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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - New England's Stephen Gostkowski has been arguably the best kicker in the game in recent years. He's an All-Pro, a Pro Bowler and has led the league in scoring each of the last four years. In Sunday's loss, though, Gostkowski missed a first-quarter point-after on New England's first score of the day. That changed the complexion of the game in the two-point loss and the Patriots late failed on a two-point play.
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The kicker took full responsibility for the loss with his first missed PAT in nine years, though his teammates had plenty of other mistakes and miss opportunities on the day.
"I'm always upset when I have a bad play. It's part of the job. I feel sorry for myself but I'm not expecting others to feel sorry for me," Gostkowski said of the 20-18 loss. "I work hard to be good and I came up short today. I let a lot of people down today, the guys on our team and the fans. All I can do now is stand up here and take it all on me. I feel like I lost the game for the team and I should have been out there kicking that tying extra point and helping us go into overtime. I just have a feeling that I can't put into words. There's nothing I can do about it now. I had a good week of practice, just sometimes things don't fall your way.
"It just stinks. It's a nightmare. You want to help the team win. You don't want to be the reason you lose. It's not a good feeling. I deserve all the blame that I get and I'll try to hold my head up high. I'm not going to make an excuse, I should have done better. I'm sorry I couldn't come through."
--TE Rob Gronkowski may have been the only Patriots player who should have been holding his head high after the loss at Mile High. The All-Pro led New England with eight catches for 144 yards and a score. He made key plays through the late comeback, including a 40-yard catch on fourth down that extended a late drive to his own fourth-down, 4-yard touchdown.
He did it all while battling cramps and dehydration while trying to carry his team.
"I was actually just kind of disappointed in myself at that moment. I don't know exactly why I was cramping," Gronkowski said. "I prepared for this game like I have for every other game with hydration and all that, but it just got to me. I had to fight through it. The trainers did a great job. I had to just pound a couple of bottles of water on the sidelines. I felt really full at some point, but I battled back through it.
"As an athlete, you just don't want that to happen. I'm definitely going to take that consideration down the road to make sure stuff like that doesn't happen again in games, but it just did this time. It was freaky that it did. It didn't happen all year but battled through it, came back and I was fine after I pounded a couple of bottles of water."
--QB Tom Brady was obviously disappointed in the abrupt end to the season as his two-point pass in the fading seconds in Denver was intercepted and then his team failed to execute an onside kick in the 20-18 loss. The 38-year-old battled an ankle injury into the postseason and took 20 hits in the loss in Denver, leaving him a beaten man.
"It's football. I think there were a lot of plays I got hit pretty hard today, so it's just football," Brady said before going on to send a message to the fans back in New England. "It's been such great support all season. I'm proud of how we fought today. We went right to the end, we just came up a little bit short. I wish the outcome would have been different. You've got to play really well to earn these victories. We just came up a little bit short, so thank you."
And the aging star, who led the NFL with 35 touchdown passes in the regular season, certainly was disappointed that his team was unable to defend its Super Bowl title. But he's already looking ahead to another shot.
"I want to win it every year. I'd love to finish in the last game of the year and win it," Brady said. "It's a pretty tough thing to do. Hopefully I have more opportunities for that. This team fought really hard, we just came up short."
NOTES: Receiver Julian Edelman (foot) played his usual reps in Denver, but was limping quite a bit in the locker room following the season-ending loss. Edelman missed the final seven games of the regular season after surgery to repair a Jones fracture. ... Receiver Danny Amendola (knee) was limping a bit late in the game in Denver and seemed to be shaken up after a number of plays. ... Tight end Rob Gronkowski missed a number of plays in the loss in Denver, spending time on the training staff hydrating on the sideline and getting his legs massaged. The issues didn't limit his production as the All-Pro hit for games highs of eight catches for 144 yards with one touchdown. ... Guard Tre' Jackson (knee) missed his second straight playoff game to the injury, this after starting nine of the 13 games he played in his rookie regular season. ... Offensive lineman LaAdrian Waddle (shoulder) missed his second straight game.
