QB-PEYTON MANNING (on what the Patriots were doing defensively to take away their rhythm) 1/16/05
"I don't know if there was necessarily anything they were doing. I don't know if our rhythm was necessarily taken away. But they did a good job tackling and they just didn't give up many big plays. So I don't really feel like getting into a lot of details and specifics of plays or what not. They just played better than we did overall and just did a good job of keeping us out of the red zone. Once we got there, they kept us out of the end zone."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how damaging the Patriots three scoring drives were) 1/16/05
"Obviously, their offense did a better job in the second half of maintaining the ball and scoring at the same time. They did a good job finishing those drives. So, we felt good at half time coming in. We felt like we found a little momentum there at the end of the first half. And then, 6-3, and we got the ball right back. And we just couldn't convert some of those third downs. But, it is disappointing because you feel like, 'Okay, maybe we can kind of get something going now.' And then the second half, the way they had the ball, that is when you go back and start talking about the miscues in the first half and that is what you don't want to do because we had some misses in the first half and had kind of some rare drops. When those happen, you want to say, 'All right, those are over with.' But once they had the ball for so long in the second half, in the fourth quarter you start going, 'We really missed some chances there early on.' That was disappointing."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on holding the Colts to a field goal) 1/16/05
"Like I said, New Englanddid a great job tackling and just kind of keeping things in front of them. We had some pretty good drives there going into the second quarter. I had the fumble. [Tedy] Bruschi made a good play. That was disappointing. We had a good drive at the end of the half. Time dictated a little bit some of the play calls. They were dropping a lot of guys, but we got a good three points out of that. In the second half, we just weren't able to really stay on the field. You know, part of it was our defense not holding on; and part of it was us getting out there. And it kind of works both ways."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on the weather) 1/16/05
"None really. Like I said, we didn't really have any expectations or predictions on the weather. And I thought -- I didn't think it was really much of a factor."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on not throwing the ball down field more) 1/16/05
"We didn't really have some plays called at the right time. It is something that we have had for the most part all season, we have had some right plays called at the right time, and we just didn't really have that tonight. We got some good one-on-one looks. We had some runs, and then we had some shots down the field that they kind of had the better coverage for it. And it just kind of worked out that way. So it was unfortunate."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on the first game of the season costing them home-field advantage) 1/16/05
"Well, we talked about that at the time after the first game because that was a disappointing loss and a game we felt like we really could have won. But I don't think many other teams that played in their first game talked like that game was going to decide whether these teams were going to play in the playoffs, but I certainly felt that way. I felt very confident we would see New Englandagain. And after that loss, we felt like it was going to be back here. They just outplayed us, regardless of where you were playing-- that is not something we talked about this week. We talked about it at the time when that game happened."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how he thought he performed) 1/16/05
"The simple fact is we got beat. And I always feel like I need to do my part to help my team win. And usually I do. But, when you don't win, you know, I take it personally and feel responsible and accountable. So, I'm disappointed I couldn't do my job better to help my team win. But give New Englanda lot of credit."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if he thinks his season will be judged by his personal accomplishments or losing the game) 1/16/05
"Well, it is probably not up to me. Unfortunately, I have always believed that a player does kind of define himself. I am starting to change those thoughts because there are so many opinions and experts talking about me and my career that I just sort of stopped trying to -- I can't really define it myself. I know it was an excellent run. It was a fun run but, obviously, when you finish with a loss in the playoffs, it is disappointing and that is not the way you want to finish it. So I don't really get into talking about what we have done up to this point. The fact is, we are going home and New Englandis playing next week. We would like to be playing next week and we are not, and it is disappointing. The only thing I can say is we keep giving ourselves chances. I think about some teams that maybe lost in the playoffs last year and they kind of feel sorry for themselves and they end up going 5-11 the next year and don't give themselves another chance. We have always seemed to be giving ourselves chances and we feel like eventually it will be our time. And, obviously, it wasn't this year. Hopefully, we will be back next year. We can give it a shot and we will be back next year."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on how he will define the season) 1/16/05
"I thought we had some great wins. We really did, made some crucial plays at some crucial times and really gave ourselves an excellent opportunity to get here. But when we got here, we just didn't play like we wanted to play and so came up short. That is how it will probably be defined. As far as what happened this year, some of the things we had done versus some of the things maybe when I retire a long time from now, you will look back and think about it. But right now it is hard to think about anything else besides losing this game."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if the Patriots did anything different defensively) 1/16/05
"I am not really going to get into schemes. They have excellent personnel. And for the most part, no, to answer your question. But they just play well. They tackled well. They defended well. That is really kind of what it came down to. They played better on defense than we did on offense."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on the false start penalty) 1/16/05
"Yes, I don't know. It was something we put into work on all week and I guess we didn't, we didn't know the rule, essentially. But, it was what we kind of worked to set it up. He said I had to come to a complete stop, which, we were not aware of that. So that was kind of disappointing."
QB-PEYTON MANNING (on if he wonders how many shots it will take him to get in) 1/16/05
"I mean you certainly know when you have an opportunity and you want to take advantage of that. And with all that we had done this year, it makes it even more disappointing. I am finished my seventh year and I have always played every year as if it was going to kind of be my last, and you really play with a sense of urgency because I have heard guys talking about, 'Well, next year,' and you just don't know what is going to happen next week. You know
