Bill Belichick Postgame Press Conference Transcript
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Here's the full transcript from Belichick's press conference after the game:
Opening Statement:
Well, I thought it was a great job by all our players tonight. I thought they really did a terrific job. We had a good week of preparation. Everybody was ready to go. We got some big plays from all three phases of the game. Got off to a good start, we were able to play from ahead. Just had a lot of big plays there at the end of the third, fourth quarter. Just got to give credit to everybody, offensive line, offense, backs, receivers, quarterback, tight ends, special teams, really did a nice job. Defensively, turned the ball over, did a decent job in the running game, competed against their receivers. I'm really proud of our football team and I'm looking forward to moving on to a bigger game next week. But it was a good win for us and I thought those guys really did a good job.
On if the plan early on was to run the ball:
"The plan is to always move the ball and score points. Whatever is the best way to do that, that's what we're going to do. We had some success and we stayed with it, and we also had some success throwing the ball. I thought we had some balance there, production in both areas. Did a good job on third down, at times, I mean not all of them, but there were enough of them. We had to be able to make some big plays. We had the big play on a play-action pass to Danny [Amendola], that was a big play for us coming off of some of the run action."
On the fact Stephen Gostkowski had some big punts after Ryan Allen got hurt:
"Yeah, he sure he did. Stephen, he punts in practice and he's done that before. I thought that was a great job. Brady holding, Gostkowski punting, that's kind of playoff football. Things like that happen. Guys get called on to do something maybe they haven't done all year or haven't done in several years, and come through at a big time, so that was a great job by Steve, no question."
On how much of tonight was just a continuation of the way LeGarrette Blount has run the ball the last three weeks:
"He's run that way all year. He ran that way in the Atlanta game, and the offensive line does a good job of blocking. So if they can get him some holes and some space, he can run well. I thought Stevan [Ridley] ran well too. That was a big run Stevan had there on that third and goal on the three or whatever it was. They did a good job of punching it in the end zone, then getting in on the two point play. So Shane [Vereen], we got good production from all our backs. James Develin did an excellent job as a lead blocker."
Talking about some of the big plays given up:
"Well, obviously we had the two bad plays there. They hit the over route to [T.Y.] Hilton and then hit the post on a double seam. So, now look, they've got a good quarterback, they've got some good receivers, I mean we've seen what they've been able to do offensively. We're battling in there with them every play, they made some plays, we made some too. I thought our linebackers really did a good job. Getting interceptions from Jamie [Collins] and [Dont'a Hightower], that was big for us. As well as two by [Alfonzo Dennard]. Turning the ball over, that was huge."
On whether this was the type of performance he envisioned when he drafted Collins:
"Jamie's been playing well for us, been playing well for us all year. His role in the kicking game has been solid and he's played more and more for us defensively. But he's played well all year."
On what he saw from him in particular defensively:
"I'd have to go back and watch the film, but he showed up on several plays. But he's showed up for us all year. He's a good football player."
On if he's put more on Collins' plate over the last few weeks and rushing the passer more:
"I'd have to look more carefully, but he's been rushing."
On if he had any information on Ryan Allen's Injury:
"No, we just got in off the field. I mean, he wasn't able to come back, so we'll take a look at it tomorrow and see where he's at. I don't know."
On Tom Brady holding after Ryan Allen went out and the fact he hasn't done it in quite a while:
"It's been a little while...it's been a little while. But again, we saw Tom punt last week, or two weeks ago, whatever it was. I mean, we do those things. Look, it's that time of year and we all know we've only got 46 active guys. So everybody has to back up somebody and you just never know how those are going to come out. Have to have everybody ready, and they were. They did a good job. They were called on unexpectedly and they did a good job."
On the interception to start things off in the first quarter:
"On third down it looked like they were running a double slant route there with Hilton in the slot and Zo [Alfonzo Dennard] got a good jam on him, made a good play on the ball, undercut it, was physical at the line. Zo's done a good job for us. Wasn't able to play here for a couple weeks, he's kind of been in and out of the line-up a little bit for the last, maybe, six weeks or so. But he's had a real good two weeks of practice and obviously did a good job today."
On after seeing LeGarrette Blount score four touchdowns if he was more surpised by his power or his speed:
"You know, I think he's got a good set of skills to run the ball. He's got that combination of size, power, and quickness and speed. He's not a fullback...he's not a fullback, he's more than that. He's not a scat back either, he's got power. He can run hard, he can make guys miss, and he can go the distance. He's made some big runs for us. Again, going back to the Atlanta game, we've seen it in the last couple weeks, kickoff returns, he's an explosive player."
On the fact they didn't get many big plays running the ball early in the third quarter but eventually were able to, and if it was just a matter of sticking with it:
"Yeah, making some adjustments. I mean, yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's ticking with it. We ran some of the same plays and we executed them better. LeGarrette made a good play, it was maybe I don't know, like a 5, 6 or 8 yard run and then broke a tackle there in the secondary and then turned it into, I don't know however far it was, sixty or, I don't know, whatever. So I mean, if you can get the guy through the line of scrimmage and then break a tackle or make a guy miss, then that's where you get the long ones. Good backs do that. They make some of those yards on their own, it's up to the line and the backs and the tight ends to get them started, get them some space, and then let them do their thing."
On if it's hard for the offensive coordinator to stick with it:
"Josh did a great job. I mean, Josh called a great game. I thought that he mixed the play-action passes in there with the runs and made them play both. We had a good third down plan, we had some key third down conversions. But certainly, the pass to [Danny] Amendola came off the run action, that was a big play for us. It was certainly set up by some of our runs and run actions."
On having Charles Barkley and if he could share how that came about and what his role here was:
"I just found out he was going to be here this afternoon. But I go way back with Charles, back when I was in Cleveland and he'd come in and play the Cavaliers and all that. Love Charles. Great guy, great competitor. It's just unbelievable to me that at 6'4" he led the NBA in rebounding. I mean, it's unbelievable. But that's what kind of competitor, what kind of player he is. But he's a great guy and it was good to have him here. I'm a big fan of his."
On what he expects his punter to do when the snap goes over his head:
"Yeah, you know I think Ryan probably wasn't sure how close they were to him and then when he turned around they were right on top of him. Obviously if he had known they were there, then he would have just been better off just taking the safety, which is where it ended up anyway. I think he was probably trying to pick up the ball, see if he had a chance to do something with it. But obviously it was a poorly executed play on our part."
On after seeing Jamie Collins' versatility in college how it made him want to integrate him into his system:
"First of all, he's worked very hard. He's been very dependable and durable. He hasn't missed, you know, anything all year. He started out playing...not started out but he's playing outside linebacker in regular, he plays off the line in some regular, he plays nickel linebacker, and you saw today he's out there on a split out tight end covering them on fade patterns. And he's blitzing up the middle and he's making tackles in line, I think he's pretty comfortable wherever he is, whether he's out in space, or covering a guy 20-yards down field, or one-on-one coverage with no help or whether he's in line, taking on blockers or blitzing, or covering tight ends from in close. He's a very versatile athlete that's smart, works hard, really has a great team attitude and I love having him on our team. He brings a lot, doesn't want to come off the field. I mean even when he's playing defense, he wants to be out there in the kicking game, he's got good stamina. He's very athletic, and tough."
On if he likes playing the type of physical brand of football that we've seen the last month:
"Well, you know, we like to win. So whatever we need to do to win really is good with me. Win running, win throwing, win shutting them out, win outscoring them, win in the kicking game, I mean whatever it takes. Just got to find a way to do it this time of year. Every team we play is good, every game is bigger than the next. So we've just got to find some way to come out on top next week, I mean that's really all it is."
On if he's done more in terms of their preparation to improve their running game as the season went on:
"I wouldn't say so, I really wouldn't. There's only so much you can do, there's only so many plays you can run. We're not going to go into the game with 35 running plays, I mean we couldn't get them all called. We have our core plays that we're going to run in that game and sometimes we see something in a game and we say we need to have another play in there so we talk about it on the sideline and maybe put in during the game if they're playing a formation a certain way to be able to balance it off or hit a weakness or something like that. But for the most part we go in with the game plan that we go in with and we stick with it. Dante [Scharnecchia] and Josh [McDaniels], Ivan [Fears], those guys have done a great job, George Godsey, those do a great job with the running game of being able to coach it and organize it and then make some of the adjustments that we need to make during the game."
On if one of the reasons they see improvement later in the year is because they need to get the game reps because of the limits with contact in practice:
"Well, I'm sure that helps. When you have 40 plays of, I don't want to say 9-on-7, but 9-on-7, you're just knocking it out there in the running game in the games, you can't get any better quality reps than that. We've gotten a lot of consistency with our line, I mean those guys have...Josh was in there the one week and Logan [Mankins] bumped out to tackle. Those guys have been playing a lot of football together with Hooman [Michael Hoomanawanui], with [Matt] Mulligan, with [James] Develin, and so the consistency and the continuity that they've developed from week-to-week has, I think that's also been a part of it too. the more comfortable you get playing with your teammates and seeing things, linebackers scraping and ends stunting, and tackles, those kinds of things, you eventually handle them better with more reps. We've definitely been fortunate to get that. We've been able to call a lot of runs in the past month."
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