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FOXBORO - Did the first sign of a difference of opinion between Patriots' quarterback Matt Cassel and wide receiver Randy Moss surface in their post-game comments following Sunday's 38-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins?

Spiritually, no. Semantically speaking, yes.

Cassel, more likely to toe the company line than Moss, was more diplomatic when he assessed the relative performances of his Patriots as opposed to the Dolphins.

Moss was more blunt, as is his style.

"Any time you look from the outside looking in, you always see what they are doing," Moss said. "But I really honestly think that with our preparation this week and the plays and the calls, we had we left a lot of football out there. "I'm not taking anything from the Dolphins and their coach," he continued. "I looked on the other side of the field and saw how much this game meant to them. They dumped the water on the coach's head and stuff like that. That was very disappointing, looking over on the other side of the field and seeing that because that means their expectations were to come in here and put it to us, which they did. They stepped up and we didn't. Seeing the way the Dolphins performed out there, they just wanted it more. I guess that's something crazy for me to say, but I was out there and I could really see it."

Cassel, wearing a bit of a sheepish grin as he listened to a reporter tell him Moss' quote, respectfully disagreed.

"I don't know if I agree with it," he said, "but if that's what Randy said, then that's how he felt and maybe that's his opinion. I know that we wanted it as a team and we wanted to win. Just today, they played better than we did."

Cassel's numbers weren't awful; he completed 19 of 31 passes for 131 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. But he was sacked four times (three times by Joey Porter) and was well on his way to taking too much of a beating from the Miami blitzers when he gave way to Kevin O'Connell late in the game.

The Patriots managed to involve eight different pass-catchers in their offense, Wes Welker and Jabar Gaffney leading the way with six catches apiece. Moss caught four for just 25 yards, as he remains underutilized since the transition from the injured Tom Brady to Cassel.

"There were a couple plays that we had out there that we really felt could get the offense going," Moss said, "and there were a couple plays that could get the defense going. But every time we stepped up, they smashed us in the mouth with either a defensive stop or some kind of first down or touchdown.

"We're going to have an off week to take off and really focus on getting back to what we know how to do and look forward to the week after that," he added.

In his new role as a team captain, Moss may be looked upon to provide guidance over a two-week stew over the worst regular-season loss by the Patriots in three years.

"The main thing is, no matter what happens we have to stay upbeat," he said. "Not just myself, but you've got a whole team and coaching staff that has to say upbeat. I think a lot of people are looking for the captains for all this leadership and change things around but you have a 53-man roster and all these coaches, that's hard to do.

"Not saying that it's impossible coach (Bill) Belichick is a hell of a coach," he continued. "I look forward to good things coming from him this week and any other week. It's a disappointing loss and it's something that really hurts, but the good thing about it is you get to come out the following week to try and make up for the week prior to that. You just go back to the drawing board and hopefully we can turn this thing around." "Every time you get out there on the field, you learn something," said Cassel. "This is just one where we have to go out and regroup. They beat us today. And it's also one of those situations where it's a learning situation for me playing from behind. You have to continue to rally guys on the sideline and continue to go out there each and every series and know that it means something."