season that the toughness of their team is defined by being able to run the ball when other teams know it’s coming and if he felt they were able to do that tonight:

“You know, I’ll have to see the film. Whatever we did, we didn’t execute it very well. The name of the game is execution and if you don’t execute well against a good team, you’re not going to come up on the winning end.”

On the fact they had so many positive plays on early downs:

“Yeah, we stayed on track for the most part, avoided some negative plays. But they make it tough on you. They’re a good team, a very good defense. They kept the pressure on and we just didn’t really stand up to the challenge.”

On the fact he said how precious it was to be in the AFC championship game but how disappointing it is to not be on the winning end of it:

“Well, it’s part of the competition. You have the opportunity to win the game and we came up short. There’s frustration in that we wish we could have done better. But they’re not going to give it to you. We didn’t earn it. They earned it. They played a good game.”

On what happened at the end of the first half:

“Well, we had one timeout left so we were trying to save that for the field goal. We would’ve loved to have gotten the touchdown there but we settled for the field goal to go out, whatever it was, 13-7 at the half. We felt pretty good about where we were at halftime, we just didn’t come out in the second half and execute very well.”

On if there’s a little shock to the system now that there’s no more games left:

“Yeah, well it always comes to a screeching halt. That’s just the way it is. There’s only two teams that advance and those two teams deserve it. We’ve lost before, it takes a while to get over.”

On if by the way it was set up for them, if he feels this was an opportunity lost:

“Yeah, I think being in the situation of the playoffs, it’s always an opportunity lost when you lose because you know, we think we have a pretty good team. We just didn’t play well.”

OPENING STATEMENT:

“Obviously a disappointing end to an overall pretty positive season. But tonight we just didn’t do enough things well enough to win. Give the Ravens credit, they’re a good football team. They just outplayed us and outcoached us tonight. Just made more plays than we did and that’s pretty much the story.”

On the changes the Ravens made in the second half that made things more difficult for them to score points:

“They did a good job. I wouldn’t say there was anything that they didn’t do in the first half, they just did a better job than we did.”

On how the injury to Aqib Talib affected their plans on defense:

“We had to make some adjustments. We lost Kyle [Love],we lost Talib…”

On if he was disappointed in their pass rush:

“Well, I just don’t think anything was really as good as it needed to be tonight. Gave up too many points, didn’t score enough, so… I’d say we probably came up a little short in every area.”

On how disappointed he is hat they measure success in winning championships, yet they haven’t won a Super Bowl in eight years:

“I don’t know. Just focused on this game.”

On his thoughts on the Ridley fumble and whether not he thought Ridley was down:

“It was the official’s call.”

On his thoughts on the call:

“It’s their call. They ruled it a turnover so it’s an official review – it’s not anything I can do.”

On if he had a chance to see the replay and his thoughts on the result:

“It doesn’t make any difference. The officials call the game.”

On if he thought Welker’s third down drop changed the game:

“Well, there’s a lot of plays in the game. There’s a lot of things that we could’ve done better – all of us. So I guess that it just really wasn’t good enough. Wasn’t as good as the Ravens tonight. So that’s why they’re moving on and we’re not. They were just better than we were in really everything.”

On how disappointed that he was that they didn’t take advantage of the field position that they had and the Ravens didn’t have in the first half:

“We are obviously disappointed that we didn’t win. I said that right off the bat. We’re disappointed in the results. What else do you want me to say?”

On how big he felt the field position was in the first half

“I don’t know. It was certainly to our advantage. We had a 13-7 lead. But look, we missed a lot of opportunities tonight. We were 1-for-3 in the red area, couldn’t stop them in the red area. So like I said, we gave up too many points and didn’t score enough.”

On how losing Talib early in the game affected what they wanted to do defensively and if it had any effect on the game plan:

“We had to make some adjustments, yes.”

On if he wanted to match up Talib on a particular receiver in the game and couldn’t do it after he got hurt:

“We had to make some adjustments on what we were doing. When Kyle went out, and when Talib without, we had to make some adjustments there. But I mean, that’s the National Football League.”

On what happened on the last drive in the first half and the fact by the time they got back to the line of scrimmage they only had four seconds left:

“Because if we had snapped the ball and run the play I think if we hadn’t scored, we wouldn’t of had time to get another play off. So we wanted to take the three points.”

On if there was any thought of calling in the immediate timeout after Tom Brady slid:

“Well, not really because I thought we could get up there and, whatever, we wanted to try and get up there and clock it and have time to run a play and have the timeout to kick the field goal. So no, not really. I guess if we had known that it would’ve taken as long as it did to get the football finally clocked, but then we didn’t get a great look on the play. Tom actually called timeout at the same time I did, so we just didn’t have it.”

On if they made any adjustments in the second half that hurt them offensively:

“Did they make any?”

Yes:

“No, I thought they pretty much played what they played in the second half, that’s what they played in the first half.”

On his thoughts on their run game tonight:

“I think everything could’ve been a little better. That’s the bottom line. Nothing was really good enough. A lot of things were okay. It was competitive, but it wasn’t just as good as the Ravens tonight in any area. So we just came up short.”

On the punt from the 35 if there is any thought about going for a field goal and if the wind influence the decision:

“No. There was no thought of kicking a field goal.”

On how big Shane Vereen was today:

“Yeah, you know there were a bunch of guys that made good plays. Shane had a great game, just a huge growing up moment for him – very special. It was for everybody, a lot of guys made a lot of plays. We needed it. It was a good football team, a lot of good players but we’ve got another one coming in next week.”

On his thoughts on passing Joe Montana for most postseason wins:

“Well, I hope I’m around for a few more years. I know this was an important win for our team and that’s always the number one goal for me.”

On how hard it was to make the adjustments after Danny Woodhead and Rob Gronkowski went down with injuries:

“Well I think that’s been the mark of our team. We’ve won 11 of 12, we were down 31 to 3 at home and battled back. I think we’re going to be in it. We’ve got a lot of tough guys, mentally tough guys. You know, whatever happens, like what happened on the first play of the game, you’ve got to overcome it. We made some key plays when we needed to, Shane made them, Wes made them, Brandon made them, so it was a great effort. The offensive line was awesome, as usual.”

On his thoughts on losing Rob Gronkowski for the playoffs:

“I don’t know anything about that. I haven’t heard anything.”

On if he ever imagined passing Joe Montana as a kid:

“Well I love playing and I love competing, I love being a part of this team and this organization. It’s a lot of mentally tough guys and I think I’ve just been fortunate to play on some great teams over the years. I very much appreciate that. I never take it for granted and I’m always going to try to be the best teammate and leader I can possibly be.”

On if he’s disappointed that won’t be a Brady/Manning matchup:

“Well, you know I think the two best teams are in the finals. I mean Baltimore certainly deserves to be here and so do we. So it’s very fitting. We played them earlier in the year, they got us, we blew a pretty big lead there at the end but we’re going to have to play our best game this week.”

On if his mind’s already clicked forward a little bit: 

“I’m tired man.  There’s a lot of emotional energy spent. I mean it’s a big buildup to the week, four days of practice and you’re up and you’re down, you’re up and you’re down, I’m tired. I’m ready to go home.”

On if it was disappointing seeing Rob Gronkowksi leave the game:

“Sure. Like I said we had a whole plan built for him and for [Danny Woodhead] and we run the first series of the game and then all those plans change. I think a little bit was, ‘What are we going to do now? How are we going to adjust?’ But you know, we seemed to settle in there midway through the first quarter and put together a pretty good game. Obviously it’s a bummer to lose anybody, but somebody of Rob’s importance or Danny’s importance, we need guys to step in and fill the void whether it’s this game or any game hereafter.”

On how much they really changed the plans they had or if they just did it with different guys:

“Well, there’s adjustments. Like I said we have certain plays for certain guys. Rob and Danny are a big part of the plan but that’s what Josh [McDaniels] does best. He gets guys in the best position to make plays and always comes up with a way to adapt and scheme things up and third down, and red area, and there’s no one better in the league.”

On the explanation given to him late in the game on the play were Stevan Ridley was still fighting for yards but the play was blown dead:

“I wasn’t happy. He [the official] wasn’t happy either but that’s part of the game. He’s a good official, I mean all the best officials are working this weekend. So I think it’s just the heat of the moment. I get excited, but it’s always good.”

Opening statement:

“Well it’s good to be able to play in the AFC championship game next week. I’m really proud of our players. I thought they worked hard all year. Today was a big win for us. The Texans are a good football team. They fought hard. They battled us all the way to the end. They’ve got a lot of good football players but fortunately we had a bunch of guys step up today and make the plays that we needed to make. It wasn’t perfect, there are certainly a lot of things we could do better. But it was a good win. I’m happy for the players. I think they really earned it. They a good week of practice. I thought they really did a good job preparing for this game and it was good to see us make enough plays here to win. We know Baltimore’s tough, we had a great game with them down there earlier in the season. We know that’ll be a battle next week but we’ll enjoy this one for a little while and then get on to the Ravens tomorrow.”

On how much the impact of losing Danny Woodhead and Rob Gronkowksi had on them:

“Well, [Michael Hoomanawanui] and Shane [Vereen] stepped in there and both did a great job for us. I mean Shane obviously made a lot of big plays, but Hooman to great job too, as he’s been doing for the last month. These kind of games you never really know when the dial spins, who it’s going to end up on in those guys were prepared. Offensively we were able to move the ball, put up some points, so it’s a credit to everybody to be ready.”

On if Rob Gronkowksi broke his arm again:

“I’m not sure.”

On if he went to the hospital…

“Look, I just walked off the field, I don’t know.”

On how big Devin McCourty was, stopping Houston on the opening kickoff from returning the kick all the way for a touchdown:

“Yeah, it was a huge play. Devin’s done that a couple of times for us. It was great speed, tracking Manning down. Obviously Manning did a great job. You know, they hadn’t used him on kickoff returns all year until last week and he led the league in Chicago. We have a lot of respect for him, we knew what he could do. We didn’t do a very good job most of the time. But that was a huge play by Devin to really end up saving three points. Our defense when in there, had a big stop on the sudden change on a big return. So that was really a huge series in the game. Didn’t get off to a good start but at least minimized the damage of three points.”

On if there were any questions whether or not Rob Gostkowski was ready to return because it’s the same injury:

“He wouldn’t have played if he wasn’t.”

On if he has any regrets and playing him being as he suffered the same injury:

“The doctors handle the medical decisions.”

On the play of Rob Ninkovich and what he means to the defense:

“I mean Rob’s been productive for us all year. He’s had a great season. His production’s right up there at the very top of the league at his position. He’s made big plays for us in the past, you know sacks, strips, fumbles, recovered fumbles, tackles for a loss, all that. You know he’s got good hands, he’s had many interceptions before and made a great play on the ball there. We blitzed from the outside, he dropped out inside, got underneath the route and really made a great catch on the ball. It was a high, tough catch but Rob’s a good athlete and he makes it look easy. Catches the ball very well. That was huge play for us, big stop and then we were able to convert that into points offensively. That was a big key play in the game for us.”

On what they did schematically to control J.J. Watt during the game:

“Well, you know I think you just have to give credit to the guys up front. It’s not about X’s and O’s, somebody’s got block ‘em, whether it was Dan [Connolly] or [Ryan Wendell] or Logan [Mankins]. Of course he moves around a little bit and when they stunt, he can end up out there on the tackles too, Sebastian [Vollmer] had him a bunch. I mean whoever has to block him just has to block him. You know, they run games and they him around a little bit and he’s a great football player. But the credit goes to the players. You don’t block him on the chalkboard. You’ve got to get out there and block him and just credit the offensive line and the backs. The backs did a good job reading the holes and getting through there. We tried not to dance around, we found some daylight and Stevan [Ridley] and Shane [Vereen] hit it and so it’s good execution in the running game there at times too.”

On Tom Brady passing Joe Montana’s playoff win record:

“Of course Tom’s meant a lot to us since he’s been here. He started winning these playoff games the first year he really got a chance to participate in them.  Tom’s a great competitor, he had a great week of preparation as he always does for every game but especially the playoff games. He’s our leader and we all follow him, we all respect him and he led the team today along with a lot of other guys but he certainly did his part as he’s done many times before. [There’s] no quarterback I’d rather have than Tom Brady.”

On the mismatches they created with Shane Vereen:

“Well, we used some different formations to try to move some people around and as Tom usually does, he finds the best matchups depending on the route in the coverage and so forth. He does a great job getting the ball to the guys that have a good opportunity to win on those routes. A lot of credit goes to Tom for finding them, but also to Shane for running good routes, catching the ball in tight coverage, running after the catch, all those things. Obviously it’s something we worked on during the week and when Tom saw matchups that he liked out there, he was able to take advantage of them.”

On the fact they matched up Aqib Talib with Andre Johnson and how big of an advantage it is a defense to have a guy that can run with an All-Pro:

“It was a great battle. It was two good football players. Johnson’s a great receiver. I mean, he’s arguably one or two of all-time – he’s tremendous. He’s big, fast, he’s got great hands, good route runner.  Aqib competed with him, every down just like he did in the first half of the first game. That’s two good football players and that’s battle. We didn’t give him a lot of help. Johnson caught a few, but Aqib battled him pretty well there.  So it was a good match up.”

On the fact they were able to do a good job stopping them on third down:

“We had them in some long yardage situations, which are good that we had them in the third quarter in a couple of long yardage situations before Rob’s interception to let them off the hook. But third-down starts on first and second down and it just comes down to team defense. Good pass rush, good coverage and keeping the yardage longer by playing better on first and second down.  I thought we did a good job in the running game until we got to that last drive in the second quarter.  [Arian] Foster hit a couple runs there to the weak side in the score before the half but because we were able to hold off a few of those runs that put them in some third long situations, but it was good team defense. I don’t think it’s any one guy. But third-down is obviously critical for us and our red area stop was big too.”

On the difference between Arian Foster and Ray Rice:

“Well, they’re both great backs. They’re both great backs. I mean, Foster’s really, he’s fast, he’s really fast. Not that Rice isn’t, I mean we’ve seen Rice unfortunately, we’ve seen the back of his jersey a couple of times.  Foster really does a good job of hitting the crease and he gains a lot of yards just on his speed running away from people – similar to Chris Johnson. I’m not saying that fast, but that type of guy. So they’re different…they’re different.  They’re both good.”

On the fact they relied on Wes Welker early in the game and on his catch on the sideline:

“Yeah, it was a great catch. You know, Wes – he’s tremendous receiver, great competitor. We felt like at times there was a good match up with him in the slot and he did a good job in there. Again, Tom made some good throws and Wes is tough to cover. Tom had some good weapons to work with and he was able to move the ball around and get it to a bunch of them. We had good balance offensively overall. It was pretty good.”

On how much he looks forward to going up against Ed Reed:

“I don’t look forward to it at all. I’m glad were playing him, let’s put it that way. Ed’s a great football player. The Ravens have an obviously outstanding team – defense, special teams, offense, they’re good all the way around, very well coached. We thought that they were as tough as anybody we’ve played all year. We had a great game with them down there at the beginning of the season and so now it comes back to a rematch of last year’s AFC championship game. We know it will be tough and hopefully we can play our best game next week.”

On the Foster challenge and the fact it looked like his elbow was down:

“It sure did. But it wasn’t short. I thought we had the ball out there in the third quarter on that fumble and they ruled forward progress, so we couldn’t challenge the play. They ruled him down by forward progress. That was a tough call. Then the fourth down call which we were able to stop them on fourth down on the sequence, but still that was a huge play there. It looked like, I thought, when his elbow went down the ball hadn’t crossed the line but evidently they didn’t see enough evidence for that. Those were couple of calls – the one we would’ve challenged but we couldn’t because it was forward progress. And then the touchdown catch, the official right on the spot thought the ball was moving and called incomplete and then that one got overturned so you’d have to ask officials exactly what they saw. I think it’s kind of what we saw.”

On his thoughts on seeing this playoff rivalry with Tom Brady coming in as a sixth round pick:

“I don’t know. I think right now our focus is just happy to win this game and get on to Baltimore and we can reflect on some other year some other time.”

On the fact the ravens a to come in here on an emotional high and how they’re going to match the intensity:

“Look, they’re great football team. They’re well coached, they have a lot of outstanding players, they’ve got some great veteran players. They’ve got guys that can score, guys that can rush, guys that can defend, guys that can return, guys that can cover. I mean look, that’s why they’re here. If you’re playing at this time of year, each game gets tougher, each game gets bigger, each game gets tougher. I think the ravens certainly showed how physically and mentally tough they were to go out there and come from behind and the Denver in a tough environment. That showed a lot of character, resiliency and toughness. Our game with them this year, our game with them last year went down to the last possession, the last play – however you want to look at it. And there are other games with them over the years that usually come down to the final possession and sometimes the final play. Even going all the way back to ’09, unfortunately not the playoff game, but the regular-season. So that’s what we’re going to prepare for this week – a tough team mentally and physically that has a lot of talent, that’s very confident. They’ve gone on the road and won so we know that they’ll, I mean I don’t think that will phase them. I we just got a go out there and play and coach better than they do and that will be a big challenge. But that’s we have to do.”

Steve Burton interviewed Derrick Martin during the 5th Quarter following Sunday’s win over the Dolphins, and here’s a transcript of the interview:

First of all, seven sacks on the day and you got one, so congratulations on that.  How sweet was this victory?

“It was great. Coach wanted us to get out there and start fast and we were able to do that. We started fast on offense, defense and special teams and then we finished strong.”

This defense didn’t start out so great earlier in the year, but you weren’t here. Derrick Martin didn’t even get here until, what, week eight?

“Week eight.”

And they had to call you where?

“I was at the house, man [Laughs].”

Let me explain Derrick Martin’s situation [looks at the camera]. He’s been in the NFL for seven years and each year he’s gone to the playoffs, how lucky is that?

“I’ve been real lucky. I’ve been blessed with being on great teams, good quarterbacks, good coaches, gets you to the playoffs.”

Right timing?

“Right timing [nods].”

But you were at home when the Patriots called?

“Yeah, definitely. Nick [Caserio] gave me a call and called me out.  I was out here for Training Camp and I guess they liked what I did a little bit, they were able to bring me back.”

And you were with the Giants last year, we won’t go there [smiles].  But you were there and all of a sudden you guys win it all and…

“Yeah man, I’ve been getting used to it. I like winning, I was in Green Bay the year before that, the Giants last year, the Patriots this year. Good coach, good quarterback, the sky’s the limit.”

How far do you think this football team can go and before you even answer that question, did you know that you were up for a first-round bye before this game even started?

“We were aware, but we focused on the next game, the next team ahead. We can go as far as we can and as far as the team takes us. We’re going to show up next week for whoever plays us, going to try to beat them first. That’s how you’ve got to do it, take it one step at a time.”

Do you think this defense is peaking right at the right time?

“Definitely man. We got a good defense. Everybody’s covering good, the rushers are rushing well….”

Yeah, I mentioned seven sacks that means that’s good coverage in the backfield?

“Definitely good coverage. The young guys are stepping up, Justin Francis had three.”

Undrafted rookie mind you, Justin Francis.

“Trevor Scott had one, so the young guys are stepping up and he was able to call my number couple of times and was able to sneak me in there and get me one.”

What did Belichick say to this team after the game? Because he comes to the podium, you don’t get a chance to see has postgame pressers, and he just down plays everything. But in that locker room, what’s he telling you guys?

“Pretty much the same thing he told you guys, ‘You guys did a good job, were going to come out here Monday and we’re going to talk about what happened, be ready for next week’.”

So even though it is a bye, you still have to come back to work tomorrow, you don’t even get tomorrow off?

“We’ll be here. We’ve got to see what we did wrong on film. It was a good game, but there were some mistakes, some down plays, and we’ve just got to shore up on those things and make sure we’re ready for whoever comes out here.”

What was it like to get Gronk back in the lineup?

“Oh man, it’s great. He’s a huge target and Tom [Brady] loves him. Whenever he can throw the ball anywhere over there and he can catch the ball, that’s awesome.”

And it was good to see him find the end zone again.

“Definitely.”

On how big of an advantage it is to have a bye and be playing at home for the next game:

“That’s big. Coming in knowing that we’re going to be playing at home, I think we take pride in playing at home, we love to play in front of our fans. The biggest thing is we’ll get another week to get some guys healthy and get them ready to go, and then give us a chance to really fix some things we need to fix and get ready to go for whoever we play.”

On what he feels they need to fix:

“We’ll see that. Coach will come in here tomorrow and he never falls short of having a bunch of things that we need to fix. He’ll go over the film and I think since I’ve been here, there’s probably no coach that gets you better prepared to go into the playoffs. I think for us as a team we just need to be ready to come in here tomorrow, focus on whatever coach Belichick has for us and get those things done. Because if we get them done, we’ll be in good shape.”

On what the bye week does for the mentally:

“I think it gives you a chance to really focus on whatever you need to focus on, especially a bye week like this where we won’t know who we’re playing. It will give us a chance to really focus on ourselves and try to improve in that week. I think we have to do a good job this week of just trying to improve and get better. This time of the year it’s all about going out and playing your best in each one of those games because there’s no game after that if you don’t play well.”

On how far this team has come since the beginning of the year:

“I think we’ve improved each week. I think that’s something that we talked about and we said we needed to do and I think we’ve done a good job of that. But I think the most important thing is this time right now. How much better can we get going into these last games. Going in, we don’t know if there will be at a tomorrow so we have to come out and play our best. We can’t afford to come out and have one bad game.  So I think this group has shown a lot of character and a lot of determination to go out there and play. Even games that we fell short this year, we fought all the way to the end. So we’re going to have to just use that ability and that character going in to these games.”

On how nice it is to get the shutout and use this going into the playoffs:

“I think the most important thing is we came out, we played well. We talked about all week as a defense to come out, play well our last game of the season and to come out and give yourself confidence coming out and playing well and I thought we did a good job of that. We’ll fix a couple plays we had, but we came out overall and played pretty good on defense.”

On after getting seven sacks if there’s another level this defense can get to:

“Yeah, I think we have to. Going into the playoffs we won’t be the only team going to the next level. I think everyone knows once you go into the playoffs, team step it up a notch. We’re going to have to do our part and try to step it up and match teams going into these playoffs. If we keep improving and getting better, we’ll be able to get there.”

On the fact they shut out the Dolphins and ended up with a first-round bye:

“Yeah, it was kind of a late Christmas present so, we accept.”

On what it was like having Gronkowski back:

“Yeah, he made a couple of big catches. It’s nice to get him back in the flow of things. We used everybody so it was exciting to have everybody out there at once for the first time all season. So we’ll use the bye, hopefully come back strong in a couple weeks.”

On the fact he was a little cranky last week during his press conference and if it’s a little different this week and if he’s happy with the execution in the elements:

“Yeah, it was tough out there, it was cold and pretty windy. We handled it better than the Dolphins most importantly.”

On when he found out that the Colts had beaten the Texans:

“When we came in after pregame warm-ups,”

On if there was much said about it:

“Not really. Coach Belichick said, ‘Look, the only people that can improve our position is us. So regardless of what anyone else does, we have to win,’ and that’s what we did.”

On if his performance makes him feel like their close to where they want to be heading into the playoffs:

“Well, we’ve won 10 of 11 so it’s pretty good. We were 2-3 at one point, which [we] had some tough games early in the year and winning 10 of 11 and the only loss was against a pretty good football team where we turned it over four times. So if we don’t turn it over four times I like our chances.

On how much she’s learned about this team the season and how much more he thinks he still needs to find out:

“We’re just going to keep battling. I think that’s why you play them all. You don’t make, at the halfway point… you know, at Thanksgiving, you kind of see where the teams are positioned but you got to play all sixteen. You put them all together you see where you stand and we compete against everybody so we’ll take our time to get some guys healed up and then hopefully get ready to go when we find out whoever we play.”

On some of the things there able to do when they have everyone in the offense on the field compared to when they had guys out:

“Well, just to use their different skill sets. Those guys, Gronk got a big Touchdown, Aaron [Hernandez] caught some pretty critical first down plays. Those are very flexible guys.  [Michael Hoomanawanui] and Daniel [Fells] played a big role so all four tight ends played, the receivers all played, it was good to see.”

OPENING STATEMENT:

“I thought it was a real good performance by our team today. Those guys really did a good job. We had a good week of practice, they were obviously ready to go today. The players played well, got good contributions from all three phases of the game and had a lot of guys step up and make plays. I don’t want a single anybody out, there were so many guys that contributed. It was a good solid effort. I’m proud of our team. So the results are what they are and we’ll see how it goes here going forward. But hopefully this’ll be a good game that we can step off from and keep working to improve and get better in our next outing.”

On if he was aware of the Houston Colts outcome before the game:

“Yeah, we got the score before the game but we can’t really worry about what everybody else is doing. We’ve got to do what we can do, and whatever else happens, happens.”

On what went into the decision to play Rob Gronkowski today:

“He was ready to play.”

On if he would still have played had Houston not lost during the early game:

“He was ready to play.”

On the fact that having just wrapped up the division title and a first-round bye he doesn’t look overjoyed:

“We wrapped up the division a month ago.  Unless I missed it…”

On the fact it’s pretty good news that they don’t have to go on the road initially and have a bye:

“Whatever it is, it is. Whatever it is, it is. When we have to play, we’ll play.”

On how big of an advantage it is in his estimation:

“I don’t know. I don’t know.”

On the play of the defensive front seven:

“They did a good job. It’s team defense and guys were covered, the quarterback had to hold the ball, that helped our pass rush, guys rushed well, guys covered well, but you know, when the receivers are open, it doesn’t matter what your pass rush is. If you make the quarterback hold the ball that helps the pass rush. It was good team defense. We did a good job in the running game. There were some long yardage situations and of course we got ahead in the game, that obviously made them have to throw more so that work to our advantage too. But it was good team defense today. Again, I couldn’t single anybody out, but the guys on the backend played well, the guys up front played well. There was a big turnover to start the game, put us in good field position early and of course Dont’a [Hightower] jumped on that fumble there down on the goal line, which… You know we had several fumbles against them in the last game and only recovered one. So it was good to be able to get that one.”

On the fact Justin Francis played well:

“Well, again I think some of that is overrated. There were several times when one guy came in and flushed the quarterback out and somebody else got him. So if we get them as a team, we get them. But they all did a good job, Justin, Chandler [Jones], Vince [Wilfork], Brandon [Deaderick], Kyle [Love], Trevor [Scott], Rob [Ninkovich], they all do a good job.”

On his thoughts on the fact Rob Ninkovich left the game in the capacity he did:

“We’ll see what it is. I don’t know, we’ll see what it is.”

On his thoughts on his team’s toughness:

“Yeah, it was certainly good today. It wasn’t too good a couple weeks ago where we handed the ball away the whole game, or the first half of it anyway. But no, it was good today. The conditions weren’t easy, but the players handled them well, they handled the ball well for the most part. I think we dropped some balls, but overall we took care of it, didn’t turn it over and that was good. We tackled okay, so I think our overall execution on today’s game on a lot of areas given the elements and all that, was good. Hopefully we can do that on a consistent basis.”

On Ninkovich’s versatility and the value that he has to the team:

“Well, he’s mainly played defensive end this year, but he’s also, of course, played in the kicking game and at times he plays some linebacker but he’s done that before in the past for us. It’s pretty common, there’s a lot of guys in the league who play linebacker that then go to rush on third down. We’re in a four-man front so he’s been rushing most of the time. He’s a tough kid, he’s very competitive and he’s got good versatility and his ability to help us in the kicking game as well as defensively over the years including this year, that’s pretty valuable too. He does a good job.”

On if he feels good about where his defense is now at the end of the season:

“I don’t know. We played good today, we’ll see what happens the next time we play. I don’t know. Every week is its own challenge so we’ll see how we do against somebody else and what that matchup is. Today they did a good job. I mean anytime you can hold a team to no points in this league, you have to be doing something right.”

OPENING STATEMENT:

“Okay, well it’s always good to win. We kind of got off to a slow start here, but I thought we were able to make some plays to get back in the game right before the half, and then to take the lead in the third quarter or right at the start of the third quarter, fourth quarter. We had a couple good stops defensively at the end of the game. There’s always more work to do and we have another week to work on things before we get into the playoffs. Hopefully we can continue to make progress and be ready next week.”

On his thoughts on the defense especially in the final seconds:

“Well I mean we had some pressure, I thought we had pretty good coverage. We don’t really want to put ourselves in that situation but fortunately we were able to bail out of it.  We’ve had a couple of those, we had one in the Denver game in a similar situation.  They stepped up and made the plays and those were the plays we need to make to win and defensively I think we made them.  We had good compound coverage prior to that, knocked the ball out, we might have had a shot at that one but we didn’t. But we had decent field position on defense and they just didn’t have enough time to get it down.

On the injuries in the secondary and the play of Marquice Cole:

“He did a good job.  Marquice played inside on the nickel position for us, Devin [McCourty], we moved him back outside, Patrick [Chung], Tavon [Wilson] played inside.  So we had some moving parts there in the secondary but overall it looked like we held up O.K.”

On if it’s a challenge trying to find the best combination back there on defense:

“Not really. I mean those guys have all played there all year.  Cole’s played in the slot all year, Devin’s played outside so that wasn’t a big thing, Kyle [Arrington]…so no not really.  They’ve all done that.”

On his thoughts about the start that they got off to:

“It’s obviously not what we want.”

On if it surprised him:

“They gave us a little different approach offensively. I don’t think…you know, we made some adjustments once we kind of saw what they were doing. I think our players and coaches, we all got a better look at it. They did a good job starting the game off with a little different style and they were able to get the advantage on us but I think eventually we settled down and handled it.”

On his thoughts on the penalty of Patrick Chung:

“I don’t know. I think I’ll have to take a closer look at it. I don’t know, I mean, I don’t know what he could’ve done. I don’t know.”

On the fact it looked like Tom Brady was taking a lot of shots at the end, and if he’s concerned about the hits accumulating on him:

“Well, always try to…I mean we don’t design any plays for that.  We always try to protect the quarterback.  But that’s part of football.  Guys get hit.”

On his thoughts on coming away with a win despite the fact it wasn’t their best game:

“Yeah, I mean we played pretty terrible out there.  It came down to the wire and our defense made some plays but that was a bad 60 minutes of football. We got outcompeted out there, outfought. we were lucky to win.”

On if he felt like they came out there flat:

“Yeah, we started slow, couldn’t do anything offensively, couldn’t make any plays. They made plenty of plays. We were lucky to be in it at halftime, didn’t really do anything in the second half in the run game or the passing game so it’s just a poor effort overall.”

On if he felt like the team was beyond having a flat performance, or if a game like this could happen at any time:

“We just didn’t play well. We just didn’t compete. If you don’t compete in the NFL it’s going to be close.”

On if he believes it was more about execution than competitiveness:

“It was both. Execution was terrible, that was easy to see. We didn’t do anything.”

On if the Jaguars played an competed harder than a 2-12 team normally competes:

“They played good.  They didn’t give us anything.  I mean, we had to fight for it and they made plenty of plays on us. It just wasn’t a very good performance.”

On if he’s concerned about the fact they’ve gotten down early two weeks in a row now:

“Sure, you get very concerned when you don’t play well. That’s very evident by the way we performed. We better have a good week of practice or it’s  going to be just as tough against Miami.”