Q. Mac, despite the loss, what are your just overall thoughts on your first NFL game with the New England Patriots?
MJ: I think we can get better. That's just how we have to look at it. Definitely wasn't good enough, starting with me. So we've got to watch the film. We lost, so it's not good enough.
Q. Can you take us through the first dropback, when it was ruled a sack and a fumble that Jonnu recovered. Just what did you see and what happened on that play?
MJ: We just were running a play in the red zone, high red zone, and I should have just thrown it away. It was that simple. Yeah, just throw it away and move on to the next down.
Q. I'm just wondering, did the Dolphins surprise you at all with anything they threw at you defensively?
MJ: No, I just tried to stick to what I was taught, and we can do a better job, I can do a better job just going through my reads and communicating. So I'll improve on my communication, and we'll make sure that we're better. It wasn't good enough.
Q. How are you feeling? It seemed like you took a lot of big shots during the game.
MJ: Not really. I feel good. My body feels good, but it wasn't good enough, and we've got to just come back tomorrow and get ready to work. Like the shots I took, some of them were my fault. I need to get the ball out quicker, and that's part of football. You have to expect to get hit.
Our offensive line played good, and they're going to get better, and we're going to work together because it takes all of us. They're a great group of guys, but I think we can definitely improve on our communication, and that's what we're going to do.
Q. After that first play, it seemed like you really settled in. Did it feel that way to you?
MJ: It's not really about me. My job is to be the quarterback, and that's to either hand the ball off or throw it. I can do a better job, and everyone else, I thought they played hard, but we can play even harder. We're just going to go up from here.
Q. After that first touchdown, your teammates were trying to give you the ball. Why wouldn't you take it?
MJ: Because it doesn't really matter. It was one touchdown. We've got to score more. It's not like the game was over right there. We've got to do better in the red zone and get more touchdowns, and we will.
Q. I know you're so disappointed, but are you able for a minute to reflect on making your NFL debut as a rookie, and were you able to enjoy any parts of it? If so, what?
MJ: Yeah, that's something Josh told me, just enjoy the day. You'll never play a rookie year opening game again, but that's not how I wanted it to go.
Q. Could you just walk us through the third and 11, I think the completion to James White. How much does that go back to what you guys did during OTAs and also training camp?
MJ: James is an awesome guy. He always knows what to do. We have a lot of guys like that on our team, and I need to get better at knowing what to do so I can get them the ball because they're all good playmakers and we have a really good offensive line.
We have a good play caller, a great play caller, and we've got to execute what he calls quickly, efficiently, and perfectly.
Q. After Damien's fumble, we saw you on the sideline kind of getting in the defense and getting everyone on the sideline going. Is that something that you're comfortable with right away? Is that something over the past month or two you've developed here in Foxboro?
MJ: I think being the quarterback, I need to do a better job, demanding better in practice. Sometimes I just let things slide, myself included. That's not good enough. So I'm going to try and be more vocal, and I am a vocal person, but it's kind of a new situation, and I can be better.
But it starts with me. Defense, like try and hype them up and stuff, and they played great. We've got to do better on offense. So we'll do that.
Q. Have you had a chance to talk to Damien after his fumble? If so, what was your message to him?
MJ: Damien's obviously very disappointed, but it doesn't go all on Damien. There's a lot of things I could have done to be better, to not even be in that situation, take some bigger chunk plays. He played his heart out. It is what it is. He's going to be better from it.
He's a great dude, and he's going to work hard, and that's what he does, and that's what we're all going to do.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports