Well obviously a disappointing effort on our part, we've obviously played much better than we did today and we've got a lot of things to work on. That being said, we'll get back to work next week.

How do you explain the poor starts?
I can't explain it. I don't understand it. I thought we worked in practice and obviously starting out the game but the last two, three games ago against St. Louis we didn't start off bad. It's disappointing and it's not acceptable. This time of year you're supposed to be playing better football that that. We've got to find that team that can play with anybody in the league.

Did the weather conditions make matters worse for your team?
We've got good football players, we've got good coaches. We've shown that we can be a good team. We didn't show that today.

How concerned are you about the direction of your team?
I'm concerned about the way we played today. It wasn't good enough. I think we've shown that at times we can be a very good football team and we've got to somehow find that team. I don't know what it is, so hopefully we'll put in a good week of work this week and have a little better success next week.

How difficult is it to turn things around in December?
We're going to go back to work Wednesday with the idea of winning our last game and then getting ready for a playoff game From that standpoint, I don't think it's difficult to turn it around. I think we've got to play better. Like I said, you want to be playing better football than we're playing right now. Fortunately we have a game left to go and our goal is going to be to play better next week. If we can do that, then that will give us some confidence, I believe.

Is motivating your team a problem?
I can't say that it is. I think we've worked hard to try to not make [having already qualified for the playoffs] a factor. I think it was important to us to play hard and to play well and we didn't do that. I think today's game will wake us up, if last week's didn't. We're embarrassed and we're a better football team than we showed today. Give New England credit, they put it to us and that's to their credit.

Did you have a bad feeling going into today's game?
No I didn't. We actually put the pads back on last Thursday and had a good practice. I thought we were focused. I think that we have to continue to grow up. I think that's the biggest thing because if we have adversity early in the game, it seems we can't recover from that. I thought that after the Jet game this year maybe we turned the corner with that but it appears right now that we still have a lot of work to do in that area.

How big of an issue was field position?
Well I was hoping this was one time we would win the toss because we would've done the same thing New England did and that was to defer and kick the ball. We talked about this, especially in a weather game like this, field position was going to be important. We can't just be that fragile of a team that we can't recover from that. We need to find a way to stop them too, they went right down the field on us a couple of times and got up and then it makes it very difficult to stay in the game.

Will next week be a 'pride game' for you?
I think it is. I think it's an important game for us and I think that it needs to be a focus this next week. There's no "the game doesn't mean anything" or "get ready for the playoffs." I don't think we can afford to go into the game with that attitude whatsoever.

How'd Matt Leinart play?
It's tough. I told Matt on the sidelines that this was as tough of condition or situation as you can be in. His helmet, early with the communicator, not only was it not working but all it was doing was sending off a real loud signal, a real loud buzz. He really couldn't even hear period, not necessarily get the play, and that really made it difficult early. We finally got the thing taken out. He did some good things for us today, like I said, it was a tough situation when we were down. I like the way he hung in there at the end and made a very good throw to Larry [Fitzgerald] which is something you want to see.

What did you say to the team after the game?
Not much to say. They kicked our butts. We're very disappointed and we've got to get back to work. And I think I said what I just said a second ago about this next game about it being an important game for us. Don't think we're going to rest or take players out or it doesn't mean anything because it does.

Eight of the first nine plays were runs, why?
Well it was tough to the throw the ball when it was snowing and the field was slippery. We were trying to mix things in. We also wanted to work on our running game. It's hard to say if we're having success with it because penalties stopped it. I was important to us early to try to get some of those things going. We would've done that regardless of the weather, you know today once we got down, it really made it very difficult.

How good are the Patriots?
Well they're playing well right now. I know that. That was a very good football team we saw today. I've seen them improve. I had the chance to watch them earlier in the year because they played some of our common opponents and they looked like they were getting a feel for their players because they had a number of injuries especially their quarterback. They seem to be doing exactly what you should be doing at this time of the year and that is improving as a team and gelling. They've got a number of people making plays for them and they're playing good football.