Bill Belichick Post Game Press Conference Transcript
OPENING STATEMENT:
"It was good to come out here and win. I thought it was a real good win for our football team. Give the players all the credit, they did a real good job today against a good football team. Coach Fox has done a great job with the Broncos, has them playing really well and they were certainly a lot for us to handle. But give our guys credit. We fought back, made plenty of plays to win in all three phases of the game. I'm just proud of the way that they responded to the challenge, stepped up and played good football today. I'm really happy about the win, and again, the players, they did a great job this week."
On the turnovers in the second quarter:
"Yeah, and it's always good to be able to get the ball out a couple times and offensively we were able to capitalize on some opportunities. We had a good long drive there after Denver had scored the second time and that gave us a chance to settle down a little bit on defense, and of course getting the three points at the end of the half, that was good too. But, you know, all the way around I just thought we played...we didn't get off to a a great start, but our second series offensively wasn't, I mean our first series was fine, the second series...then after that I thought we really settled down and other than a couple of plays here and there we did a good solid job."
On how he would rate Tom Brady after his fourth quarter performance:
"How would I rate him. We won, he did a good job."
Just a good job?
"That's what the quarterback's job is, to help the team win. He did that."
On any injury updates?
"Just walked in off the field."
On if it was good getting a new "Hat and T-Shirt" today:
"That's one of our goals at the start of the season is to meet the challenge of our division, and our players have done that. You know, 6-2 on the road, so they've done a good job. They've met a lot of challenges, and this was a big one, but those guys did a great job today. You know, we got contributions from everybody, so really, you give the whole team credit."
On if Tim Tebow gave them what he expected:
"Sure, he does a heck of a job. We know he can run, we know he can throw, hurt us with some play action. But he's a good quarterback. He certainly gave us plenty of problems. Hopefully we gave him some too."
On the last touchdown drive when they answered Denver's touchdown:
"I mean our offense, that was great on their part to get the ball and to convert some key plays. It looked like there were a coverage missed there on Gronkowski, I mean that was a big play. Then hitting Hernandez on a second and fifteen, second and sixteen, whatever it was, getting the ball in there in the endzone on third down with the crowd and everybody really into it, we got good blocking there, and a good run by BenJarvus. Again, just give the players all the credit, they deserved it. They stopped them, they scored, they covered kicks, they did a great job."
On how crucial Aaron Hernandez was with Deion Branch out:
"Again, everybody stepped up. We got plays from our backs, from our tight ends, from our receivers, from our quarterback, from our offensive line, in the running game. So all the way across the board, we got good contributions from all those guys and I think that's why we won. Everybody did a good job, the team played well."
On the fact they went from a four man line to a 3-4:
"It's not so much that as, I mean, it changed our spacing. So whether it's an odd spacing or an even spacing, there's some advantages to each. So we were in a little more odd spacing try to keep better leverage on the formation. They gave us a lot of shifting early in the game, a lot of shifting, motion change, formations, so we were able to settle down for a combination of reasons, but one of them was to try and balance out the defense and I think that helped us a little bit."
On any idea of the severity of [Andre] Carter's injury:
"No, just walked in off the field."
On the fact Mark Anderson played in his place:
"Again, we got great contributions from everybody. Mark [Anderson], Eric Moore, [Rob] Ninkovich, Dane [Fletcher], Gary [Guyton], Jerod [Mayo], all the way across the board. Our defensive line, I mean those guys played well. They were out there, Vince [Wilfork], Kyle [Love], Gerard Warren, [Brandon] Deaderick, Ron Brace...they all played good. We used a lot of people on defense and they all stepped up and came through for us at one time or another. You know, losing [Andre] Carter, that was a big loss there in the second quarter. But we had guys step up and they contributed throughout the game."
On what he saw on the strip sack:
"I don't know if I got a real good look at it. You probably saw it better than I did. But, I mean, I know we got good play out of our pass rushers and again, Tim [Tebow]'s a tough guy to get, so it's not easy with him. But we were able to get him a few times, we were able to throw him off rhythm a little bit. And he got us a couple of times too. He's a good football player and that was a good battle. That was a good battle...against our pass rush and his mobility back there and their offensive line. We made a few, they made a few, fortunately we made enough to win. "
On the positives he saw:
"Yeah, we hit our scoring opportunities and that was good. Our coverage was good. I think we took advantage of a couple of their mistakes, you know they mishandled a kickoff and it cost them some field position. They mishandled a punt, that gave us three points at the end of the half, mishandled an extra point, so we were able to capitalize on those opportunities and take advantage of the ones that we had too. Special teams, those guys really worked hard this week we knew it would be a big challenge with their specialists, their returners, their kickers, their physical coverage players, they've got gunners. That was a big challenge for us this week. Denver's good in the kicking game, no question about it. They've got good players in the kicking game. "
On if there was a thought to challenge on the Aaron Hernandez play early the game:
"No."
On his thoughts on Mayo and his 5-year extension:
"It's great to have him. He's their defensive captain, has been since his second year in the league. He's a good football player, he's a good leader. He really takes a lot of pride in what he does, and makes the players around him better. So it's great to have him with us for some more years."
