Mankins on M&M: 'It wasn't pretty'

Patriots offensive lineman Logan Mankins, during a Monday morning appearance on the Mut & Merloni show, acknowledged the O-line did not have its strongest game Sunday as the Pats struggled in a 23-16 victory over the Jaguars.

"It was a win. It wasn't pretty, but we did pull it out," Mankins said. "We're never satisfied with just winning; we want to play the perfect game. Offensively we didn't feel like we played that well. So, we're going to try to get back this week and try to have a good game next weekend."

Tom Brady was hammered a couple of times by Jaguars pass-rushers and pressured on a few other occasions -- something the offensive line normally does not allow.

"From what I could tell, it was just breakdowns," Mankins said. "I haven't gotten to watch the game film yet. We just didn't do that good a job. We never want Tom to get hit. I think he understands from time to time it's going to happen. Yesterday we allowed way too many pressures. I think our score showed that -- we only scored 23 points. We're accustomed to scoring in the 30s. We had too many runs that didn't get enough yards and too many pressures on the quarterback."

Mankins said there's no reason why the Patriots should have overlooked the Jaguars.

"I've been around long enough to know that every team we play we're getting their best shot, no matter what their record is," he said. "Everyone loves to beat the Patriots. They were 2-12, so if they'd have beaten us, that would have made the end of their season nice for them. We knew they were going to give us their best shot, and we knew we'd have to play good, because they do have some good football players down there.

"I don't know what the reasoning is for our execution on offense yesterday, but it just wasn't good enough. If we were playing a really good team we would have gotten our butts kicked yesterday."

Following are more highlights from the interview.

On the team's prospects for the playoffs: "Well, if you go off of Sunday, not that good. But if you go off the total of the season, I think we've got a good shot. We've just got to get everyone playing good together. When we're playing the way we want to play, doing the things we want to do, we're pretty good."

On the toughest defensive lines he's faced this season: "There's been a bunch of good ones, The 49ers were really good. Houston's got a very good D-line. Buffalo, they've got two really good D tackles."

On the best opponent he's faced this season: "Probably this year so far [49ers defensive end] Justin Smith. He does it all. he's an unselfish player for his team, too. He does a lot of things where no one else sees them. That's why his team's good around him. The players around him have very good stats because he's holding everyone. Like, a lot of those pressures and sacks that Aldon Smith gets are from Justin Smith holding the offensive linemen to where they can't get off a block. Guys like that, they do all the dirty things that no one else sees and helps his team."

To hear the interview, including Mankins reminiscing about receiving Christmas gifts of a horse, a gun and a chainsaw when he was a youngster, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page [1]. For more Patriots news, visit the team page at weei.com/patriots [2].