HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK

Postgame Press Conference
Thursday, November 24, 2022

OPENING STATEMENT: Well, give credit to the Vikings tonight. Kevin (O'Connel) did a good job. They made a few more plays than we did, and they've got a good football team. Got a lot of good players, well-coached, and we just came up short. Obviously couldn't make enough plays to win. (Kirk) Cousins was tough. They made a lot of good plays, throws, checks. He's a good player. Disappointing to come up a little bit short, but we just had too many mistakes they took advantage of, and that really is the difference in a game. Could point to a lot of things, and any of them would have made a difference, but collectively we've just got to do a better job here and just perform a little bit better than we did tonight.

Q: How much was Jefferson's production he's just an elite player versus you guys could have done more there?

BB: He's not the only good receiver we're going to see this year. Yeah, he's a good player. Yeah, no doubt about it.

Q: Starting the third quarter, how disappointing was the kickoff return for a touchdown?

BB: What about it?

Q: How tough was that --

BB: Yeah, really is the difference in the game. Seven points that ended up being bonus points in the game. Yep.

Q: Did you get any explanation on the Hunter Henry catch that was overturned?

BB: Why don't you guys go to the officials with your pool reporter and ask them about the play and let them explain it to you. Isn't that what you do? Thank you.

Q: Their opening drive, they've had some success on opening drives. Were they showing you stuff that they hadn't shown on film? What did you see in that opening drive?

BB: Yeah, converted on 3rd down, got a penalty. Yeah, again, they're a good team. Give them credit.

Q. Do you feel like you left points on the board in the first half with the way that time out situation unfolded?

BB: I don't know. You're talking about throwing the one in the end zone with six seconds to go? You don't have much time. Yeah. Felt like take the points, come back, get the ball at the start of the second half, make it a tie game.

Q: Having to use the time outs that way leading up to Hunter staying in bounds and then Mac sliding instead of throwing it away in that situation?

BB: Yeah. Yeah, you can second-guess a lot of plays tonight, sure.

Q: What was your thought on production in the passing game?

BB: Good at times, three-for-10 on 3rd down. Not really good enough. Couldn't get the ball in the red area on a couple drives. Room for improvement.

Q: Were you surprised by some of the mistakes you guys are making this far into the season?

BB: Yeah. It's the NFL. They've got good players, they make plays. We've got good players, we make some plays. I don't know.

QUARTERBACK MAC JONES

Postgame Press Conference
Thursday, November 24, 2022

Q: How tough was this one?

MJ: Yeah, definitely a tough game for us. Never want to lose, especially on Thanksgiving, but we've just got to kind of move on, flip the page and get ready for the rest of the year here. We've got some good opponents coming up in our division, and just got to look at the film and try and get better. Definitely not the result we wanted, but there's no time to kind of drag and feel sorry for ourselves. Definitely a lot of things we can do better, and we'll just watch the tape and learn from it.

Q: Did you feel like there were a lot of positives from the offense tonight?

MJ: Yeah, I'll have to watch the tape, but I thought we played with a lot of effort and toughness, which is the only thing you can control, and we left everything out there we had. Everything else is out of our control.

But just giving effort and having the right attitude is what we can control, so we did a good job of that.

Q: As you process everything that happened, how significant was the reversal, the deep play reversal?

MJ: Yeah, I think obviously the refs have a job to do, and they looked at the review and ruled it incomplete. We've got to move on from that play and play the rest of the game. There was plenty of time left, and there were other times we could have punched it in, and that wouldn't have even been an issue. Kind of the same story there, but did some good things. Obviously not good enough in the long run, and one call can't determine the outcome. We've got to be able to do better so it's not even close.

Q: Do you feel this was your best game of the year? What was working for you guys in the offense, particularly in 1st downs?

MJ: Yeah, like I said, I think we all played with effort and toughness, and that's all you can ask for. Want to be able to score more points and win the game, so that's all that I care about. That's all that we care about is winning, and we didn't do that tonight.

Q: You've often talked about the process. You don't always get the results you went with the process. Do you feel like tonight at least the process was something that can move you forward for the rest of the year?

MJ: Yeah, that's a good way to put it. You try not to look at the results, but sometimes when you look back you just wish it went a different way, and a lot of those things you can control; some of them you can't. Definitely wanted it to go the other way, but got to keep working and coming together and just continue to build off adversity. That's the biggest thing for us is we don't want to smooth sail. We need that rocky wave but we also want to have better results on the way, so we've got to flip the switch here and figure it out.

Q: The offensive line tonight, talk about their performance.

MJ: Yeah, they did a great job. All those guys just doing their job on every play, and I didn't feel pressure at all hardly, and just hats off to them for playing a great game in the run game, too. They did a great job. If we can just continue to do that, then I think a lot of things will go our way.

Q: Seemed like you had more time maybe to kind of get to your second and third reads. How does that help you be able to see the whole field when you have that kind of time?

MJ: Yeah, I think Matty P. did a good job there. Obviously they have a good defense and a good rush front, so did it well most of the time, and then some other things we just have to clean up. Like I said, the result wasn't what we wanted, but as you've said, I think there were some good things there.

Q: You had five receivers with 60 plus yards. Did you feel comfortable moving the ball around to different guys?

MJ: Yeah, I don't ever try and single in on anybody. Just wherever the play takes me, that's where I'm throwing it. I think that's what's cool about this offense is you don't know when it's going to come to you, but it can come to you on any play. Kind of cool there. Obviously need to score more points to kind of put us ahead and do things better, but I think, like I said, there's no time to kind of frown upon. Just got to watch the tape. That's what it comes down to, and build on the things that we did well and correct the things we haven't, just like we've done in the past all the games that we've played in.

Q: How big is next Thursday now against Buffalo for you guys?

MJ: Yeah, it's a huge game. I think Buffalo is the top, top team in the league. Obviously they're playing really well when you watch crossover film and things like that. Just a great team. We have to be able to play better to win. We know the challenge ahead.

LINEBACKER MATTHEW JUDON

Postgame Press Conference
Thursday, November 24, 2022

Not transcribed.

SAFETY DEVIN MCCOURTY

Postgame Press Conference
Thursday, November 24, 2022

Not transcribed.

RUNNING BACK RHAMONDRE STEVENSON

Postgame Press Conference
Thursday, November 24, 2022

Not transcribed.