Pats Postgame Reaction

The New England Patriots entered Super Bowl 42 hoping to cap a 19-0 season but finished the season 18-1 after losing to the New York Giants. WBUR's Gabe O'Connor has the postgame reaction from Glendale, Arizona.

For the first time in NFL history 18-1 is now an insult.

As you have probably guessed, those were New York Giants fans reveling in their teams' improbable 17-14 win over the previously undefeated New England Patriots. The Pats were heavy favorites heading into this game. But the Giants tremendous pass rush disrupted the Patriots offense and beat up quarterback Tom Brady with five sacks including one by giants defensive tackle Michael Strahan.

"You could sense that they were frustrated and I think in way, a little surprised. I mean we were stopping the best offense in football and record setters." Strahan said. "Of course they were surprised."

Brady acknowledged how well the Giants defense played last night.

"Yeah, they're a great team. They're very good on defense. They've got some great pressure schemes. Obviously they have some great pass rushers. Once we got the idea of what they were doing, I thought we handled it much better but we just didn't get the ball in the end zone enough. You score 14 points, I think that's our lowest point total of the year. That got us beat." Brady said.

While Brady had a lot to say about the giants defense, coach Bill Belichick had very little say about anything. he walked off the field with a second left on clock and was visibly upset and disappointed in a press conference that lasted less than four minutes. Linebacker Tedy Bruschi told the press what his coach said in the locker room after the game.

"You know he summarized the year a little bit. We worked very hard this year, you know it's a shame that we couldn't finish. He told us how he wished he could have done a better job. We as players wished we could have done a better job. We told him that...it's tough to take. Not even what was on the line. It's the Super Bowl, you know the winner is the world champion and the loser gets grouped in with the 31 other teams." Bruschi said.

Brady didn't necessarily agree with that assertion.

"You know tonight didn't take away anything from what we did this season. We had a great year. It's just unfortunate that tonight turned out the way it did. But the Giants certainly deserve it, they're a great football team. As difficult as it is, you got to hand it to them, they made more plays than we did." Brady said.

Patriot fans came to University of Phoenix stadium yesterday afternoon expecting a coronation. By the end of the night they were mostly scattered across the four corners of the valley. Meanwhile inside Brady pondered the offseason.

"Well, I probably need some time to reflect on the game and some time to reflect on the season.While it is extremely disappointing. We'll just have to regroup and come back and try to make it stronger next year." Brady said.