Post-game quotes from the coaches and players after the Broncos beat the Patriots 20-17 in overtime!

DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH JOSH MCDANIELS

General

“It was a big win for the football team, a great team we played today. They were very well prepared and we knew that it would be a 60-minute game, or longer in this case. They forced us into some errors, and we made some errors on our own, but I am really proud of the team. We hung in there for four quarters or longer, kept playing and fighting, and made some adjustments in the second half, and gave us a change to kind of swing the game in our favor. Like I said I am really proud of our team. We still have a lot of improving to make. We can play better than that, that is the good part of that knowing we can play better than we did.” 

On his emotion (referring to fist pump)

“That’s where my family sits up there in the box. It doesn’t mean much if you can’t share it with somebody. Sharing it with them and sharing it with the people in the stadium. This is the best place in the country in my opinion. To play pro football and to coach pro football in this great fan base, they love this team and we love them. Sometimes you’re allowed to have fun and that’s what I was doing.”

On this being “just any other game”

“I lied. It was a little bit more special to me because I knew how hard it would be to beat them. They don’t beat themselves. I think we lost the turnover margin again today. They were 53-0 in the last six years when they lost the turnover margin. They just don’t make mistakes like that and they didn’t really today. I knew that we would have to be incredibly prepared as a staff. We would have to have a great week of practice. Our players would have to be really in tune with the game plan and play extremely hard for 60 minutes. I knew we would have to make some adjustments. It was a great challenge to coach against [New England head coach] Bill [Belichick] and his staff and playing against his team with all those great players and that’s why it’s special. It’s not just special because I was in New England, it’s special because our team put in the time and the effort and the work that it required for us to have a chance to compete with them at the end. And I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

On adjustments made at halftime

“We tried to get pressure on him [New England QB Tom Brady] off and on. The sun of a gun is so smart and did a great job redirecting the protection and picked us up when we thought we had a chance to get to him. Their line blocked really well for the most part, in the passing game. We had a hard time getting to him. I don’t know that we blitzed a whole lot more in the second half. We tried to be creative with a few things. They quick snapped some, they were changing too. They didn’t go into halftime saying everything was perfect either, so they made some adjustments, we made some adjustments and that’s usually how a game goes against a team like this. ”

On Denver QB Kyle Orton’s play

“I thought he played really well and hung in there. He made a bunch of key third down throws late in the second half, stood in there, took some hits but read the coverage. That’s a hard team to play, a hard team to throw the ball against, because they disguise so well. They rush the passer pretty well. They were trying to do that for the most part and I thought the receivers did a great job for Kyle, getting open and creating space. And we threw and caught the ball really well. In a game like this, where the running game is kind of hot and cold we needed to do it. Kyle stepped up big time for us today.”

On post game interaction with Bill Belichick

“We agreed before the game that we would wave. We shook hands before the game and we knew that there has been so much made of him and hand shakes that we agreed to just go ahead and do that but I talked to him before the game.”

On how he beat the Patriots

“They don’t beat themselves, so one thing we had to do was play smart and try not to hurt ourselves as much as possible. Because if you get into a game with a team that doesn’t make those type of mistakes and you do, that’s the quickest way to a defeat. We tried to do that for the most part, we made some mistakes, obviously. We used a little bit of the quarterback out of the backfield to try to simplify some of the things they were trying to do defensively whether that worked a whole lot or not I think we made some plays out of it. We knew we couldn’t give up big plays to [New England WR] Randy Moss. For the most part I think we did a decent job. We were trying to take away [Randy] Moss, we were trying to take away [New England WR Wes] Welker and trying to stop the run. It’s a hard team to play against and it requires you to do a lot of things well. We got through the week and discovered we just need to be ourselves, play good football, try not to make big mistakes against this team because we knew they would capitalize on it.”

On the importance of winning the coin flip in overtime

“Huge. It’s my first one. If you can take it down the field and score with it or at least change field position you’re punting in their end so they don’t have field position. I think that’s really critical. We wanted to be aggressive. We weren’t going to sit there and try to be careful in overtime. We wanted to throw the ball at them and try to move it down there and not let them have the ball. I think that’s the best formula to use against Tom Brady and the Patriots.”

On Orton’s two big drives

“He’s very calm and was at peace with the game plan this week and really understood what we were trying to do. He did a great job of reading the safeties and the coverage. I don’t know if he missed a read all day. He went to the right place most of the time. I think we threw it 40 something times [48] and he did an excellent job of it. We told our team at half time that we needed to have poise because we can’t make up a ten point deficit with two plays. Kyle was the leader of the group on offense and did a great job staying calm the whole second half and really made a bunch of key throws.”

On if he thought he would be 5-0

“We never really thought about it. The only thing we think is that we try to accumulate the best football players that we could. We got a good football team in that locker room and we just want to prepare each week, one game at a time. The biggest game of our season will be next week at San Diego. That’s how it will be the whole year. It’s just a one game at a time thing.”

On WR Eddie Royal’s breakout game

“It was just some of the scheme they were using. A lot of the reads took us to Eddie on the weak side. That is kind of the way this offense goes. We don’t’ force it to anybody and they told us to throw it to Eddie Royal and he did a great job.”

On if he has mixed emotions after beating his mentor

“No. I was really happy. I mean he would have been really happy had they won. He taught me a lot. I owe him a tremendous amount of my success and will always be indebted to him. He’s a great friend and a great teacher of mine. I have great admiration for him and I don’t think he would have expected anything less of me than to compete against him. The team that played the best as he said this week and I said this week, whoever’s players executed best in pressure situations was going to win the game.”

DENVER BRONCOS PLAYERS

QB KYLE ORTON

On what gave him confidence to direct the game-tying and game-winning drives

“I just looked across the huddle to see the guys in the huddle with me: great offensive line, great talent at wide receiver, great tight ends, great running backs. If we execute and play the way that we should, it should be tough to stop us.”

On his performance

“I am happy that we won, and (my performance) was a great part of it. I feel like I played well. You beat a team like New England, a good team like this, it takes all 53 guys in the locker room and it takes all 60 minutes of the game to do it. Coming in down 10 points at halftime, we had had some drives that stalled: fumble, missed field goal, some missed opportunities. To rally and battle back the way we did in the second half is a testament to all the guys in the locker room, for sure.”

On his joke to the offense before the 98-yard touchdown drive

“I think the drive before when we went 98 yards, we had gone 95 (the previous drive), so I just looked over to people and said, ‘We have already done 95, so we might as well go do 98.’ Those are two big-time drives in the second half. Then the drive in overtime was great, and (K Matt) Prater nailed a great kick.”

On not wearing a glove on his throwing hand during the game after wearing one the first four weeks of the season

“I am so happy to be done with it and have all that stuff behind me. I was able to throw the ball with a lot of confidence and throw the way that I wanted it. It was great.”

On WR Brandon Marshall’s touchdown to end the 98-yard touchdown drive

“We knew that he had one-on-one coverage on the backside, and we figured that (New England’s cornerback) had to respect his vertical, the fade. We thought that he could get off, so I was going to come back and get the ball to him as quick as possible. The corner didn’t really have a lot of help at all for the tackle, and we thought that we would have a good chance to catch and run. That is exactly what we got, and he made a great move after the catch and scored.”

On his completion to WR Jabar Gaffney off of a deflection

“That was a little lucky. You need a little luck in a game like this. Jabar made a heck of a play. I saw him going up, and I thought he was going to try to bat it down and he made the catch for the first down. It was great. I don’t know how it got tipped. I thought we had a completion. We got a little lucky.”

On Marshall knocking down a pass that was deflected at the line of scrimmage

“That was very smart. Like I said, when you play a good football team like New England, it is always good if you can get a couple bounces.”

On if it seems as if the issues with Marshall happened a long time ago

“It does because we worked so hard throughout the week. We have worked so hard since we have been here that it seems like a million years ago since I got traded and came to Denver. We have got a long way to go. We have got a lot of improving to do. Just like last week, we were a better football team from Week 4 to Week 5, and hopefully, we will put the work in Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and be better from (Week) 5 to (Week) 6.”

On what the win meant to Head Coach Josh McDaniels

“I am sure it meant a little something extra to him. How could it not? He has been around that team for a long time and had a lot of good years with them and did a lot of incredible things. To be able to beat them at home and establish home field (advantage) like we have—the fans were great. We have got a good thing going right now.”

On New England QB Tom Brady’s complements of his play

“I appreciate that. I certainly don’t put myself in his class. He is probably the best quarterback to ever play this game. He has got the rings to show it. I have spent a lot of time watching Tom on film since I have been here. If I can just get my game to a fraction of where he is at, I will be a pretty good player.”

On beating Brady

“I didn’t beat him. Our team beat the New England Patriots. I didn’t beat him. That is just how it goes.”

On WR Eddie Royal’s game

“I was real happy for Eddie. He has worked extremely hard. I don’t know the reason why we weren’t able to get him the ball the first three or four games. We knew it was coming. He continued to grind and work and run his routes hard. It was great to see Eddie have such a good game.”

On winning at home

“It means a lot because it was such a big game for us. I look at home games as must win. I don’t care who you play. In this league, I feel you have got to go 9-0 or 8-1 (at home) if you are going to make the playoffs. Playing at home, our fans have been so great and the electricity in the stadium was so great that you know we just had to have it. When we got (the ball) in overtime, we had to win. There was no question about it.”

On running the Wildcat formation

“New England is the type of team that they are just going to give you a different look every single time. We thought that we could kind of settle them down just a little bit and get them into some looks that we could tell what was going on. It worked for the most part. We were able to get some—we liked to do it on first down and keep us in phase and get some completions and get the chains moving. It worked for the most part. They did a nice job of adjusting to it later on in the game, so we kind of got away from it.”

On the possibility of receiving a pass out of the Wildcat formation

“I will catch it. I don’t know how far I could run. I will catch it for sure.”

On what Marshall does to a defense

“It has got to be tough for the opposing defense to try to focus on one guy. You can double Brandon and leave Eddie (Royal) and Jabar (Gaffney) and (TE) Tony (Scheffler) and our backs. You could leave everybody one-on-one. It is tough to do. I am sure we will see some adjustments. Brandon has just played incredible games. He is such a talent. It is hard to pinpoint one guy and try to take him away because we have got everybody else that can do the same thing.”

On frequently passing to Royal on third-and-short

“A lot of times he was man-to-man on the backside. We loved the matchup. He was running great routes all day and really doing a good job on his one-on-one matchups and getting open. We tried to take advantage of that as much as possible.”

On RB Knowshon Moreno remaining confident after his fumble

“Nobody wants to fumble. Obviously, he doesn’t want to fumble. Our offense doesn’t want to fumble. We would like to play turnover free. It happens. We have to move on. He is certainly a competitor. He is going to try to make up for that fumble with some special runs.”

On throwing his first interception of the season on a Hail Mary to end the first half

“That is a bad way to throw a pick, but that is alright. (We) took a chance at the end of the half.”

On Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy’s influence on his game

“Mike is a good mix with (Head Coach) Josh (McDaniels) because Josh is certainly intense and sometimes can be in your face a little bit, which is good. I like that, but Mike is a very calming factor. He has been around (the game) for a long time. He has played (quarterback) and knows the position. It is always nice to have another guy that has been there and played the position at this level. (He) is kind of a calming factor as well.”

On two fourth-down penalties keeping New England’s fourth-quarter drive alive

“I think that was right after we went on the long drive. I think we had a chance to get the ball at the 50-yard line and had a couple of the penalties. What a great job by the defense to get back on the field, stop them again, get back on the field and stop them again and give us the ball back. I thought we were in trouble when we had a couple of those penalties because if you give that offense too many chances, they are going to make you pay. Our defense stepped up big.”

On driving down the field in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal

“We all got together and said we have got to do it. It is now or never and we went on that drive.”

On if McDaniels’ approach to this game differed from previous games

“It was an intense week of work just because we were facing such a good football team. They create so many problems and difficulties in your preparation. It was a grind of a week for the coaches for sure and for the players. It was great to see it pay off.”

On McDaniels comment that he didn’t misread the defense all day

“I am going to go back and see. It certainly felt like this was the best I have seen the field and the most prepared I have been. (I was) able to take the game plan and actually execute it the best. I should, and it should be the same next week and the week after. The more I am in this system, the more comfortable I should be, along with everyone else.”

On why he is more comfortable with the offense

“Offensively, we want to play well every week, but it is still a process. Everybody is learning and everybody is learning to play together. There is a new situation that comes up in each game, and we can go back and look through it. Hopefully, we will be a better offense next week than we were this week and I will be a better quarterback.”

On McDaniels firing up the crowd at the end of the game

“I didn’t see that. Hopefully, somebody has got it on tape.”

On the offense’s final drive of the first half

“We had the sack. We were there close to midfield and had the sack. That certainly hurt us, and we weren’t able to go do the things that we wanted to do. When you play an offense like New England, it is also on the offense when it comes down to the last two minutes of the half to make sure that they don’t get the ball back and have a chance to score on you as well. It is kind of a two-sided deal.”

On the magnitude of the game at San Diego next Monday night

“Bigger than this one. No question about it. You have got to win in your division. It is going to be a tough game. They are a tough team, and (we are) going to San Diego. (It is a) Monday night (game). It is about as big as it gets. Hopefully, we can show up and play well.”

DB CHAMP BAILEY

On the comeback win

“Perseverance, I’m telling you. It’s a good definition of that right there. We just never gave up. One thing about this locker-room, we’ve got a bunch of guys who believe. When you’ve got that kind of attitude, anything can happen.”

On being thrown towards by opposing quarterbacks

“I love the challenge. He [New England] QB Tom Brady] didn’t test me quite so much as last week [by Dallas QB Tony Romo], but when he did it was in key situations. I just had to go and make a few plays.”

On defending New England WR Randy Moss

“I was matched up on him a couple of times. I don’t think he [Brady] threw it over there [to Moss] once while I was on him. If we could take back that long one he caught [third quarter] it would be a good day. You’ve got to give him credit, he made plays when he could, but we kept fighting, we did the best job we could against him. This team, keeping their best receiver out of the game is big for us.”

WR BRANDON MARSHALL

On being happy for Coach Josh McDaniels

“I’m really excited, really happy for him. He could say all year long, ‘It’s just another game’ but it meant a little more.”

On giving extra effort for Coach McDaniels

“I think our preparation speaks for itself. The way we prepared, whether you’re playing the New England Patriots or whoever, we go at it the same any given Sunday. Anything can happen in a football game.”

On his two touchdown catches

“The first one, he [QB Kyle Orton] did a good job at the line of scrimmage and Kyle threw an awesome ball. He put it the only place he could put it for me to make a play and we converted. The second one, we just threw it out there and I just made a play to get across into the End Zone.”

DL VONNIE HOLLIDAY

On San Diego RB LaDanian Tomlinson

“Miami played San Diego last year so I played against him. I’ve played against LT [Tomlinson] several times. When I was in Kansas City I played against him and with Miami at least twice. I haven’t watched LT this year yet. I know, like everything else you hear through the media, tv, radio…just like I heard about the Broncos – that they weren’t any good – I’m hearing the same things about LT, he’s not the same guy, but I don’t know. I saw him burst down the sideline a couple times, but I don’t know the situation. He’s injured right now, trying to play through something. I don’t know if the offense line is blocking the same, I don’t know any of it. So, a guy like LT, we’re used to him being that star, that explosive player. Being that guy, the game changer. He hasn’t been doing that as of late, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do it still. Who knows, who knows what’s going to happen, maybe he needs a change of scenery. Who knows what happens in this league, you just never know.”

On forcing the Tom Brady fumble in the fourth quarter

“All game, I was just waiting for that opportunity – to get a one-on-one on an outside pass rush. I knew it was going to come in this game. I’ve played against these guys several times in the past few years, so I just waited for the opportunity and it finally came. I got a jump on the ball, recognized the pass protection and I got a chance to make the outside move. Brady was standing there in the pocket like he’d be standing there all day -patting that ball. I was able to watch him on film to see how he holds that ball and was able to knock it out.”

On proving doubters wrong

“I guess we’re lucky, the altitude…who knows. [QB Kyle] Orton took the glove off this week. You know it’s amazing going into this game, listening to the prognosticators going into this game saying we’re the underdog once again in our house, after beating Dallas last week. And New England, much respect to what they’ve done the last many years, but we feel like we’ve got a good team here and we’re doing some good things. All that matters, and this is the philosophy and attitude that we’ve adapted to. The guys in this locker-room believe; the coaches believe; guys believe in each other and are fighting. We got it done. It took, like Coach told us, it was going to be sixty minutes. Well, today it was sixty-eight minutes and change, but guys continued to play well, play hard, until the end and we got the victory.”

WR EDDIE ROYAL

On Team effort

“It took a total team effort today; we were playing a great team. We knew it was going to be a four quarter game and we just stayed together and played for each other.”

On QB Kyle Orton

“It was a gutsy performance today for Kyle [Orton], he stuck in the pocket and made some great throws. He was the leader that we needed today.”

On K Matt Prater’s game winning field goal

“We have a lot of confidence in him, I knew if we got into field goal range that he would take care of the rest. He’s a great kicker and works hard all week long. I wasn’t worried about him because I knew he would make it.”

K MATT PRATER

On game winning kick

“I try not to think about anything, the team did all the work to put me in the situation to close out the game. They did all the work, I just kicked one ball.

“It felt great coming off of my foot, it is like a golf shot—when you feel it good off your foot and as long as it’s going straight I knew it would get there.

“It felt the same, because we practice it so much. The coaches have done a great job preparing us for the situation and I was lucky to get the opportunity.”

General

“I didn’t have my best day all around, I was fortunate to be in the situation to come back and hit that ball.”

On being a member of the Denver Broncos

“It feels awesome. I am blessed to be here on this team, all of the players—we are like a big family. I can’t explain the feeling; it’s just a great feeling to be in this organization and to be out here with these guys.”

RB KNOWSHON MORENO

On being the featured back

“I was definitely into the game. At times if I needed a blow, [RB] LaMont [Jordan] did a good job of helping us out. But at the same time, if felt great all day today.”

On QB Kyle Orton

“He is really confident in the huddle and wants to put points on the board and move the ball down the field which wasn’t going to be easy. He is a leader on this team, and we are grateful to have him.”

On New England’s run defense

“It was definitely hard the whole game. We gained tough yards today; I think the offensive line did a good job of opening the holes today for me and LaMont. It came to overtime and fortunately we came out with this win today.”

NEW ENGLAND HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK

Opening statement

“Obviously that was a tough loss for us today. Like a lot of games in this league, it came down to a few plays and they made more plays than we did. We have to give them credit. That’s a good football team. [Broncos head coach] Josh [McDaniels] has done a really good job with them, and they made a few more plays than we did. Really, that is about all you can say.”

On the Broncos defense in the second half

“Maybe they played a little more nimble.”

On T Matt Light’s injury

“The game is just over so I don’t know yet.”

On if he talked to Josh McDaniels after the game

“I talked to Josh before the game.”

On easing LB Jerod Mayo into the game

“We didn’t think Jerod was really ready to go a whole game. He practiced this week and got some snaps in the game and he seemed ok.”

On offensive execution

“There were a lot of plays out there that we felt like we could’ve made, but we didn’t make them for one reason or another. We’ve just got to make them. We’ve got to do a better job coaching. There were a lot of plays like that where we couldn’t quite connect, for one reason or another.”

On the Broncos offense

“They have good receivers and they have a good quarterback and they obviously have a good offensive system. They had a lot of possession passes that kept the chains moving. They kept the yardage fairly short on third down. We had our chances on a couple when we had our hands on the ball but couldn’t come up with it and we just have to make some of those plays. We didn’t make them today.”

On defensive adjustments

“There were a lot of substitutions and a lot of trying to match up. A couple of times we were in things we didn’t want to be in so we called a timeout; that was mainly the first half. They went in that wildcat-looking formation so we had to make adjustments to that on the first drive of the game and we got that straightened out.”

On the Broncos defense

“Mike [Nolan] is a very good defensive coordinator. We know he does a great job as a game planning coach. He does what he needs to do on a weekly basis.”

On not meeting with Josh McDaniels on the field, after the game

“We’ll catch up.”

On the Broncos coverage of WR Randy Moss

“They played a lot of coverage over the top of him, but we see that a lot.”

On if the Broncos wildcat formation took them by surprise

“They do a lot of things and they do a good job of game planning. They do a good job of moving people around and creating tough matchups. It is a little different than what we are normally used to so we had to get that straightened out.”

On the impact of Josh McDaniels’ familiarity with New England

“I think when you play teams in this league everyone is pretty well scouted.”

On New England’s running backs

“All the backs played and some of them were in there with different personnel groups.”

On if the storyline of him coaching against McDaniels was overblown

“I’m just trying to coach my team and now we will focus on Tennessee for next week.”

On S Brandon Meriweather’s taunting penalty

“I don’t know. I was on the other side of the field. You all probably got a better look at that than I did.”

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS PLAYERS

QB TOM BRADY

On offensive execution

“Poor execution is what it comes down to. There were plays to be made all day and we didn’t make them. We just didn’t execute well. We didn’t make the throws that were there. We had the opportunity to win at the end and we squandered that away. You can’t win if you don’t score any points in the second half and that’s what it came down to. Our defense is on the field a lot and we weren’t converting on third downs. That’s not typically how we play. We have to find ways to make improvements.”

On not connecting with his receiver on a third-and-3 incompletion in the fourth quarter [04:03]

“He [WR Wes Welker] was expecting me to do something, and I was expecting him to do something. We just have to get on the same page and get back to work. Denver played a good game. They made the plays they needed to make and they deserved to win.”

On the Broncos defense

“It’s a very active defense with a lot of team speed. They played well and made the plays when they needed to make them. They really tightened down in the second half. We had a good two minute drive at the end of the first half, but we just couldn’t sustain it when we got out in the second half. You have to give them a lot of credit. They stopped us when they needed to stop us in the second half.”

On Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels

“Josh is a great coach, he’s obviously learned a lot. They’re playing well, and they’re 5-0 which is tough for a first year coach. He’s a hard worker, and he certainly deserves that Denver’s playing well.”

On talking to McDaniels after the game

“I didn’t. There were a lot of people running around out there.”

On his fourth quarter fumble

“It was a fumble near the end of the game. It was exactly what it looked like.”

On T Matt Light’s injury

“That’s part of this game. There’re 53 guys on the roster and other guys need to step up. For as long as somebody’s out, somebody needs to step up and fill the void. The expectations don’t change. You still expect to go out there and play well. We didn’t play well enough consistently today to get the victory.”

On time of possession

“I think they’re a well-coached team. Offensively, they played well on third down. As an offense we didn’t convert. We left our defense on the field too long. Any time you do that against a good offense they’re going to move the ball and your defense is going to get worn down. That wasn’t a very complimentary game for us. We squandered away victories in the second half.”

On K Stephen Gostkowski’s missed field goal

“He’s a great kicker. Everyone misses. As an offense, I wish we would have converted the third down pass and gotten in the end zone. As a kicker you miss kicks, as a receiver you drop balls, as a quarterback you throw interceptions. That’s just part of football. But when you have the opportunities you have to take advantage of those and we didn’t do that today.”\

On struggling against Denver

“I don’t think we’re playing well enough here. We wait for things to bounce our way but you have to go and make things happen. In the first half there were plays to be made and not scoring any points in the second half is a tough way to go. Everyone is disappointed by the loss but we have to go back to work.”

On Broncos QB Kyle Orton

“He’s playing well. He made all the throws they needed today. I can see what they’re doing on every play. I can basically call the plays and he’s making the right reads and he was very accurate today.”

On Head Coach Bill Belichick coaching against his former assistant

“They’re both great coaches. Coach Belichick has a lot of great experience and Josh learned a lot under him. We’ve got to start focusing on what we can start doing better and collectively take a look in the mirror.”