Patriots Quote Room: “Not Good Enough in Any Aspect”

On Sunday the New England Patriots fell to lost 10-6 to the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt, Germany. The game featured some questionable coaching decisions, poor execution, and left the Patriots at 2-8 on the season. This is what head coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots players had to say following their latest loss:

New England Patriots Coaching Staff

Bill Belichick

“Disappointing game. Similar theme to that we’ve had other games this year. Just too many missed opportunities.”

“Just got to play better situational football and take advantage of the opportunities we have.”

“We’ll worry about next week, next week.”

(on the quarterback change) “I just thought it was time for a change.”

(on the quarterback change) “I made the decision. That’s what it was.”

(on having faith in Mac Jones) “I have faith in all our players.”

“Good energy in the stadium. They were into it.”

“A lot of players are playing pretty good football. But as a team we’re just not doing enough things that we need to do to win. So, everybody needs to do better. Simple as that.”

“I think we’re all disappointed in the season. But, we’ll keep going here. We’ve got seven games to go.”

“We had a chance to win the game at the end, we just couldn’t make the plays to win it.”

(on taking out Mac Jones after the interception) “I wouldn’t say this is about one play.”

“I think you’re seeing the results of a good offseason program and a lot of hard work. That’s really what it’s all about.”

New England Patriots Offense

Mac Jones

(on not going for a Hail Mary at the end of the first half) “No clue. I mean there’s two seconds left and we needed 60 yards, so I don’t know.”

(on his interception) “It was a terrible throw. Practiced it, hit it in practice, just not a good throw. I knew where to go, I just didn’t do it. Didn’t do it right.”

(on his health) “There were some things I was working through, but doesn’t matter. No excuses.”

“There was a lot of open guys out there that I could have hit.”

“I always use the bye week to evaluate myself, and the team, and everything I can do better. And there’s a lot of things clearly that I can do better.”

(on being replaced) “It’s a difficult situation, but at the end of the day I really did want the team to win. I’ll always be that person.”

“I have to play better to not even be in that situation. It’s not ideal for anybody.”

Ezekiel Elliott

“I think today we showed how good of a run game we have and I think that we have two really good running backs. And I think that our O-line is great in the run game, and they showed that today.”

“I think we could run it more, but to do that we have to take care of the football. We have to eliminate the penalties so we don’t have long distances.”

“The more we put ourselves in position to run the football, the better off this offense will be.”

JuJu Smith-Schuster

(on the quarterback change) “Yeah, I was surprised,”

“I’m very confident in him (Bailey Zappe). He shows spurts in practice of what he can do. I don’t doubt that he can come in and do the job.”

Hunter Henry

“It’s just tough. It’s not good enough in any aspect.”

“We’re not where we want to be at all.”

“I’m going to go out there and compete every single week, no matter what the record is, no matter what’s going on. And I know all those guys in that locker room are doing to do the same.”

“I don’t make all those decision, so I think you’ll have to ask coach about that one.”

“Positive was we ran the football really well.”

“Yeah. We put a lot of work in, so I still have faith.”

David Andrews

“We all have to do a better job.”

“It’s never one play. It’s never one situation.”

(on the quarterback change) “I play football. That’s what I do, I play. I don’t make those decisions.”

“Coaches do what they think is best for the football team.”

“Great atmosphere, cool experience.”

“Appreciate all the support over here (Germany). I’m lucky to play for a great organization with a great fanbase. And I’m appreciative of that.”

(on having faith in Bill Belichick) “My faith is I probably wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for him. Not many people wanted me when I came out except for Bill. He’s the only coach that came and worked me out. I have a lot of confidence in him. I have a lot of belief in what he says, what he does. Because I know it’s helped me out in my career and turned me into a better football player.”

“I never thought a kid from Georgia would be sitting in Germany playing in an NFL game.”

“Coach (Bill Belichick) gave me an opportunity when that’s all I wanted, and the Good Lord was good to me.”

New England Patriots Defense

Deatrich Wise, Jr.

“I always go into a game wanting to win.”

“As a competitor you always want to win, and we just got to find ways to.”

“As a defense we have high expectations of ourselves.”

New England Patriots Special Teams

Matthew Slater

(on the punt returner with nobody back) “We liked the plan going in and sometimes things don’t turn out the way you’d like them do.”

(on Mac Jones) “He’s got to stay positive. Right now everybody’s counting him out. I’m sure there’s a lot of negativity. There’s a lot of negativity surrounding our team. But we got to ignore all that because it shouldn’t affect how we operate day to day.”

“I have as much faith in Coach Belichick now as I’ve ever had. There’s no reason to be doubting who he is as a leader and a coach for this football team.”

“The struggles that we’ve had on the field this year are due to us and our inability to execute. It’s got nothing to do with Coach Belichick.”

(on Bryce Baringer’s touchbacks) “If he’s hitting those types of balls we’re not going to complain about touchbacks because we’re still going to net over 50 yards.”

(on special teams allowing another big return) “I’m not exactly sure what happened, so I don’t want to speak on it until I watch it on film.”

“You can’t let people that don’t know half of what’s going on inside the building impact what’s going on inside the building.”

“Tremendous experience. Support today was phenomenal. The energy, I was really surprised but I thought it was fantastic.”

“Many thanks to the German fans. Many thanks to Germany for hosting us. We almost had a phenomenal time.”

“It’s impossible to paint an accurate picture when you’re not experiencing them (what’s happening) first hand. That’s just the reality.”