Loss to Giants tough for Pats to swallow
New York Giants' Eli Manning, right, is congratulated by New England Patriots' Tom Brady after the Giants' 24-20 win. (Nov. 6, 2011) Credit: AP
FOXBORO, Mass. -- His words were short and measured as always. But even Bill Belichick couldn't mask the frustration simmering beneath the surface.
"We had our chances. We just didn't do a good enough job," the Patriots coach said Monday, referring to his team's crushing 24-20 loss to the Giants on Sunday.
For 80 minutes, the Patriots' locker room was a ghost town, where a scant few made a brief appearance. Wide receivers Deion Branch and Chad Ochocinco showed their faces first but opted not to talk.
"Friday. Friday," said Branch, repeating the day of the week he'd prefer to speak.
Asked if he had a free moment to chat, Ochocinco made a face and walked through the doors leading to the training room. Slot receiver Wes Welker walked through the locker room, retrieved a towel and headed to the showers without saying a word.
Patriots safety James Ihedigbo was one of a few players who spoke to reporters.
"Very, very tough way to lose a game," said the former Jet, who will face his former teammates at MetLife Stadium on Sunday night. "You play what you think is well enough to win for 31/2 quarters and you have the one drive where it gets away from you . . . They have a great defense. They have four guys that can rush the passer, they have solid cover guys. They play this game tough, just like we do. We didn't make plays when we had opportunities there on our offense."
Belichick credited the Giants' defense, which recorded three takeaways against Tom Brady at Gillette Stadium. But he said the Patriots' players and coaches need to do a better job.
"I don't think they did anything that we haven't seen before," Belichick said of the Giants. "This wasn't like there were some new plays that nobody had ever seen before. They read the quarterback; they did a good job on those plays. I'm sure Tom would like to maybe have a couple of those back."
The Patriots, losers of two straight for only the fourth time since 2003, had two streaks end: 20 consecutive regular-season wins at home and 18 straight wins against NFC teams at home.
"You don't ever want to lose, and when you lose, it's a tough pill to swallow," Ihedigbo said. "And if guys didn't take it personally after a loss, we'd really have a problem. It's not a bad thing that guys are taking it hard. This is an organization where winning is everything, so we want to win games, and when you lose in the dire seconds of the game, a close game like that, guys are going to take it hard."
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