It was an unusual feeling in the Patriots locker room following the 22-12 loss to the Dolphins.
For just the third time in the Bill Belichick era, the Patriots will not be in the postseason as they were mathematically eliminated with the loss, as they are now 6-8 on the year.
For many veterans on the team, it will be the first time in their NFL careers they will not be playing games in mid-to-late January. And now that they've been eliminated from postseason contention, how will they approach the final two games against the Bills and Jets?
Patriots players who spoke after the loss addressed both topics and here's a collection of what they had to say.
Devin McCourty: “Just got to regroup and keep fighting. It is was it is. We’ve just got to keep fighting because that’s who you want to be as a man. We’ve got a lot of standup guys in this locker room, so we just got to keep fighting. It’s not normal around here. But we’re not doing something that’s never been don in the NFL every year. Some teams don’t make the playoffs. It is what it is. But I think as a team, as an individual, you’ve got to keep playing. You can’t take this for granted. I’ve been saying it for the last couple of weeks. We’ve got to continue to do that.”
More McCourty: “Oh, it sucks. But it is what it is. It’s the reality of the situation. You get used to being there and playing and having an opportunity to whatever you’ve got dreams of and to fall short is disappointing. We’ll take our licks and get back right on this plane ride home. But once we get back to New England, it’s time to forget about that and move on. We can’t do anything about the performance today. "
Chase Winovich: “Yeah, I can’t really comment on the emotions of the locker room, but I think you can use your imagination. This is New England. The standard is very high, and we’ve got to do better, starting with me. I have to do better.”
Matthew Slater: “It’s very frustrating. Yeah, it’s very frustrating. I know the men in that locker room and the coaching staff and our staff, we started this season with one goal in mind and that’s obviously to play in the postseason and we didn’t accomplish it. It’s tough. We’re used to doing things a certain way here and it’s tough when you come up short.”
JC Jackson: “Nobody had their head down. We just try to keep each other up and just be there for one another as a team. That’s really all we can do, just keep lifting each other up and keep working to take it a game at a time.”
