Thanks to the Patriots’ PR staff, here’s the complete transcript of Bill Belichick’s conference call with the media from earlier this afternoon:
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Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Friday afternoon “it’s a possibility, but not a certainty” the Patriots will add another quarterback to their roster before the start of the regular season.

New England cut veteran quarterback Andrew Walter Friday afternoon, one of six players let go by the Patriots in advance of Saturday’s cutdown deadline: Walter, linebacker Vinny Ciurciu, wide receiver Robert Ortiz, safety Roderick Rogers, defensive lineman Stephen Williams and offensive lineman Billy Yates were all released by the Patriots, who now have to cut 13 more players to get to the 53-man limit before the deadline Saturday at 6 p.m.

The Patriots have just two quarterbacks currently on their roster: Tom Brady and rookie Brian Hoyer. Hoyer played from start to finish in Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Giants, going 18-for-25 for 242 yards and one touchdown. The Michigan State product ended the preseason 29-for-44 for a team-high 354 passing yards and one touchdown.

“I thought it was really good,” tight end Benjamin Watson said of Hoyer’s effort Thursday night. “Obviously, there are going to be some things that he could do better, but I thought for being able to play the whole game and to rally the team and to come back and get a win, I thought that was really good.”

Walter clearly wasn't happy about sitting out Thursday's game. (AP)

The move to play Hoyer the whole game appeared to anger the 27-year-old Walter — the former Oakland quarterback appeared ready to go on the sidelines all night, and was clearly disgruntled when speaking with reporters in the locker room after the game.

“Andrew had a lot of positives — we talked about those when we signed him, and I still think that they exist,” Belichick said Friday when asked about Walter, who finished the preseason 5-for-9 for 62 yards in limited action.

With cuts coming fast and furious between now and the deadline, Belichick said it would be impossible to commit to a definitive answer about a personnel move between now and then.

“There’s so many moving parts to the process, different positions,” said Belichick on a conference call when asked about adding another quarterback. “I’d say it’s a possibility, but not a certainty, and we’ll just evaluate it on a case-by-case basis as to how we feel the best makeup of our roster this year will be.”

If New England was in the market for a veteran backup, they could speak with Eagles about quarterback A.J. Feeley. Reports out of Philadelphia indicate that the Eagles are trying to shop Feeley before the cutdown deadline in hopes of getting something for the 32-year-old backup. The Patriots and Philadelphia have made several deals in the past, and the reported swap (Feeley for New England’s backup tight end Alex Smith) would make sense from both sides: the Patriots need a backup quarterback, while Philadelphia is in need of tight end depth.

Other possible targets for New England could be 36-year-old Damon Huard, who backed up Tom Brady from 2001-2003 and was just let go by San Francisco, as well as free agent Brian Griese.

The Patriots just announced the release of six players. Here’s the full transcript of the statement just issued by the team:
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Thanks to the Patriots’ PR staff, here are some postgame quotes of note from the New England locker room:
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Thanks to the Patriots’ PR staff, here’s the full postgame transcript of the Q&A between Bill Belichick from Thursday night:
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FOXBOROUGH — Bill Belichick wanted to see a lot from Brian Hoyer on Thursday night.

The Patriots head coach got his wish, as the rookie out of Michigan State played every offensive snap in a 38-27 come-from-behind win over the New York Giants in the preseason finale at Gillette Stadium.

The final stat sheet was impressive for Hoyer, who completed 18-of-25 passes for 242 yards, including an eight-yard TD pass to Robert Ortiz, helping the Pats erase a 21-0 deficit after one quarter.

His numbers added up to a Brady-esque 115.8 passer rating, aided by touchdown drives of 80 and 64 yards in the final quarter against the Giants’ third-stringers.

“We just wanted to see him play, see the different situations and, as it got going, I thought he would learn from the ones that came up all throughout the game,” Belichick said.

But Belichick stopped short of awarding Hoyer a position on the team right on the spot. Read the rest of this entry »

FOXBOROUGH — New England will wrap up their preseason with a 38-27 win over New York. We’ll have postgame analysis and quotes up shortly.