Matthew Slater rarely gets upset on the football field, but Sunday night against the Buccaneers may have been the most fired up he's ever been in his 14-year career.
In the third quarter, Slater lined up as the gunner along the right sideline and was blocked out of bounds, but didn’t make an effort to get back onto the field of play, instead running up the sideline out of bounds before coming back into the field of play and forcing a fumble.
Even though the Patriots recovered the fumble, New England had to punt again and that set up good field position for Tampa Bay and its only touchdown of the game.
Slater was still arguing the call when coming on the field for the extra point, and at one point threw his helmet into the ground.
So, what was his take on the play?
"The call that was made on the field is the call that was made on the field," he said to reporters via video conference Monday. "It’s a tough play. Obviously I’m well aware of the rules; I don’t think there’s anybody in this league that’s covered more punts than I have. So, I understand what the rules are.
"I made a play that I thought was within the rules based on how I was being played and some of the things that we’ve talked about, but ultimately that’s a judgment call and you have to live with the call that the officials make on the field. I’m not gonna question that — they’re trying their best to get things right. So, it’s just one of those things you wish you could have it back or you wish there wasn’t a flag, but it just wasn’t the case."
Slater then went into the team needing to play better after starting the year 1-3.
"We’ll learn from it," he said. "It’s disappointing because I felt like that was a big play in the game. But, again, I think the official made the call that he felt was right. ... We really got to start focusing on playing better football and start playing some winning football. And we made some strides last night but ultimately want to start getting in the win category."
