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Fred Smerlas: "…Have you ever, in all the years you've been [coaching], had such a hoopla about how you guys are winning games? … It's bizarre. And any team you've ever seen – Indianapolis Colts, the Greatest Show on Turf – have you ever seen anyone say 'Boy, you guys are just putting up too many points'? It baffles me. I don't know what planet I'm on here. And you've been around for a long time."
Belichick: "Yeah, and you know, Fred, my background is on the defensive side of the ball, so we always felt like it's your job defensively to try to limit the points. But hey, everybody's entitled to their opinion or whatever. All we're trying to do is go out there and win games and play good football. In situations at the end of the game, nobody's trying to embarrass or run anything up on anybody, but not playing is, to me, more disrespectful than playing. So taking a knee and doing that, I don't think that's really the answer. The ball's on the 7-yard line and it's 4th down, kicking a field goal to make it 41-0 instead of 38-0, I don't see where that's … I wouldn't appreciate that if I was on the other side. But again, it doesn't really matter. I think it's just important for us to go out there and…you know, the players are doing what the plays are called to run, and as coaches we're trying to do the things that we feel like are the right thing to do for our football team at that particular time. It's not about embarrassing anybody, it's just about doing what…"
Pete Sheppard: [Interrupting] "But it surprises me, I mean, most of the coaches are saying just exactly what you did on television. You know, Cowher, Johnson, all these guys, they always reiterate what you say every week. I am shocked at the number of players, some of them who are going to be in the Hall of Fame, or who are in the Hall of Fame, just don't seem to get it. And some of those players have been on the opposite side, on teams winning by 35, 40 points, some games. I don't understand how some of these Hall of Fame players, or will-be Hall of Fame players, don't get it."
Belichick: "It's not a question that I really have a good answer to. If somebody has another opinion on it, they're entitled to that. But believe me, it's not our intent to do anything to embarrass anybody else. We have respect for all of our opponents – the other teams and the other organizations. We're just out there trying to do what we do. And sometimes when you get into a situation where a team brings a lot of guys down and wants to blitz at the end of the game [and] you don't have enough people to block them all, you don't really want to get your guys killed because you can't block guys that are coming free on the line of scrimmage. It's almost easier for you to throw the ball than it is to run it in those kinds of situations."
