FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Observed and heard in the locker room after the New England Patriots' 27-25 win over the New York Jets:
No sugarcoating this performance. On a night the Patriots lost the time-of-possession battle 40:54 to 19:06, coach Bill Belichick called it a "grind-it-out game" before adding, "It was good enough, but it wasn't our best."
Brady replays long touchdown pass to Vereen. Quarterback Tom Brady, going with the long coat in his postgame news conference, said he almost overthrew running back Shane Vereen on the 49-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. He said the ball seemed like it was in the air for a long time. "I threw it and then I was like, 'Oh, he's open' and then the ball was just going," he said. "I said, 'Oh my God' and I saw him really try to run to get it and he made a phenomenal catch."
Devey explains his roughness penalty. Offensive lineman Jordan Devey was penalized for unnecessary roughness in the second quarter after taking exception to a hit on Brady on the sideline. "All I saw was Tom down, so I was trying to help him out," he said.
Run defense a concern. Defensive lineman Vince Wilfork naturally didn't like the Jets rushing for 218 yards. Saying he had to look at the film to see the breakdowns, he has an idea of what he probably will see: "A lot of missed tackles and out-of-position plays; one or two guys might not be where they needed to be. Things that are fixable, but to be a good defense you have to do those things constantly."
