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QB Matt Flynn post-game press conference transcript

Q: How much was inexperience a factor in the last minute?

MF: I don’t think it was at all. Right there, that third-down play, the second to last play, we couldn’t really tell if we got the first down or not. We would have gone up and clocked the ball and had an opportunity to call a better play. But once they spotted it that way, it was fourth down and we just had to go. I don’t feel like it was inexperience because I’ve been around the game and we work two-minute drills all the time.

Q: Did you have any play on that last play?

MF: No, they dropped eight into coverage, what we call (zeke) defense. When they do that, they’re just rushing three and usually what happens when you have four verticals like that, you have to move around and try to make something happen and let the receivers work in the endzone a little bit. And I stepped up, trying to do that, and never saw the guy behind me.

Q: Are you encouraged by your performance at all or just concerned about the loss?

MF: Yeah, I mean the loss is really the only thing on my mind right now. I feel like we did some good things. Personally, I feel like there were some good things that I did. I made a couple of mental mistakes on reads and the ball slipped out two times on my hand, but the bottom line is we didn’t make the plays we needed to and that’s what bit us in the end.

Q: Were you expecting James Jones to keep going inside on the play that was intercepted for the touchdown?

MF: They were in man coverage and I think James, when he was coming in, he said he ran into the guy that was covering Jordy [Nelson] and kind of knocked him off his course, so that’s one of those timing routes that we throw and he just kind of got knocked off.

Q: When did you realize that they were dropping back eight and what do you do in that second?

MF: Immediately, you can see that they’re only rushing three and they’re dropping everyone into the endzone and that’s one of those things that usually there isn’t going to be anybody open, right off the bat. It’s one of the things where you just have to try to work people with your eyes, try to work the defenders with your eyes and try to get them going one way and get someone else out the backdoor, but it didn’t happen.

Q: Did Dan Connolly’s run affect your mindset at all? You were heading into the halftime with a much bigger lead before that.

MF: I think that early in the game, the way we were moving the ball at the time, I don’t think it really affected our mindset at all. We were still confident as an offense. It would have been nice to have a bigger lead than that, but you can’t ask for anything more than going into halftime with a lead.

Q: Is this loss especially tough for you because you were so close against an opponent who has been crushing teams?

MF: Yeah, I mean a lot of games we’ve lost this year were really close. It’s a tough one to swallow and it kind of makes you sit there and think what could you have done different? Could you have made a play here? Just things that kind of eat you up that you can’t stop thinking about, so it’s definitely tough to swallow but we’ve got to move forward. We’ve got two games left. We’ve still got things in front of us.

Q: How were you able to stay even-keeled?

MF: I was a little nervous a couple of hours before the game, but once you get out there on the field and start running around a little bit, the emotions kind of go away and you just start playing football. You get in there and the competitive juices start flowing and you just go out there, trying to make plays. I guess just one of those things that I’ve always had is being even-keeled and not getting too excited whether good things happen or bad things happen.

Q: How would you rate your performance?

MF: Well, we lost, so it has to be a losing performance. We did some good things offensively. We moved the ball but, when it counted, we didn’t get it done.

Q: Did Aaron Rodgers tell you anything to prepare you during the week?

MF: Yeah, me and Aaron talked all week. He just told me to cut it loose and have fun out there, trust your preparation, trust your reads. He was with me the whole time on the sideline, talking to me, so he was a big help for me.

Q:  What was the plan coming in and what did you get done that you thought you would?

MF: We thought we matched up pretty well with them, offensively. The plan was to go out there and cut it loose. We didn’t really take the plan down. We ran the ball real well today, so that was a big plus for us. The plan didn’t change because I was in. We went out and went after them.

Transcript courtesy of New England Patriots media relations