QUARTERBACK RYAN FITZPATRICK
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
November 11, 2012
Q: Let us start with the last play of the game, did you expect T.J. Graham to run that rout that way?
RF: We would have had a better chance at [making a play], but that's something ultimately that falls on me in terms of communicating and getting on the same page. It was unfortunate that the game ended like that.
Q: What happened with the read? What happened on that play? Did you see Devin McCourty there?
RF: Yeah they were playing Cover 2 – deep half safety. I thought I'd be able to get T.J [Graham].
Q: Having played the way you played all day in that game keeping your team in it, is there a bitterness feeling today knowing you were right in it and could have won?
RF: Yeah, the only thing you can ask for is for the quarterback to give you a chance to win and we had that today. We held them to a field goal at the end there and drove down and had a couple shots in the end zone, but we weren't able to get it done. I thought we fought out there – offensively that's the kind of team and the kind of game plan – stuff that we want to do – guys were able to get touches, we were able to get some play-action throws the way they were playing down the field a little bit. [Chandler] Scott was involved, [Stevie Johnson] was involved – Donald [Jones] did some good stuff, so we've just got to find a way to pull it out in the end.
Q: I know it is unfortunate that Fred Jackson and Donald [Jones] got hurt, but losing those two timeouts did that change what you were able to call?
RF: I think it changed the thought process a little bit if we would have had timeouts there. We probably on the one would have been on the ball and calling a play and going with two timeouts in our pockets and then with Donald going down unfortunately, we lost out last one there, so it changed it a little bit. Those are just two unfortunate things that happened.
Q: You got into Brandon Spikes' face after the roughing the passer penalty. Did you feel like things turned your way in the second half?
RF: We aren't going to back down from anybody. I think that Spikes is an emotional player. I think he's a punk at times and took a cheap shot at Scott[Chandler] in the first game and was doing a lot of talking and hitting out there – he's not one of my favorite players – [he's] not high on my list. I think that's all just mentality and I think it's important that you don't back down from anybody.
Q: Talk about the penalties especially in the first half…
RF: Yeah, the penalties were unbelievable. Looking at it offensively, third and one and third and 21 – I don't know if it was on the first of second drive, but we just can't have it. We had some critical holding penalties that you just can't have and we were able to overcome some of them, but there were just too many yellow flags out there for us today.
Q: There are a few phantom ones out there too. Was there some frustration in the huddle or on the sideline because there were a few where you were shaking your head?
RF: That's not for me to judge. I know we jumped offside a few times and that's something we can't do. I don't know about the other ones – we'll have to look at the film. You've got to be able to overcome those if they do call them.
Q: Last week in Houston you did not get the ball in the end zone and today you were up and down all day. How would you compare Houston's defense to the Patriots defense?
RF: I don't want to get into the comparisons. You can look at the statistics and Houston's obviously a top five defense – I really don't want to compare them.
Q: Is the Patriots' defense one a top five defense?
RF: If you look at the statistics they're obviously not a top five defense, but these guys and what they do, they have a great offense and they're going to make you earn it all the way down the field and I thought our guys until the very, very end there, made a lot of plays and unfortunately came up one play short in the end.
Q: The usage of Fred [Jackson] and C.J. Spiller not only running with the ball, but also in the passing game -- can you lay out the way you guys used them today?
RF: Yeah, that's what we want to do. Obviously we talk about it every week and we got away from it with Houston and what they did to us, but today, I thought we came in with a great plan. We had ways to get them the ball no matter what was going on defensively, and even the screens and getting the ball in those guys' hands in space was special and we saw it today like we see it every week.
Q: Knowing what this meant, it could have changed the whole perception of the season. How disappointed are you for that team in there? What are they feeling right now?
RF: We're all disappointed. If we were able to with that game all of a sudden you to turn the season around and you forget about the five losses before that. This is a tough one to swallow for us, especially with the way that it ended, but we've got to find a way. We've got a really short week here and we've got to come out [and] heal up a little bit over the next few days and play on Thursday.
Q: Early on in the game in the first quarter – the sack-fumble when Jerod Mayo was in your way, were you looking for C.J. [Spiller] then Mayo zipped out there, is that why you didn't…
RF: I don't remember exactly the read or what happened. I know that's something we talked about going into the game – not giving their offense more opportunity than what they deserve and unfortunately that fumble was a big turning point and essentially giving them seven points early in the game and that's something that we weren't able to overcome throughout the game.
Q: You had some success finding [Scott] Chandler early in the game over the middle and that sort of thing. Did that open things up later on?
RF: I think that was just part of it going in. I thought he had a chance to have a good game in terms of some of the stuff we had and in terms of what they ran defensively. [He] made some really nice catches. He's that kind of guy for us – he's a big target – he's a guy that's going to be able to beat linebackers in coverage, and sometimes when you bring in the dime or whoever on the third down, with his big body we expect him to win and he did a good job today.
