Patriots Are 'Just an Awesome Football Team'

New England's Ty Warren makes his second recovery of a fumble by Washington quarterback Jason Campbell in the second quarter. The Patriots then drove 73 yards for a 24-0 lead. Linebacker Mike Vrabel caused three Campbell fumbles. (By John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)

Campbell was deferential toward the Patriots.

"Their defense plays very hard and very sound," he said. They're clicking on all cylinders. They're a team that is what their record says they are. . . . They're a very good defense. They played together and they played hard. They're always in the right places at the right time."

The Redskins are 4-3, but they have a chance to reach the midway mark of their season with five wins if they beat the New York Jets at Giants Stadium next weekend. Gibbs and his players said they viewed this as an aberrant performance against an exceptional opponent.

Gibbs said the Patriots played "about as good as I've seen anybody play," and added: "I think we've got a lot of pride. I think we have a lot of character. It's got to be played out and see how we deal with this."

The key now, the Redskins said, is to avoid having this defeat set the tone for the remainder of the season.

"I've never been part of something like this," Rabach said. "But we have guys on this team that have a lot of character. They're just a heck of a team. They may go 16-0 this year and blow out every team they face the rest of the season."

Said Samuels: "Our offense struggled. Our defense struggled. We didn't play well at all. But we won't say our season is over with this butt-whipping we got today."