The worst part of winning the Super Bowl is having to return all the texts

"But everybody knows I don't text back."

The Patriots' post-Super Bowl locker room was not the champagne-soaked madhouse that fans are used to seeing after championships. There were hugs and some laughter, but it was fairly tame and you could almost feel the exhaustion in the air.

"I think we just left everything on the field," said Duron Harmon. "That was just exhausting, man. The last 20 seconds took forever."

Harmon was quick to say that the quiet wouldn't last for long.

"It's not gonna stay tame all night, that's for sure," he said, with a jolt of energy. "I'm sorry y'all won't be at the after party. There will be plenty of things popping!"

"We're definitely a relaxed kind of team," said Alan Branch. "But I also think we're all just really, really tired."

After the showers comes the bus to the hotel. After that is the party and after that a good night's sleep. Then comes the hardest part — returning all of the text messages.

"I checked my phone. I have 250 text messages, man," Harmon said, shaking his head. "I can't even deal with that right now."

Nearby, Brandon Bolden pulls out his phone.

"WHOA. I ain't never seen that much green on my phone ever," he said, scrolling through his texts. "And then Twitter goes crazy. "

Bolden admitted that even if he wanted to return those texts, he didn't think that adrenaline would allow his fingers to do the work.

"Right now, I'm too excited to even use my hands," he said, looking at his digits and waving them around. "I don't know what to do with my hands."

Akeem Ayers joined the list of guys who admitted that they'll have a hard time returning all of those messages, so I gave him a chance to offer a blanket message to all of his well wishers.

"Thank you for your support," he said. "I'ma get back to you guys as soon as possible. In the meantime let's just enjoy this victory."

Duron also wanted to get all of his texts done in one shot.

"Anybody who texted Duron, I just wanna say thank you for the support you showed throughout this whole year," he said. "Thank you. Now I'm a Super Bowl champ. Let's get it."

Everyone I talked to said they'd be doing their best to return those texts, so if you're waiting for a response, stay patient. Unless you texted Alan Branch.

"I'm guessing at least 100," he said, when I asked how many he had. "But everybody knows I don't text back."

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