FOXBORO — A day after Carolina defensive back Chris Gamble accused Randy Moss of checking out during Sunday’s Patriots-Panthers game, Moss’ coach and teammates came to the defense of the wide receiver on Monday, with New England coach Bill Belichick accusing Carolina of sour grapes.

“My response would be that’s a lot of conversation coming from a team that just lost another game,” Belichick said of the Panthers, who suffered a 20-10 defeat to the Patriots.

"I have a lot of respect for Randy, I think he’s one of our best players, and I think if you watch other teams defend him and watch other teams play against him, they think the same way — other than these two guys from Carolina after they lost another game,” Belichick added. “I guess they don’t think that way. They haven’t won a lot of games now.”

On Sunday against the Panthers, Moss finished with one catch for 16 yards. On that play, Moss ended up fumbling the ball away. In addition, the wide receiver had a dropped ball, and another pass that was meant for Moss was picked off by Gamble.

The receiver did not speak with reporters after the game, but reporters did catch up with Gamble, who had a lot to say about Moss.

“He’d just give up a lot; slow down; he’s not going deep; not trying to run a route. You can tell (by) his body language,” The Boston Globe quoted Gamble as saying of Moss. “I know everyone who plays against him, they can sense that. Once you get into him in the beginning of the game, he shuts it down a little bit.”

That came as a surprise to his teammates.

“He comes to work every day,” said running back Sammy Morris. “Every week, I expect to get the best from Randy.”

“Everyone takes kind of liberty to say what they want to say in a situation like yesterday,” Brady told WEEI’s “Dennis & Callahan” on Monday morning. “I’ve seen plenty of plays made on Chris Gamble, too, over the course of the season.

“I guess they came out of the game pretty confident. Randy’s one of the best players in the history of the NFL. When it doesn’t go perfect out there, everyone always wants to jump on Randy. But it’s all of us, and we’ve got to do a better job, and I’m real proud of the way we won.”

After starting the season with five 100-plus yard receiving performances in his first nine games — including an impressive nine-catch, 179-yard, two-touchdown performance in a Nov. 15 loss to the Colts in Indianapolis — Moss has slowed down. In the last four games, he has a total of 11 catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns combined.

Despite his recent struggles, he remains sixth in the league in total receiving yards with 1,074, and is one of the best deep threats in the league — he’s in the Top 10 in the NFL in connections of 20 yards or more (16) and receiving touchdowns (9).

“We’ve gotten a lot from him all year — he’s one of the top receivers in the league right now. He’s up there in yards and catches and touchdowns,” Brady said. “Every game plan that the defense comes up with is trying to stop Randy Moss. They all say, ‘OK, well, we’ve got to stop Randy Moss.’ So, it’s not like they don’t have respect for him, when the game plan’s built around stopping him.”

But Belichick said Moss’ impact on the game shouldn’t be measured in stats.

“Stats are for losers. Final scores are for winners, and that’s really what it’s about, Belichick said. “That’s the bottom line.”