tweeted by reiss:
transcript:
Bill Belichick Press Conference Transcript 10/23
this part in particular:
full question and answer:
transcript:
Bill Belichick Press Conference Transcript 10/23
this part in particular:
Honestly, I think it would be pretty irresponsible if we got a player hurt and then we had a meeting on the sideline like, “What are we going to do?” Now [during practice] is the time to talk about that, not in the middle of a game.
full question and answer:
Q: Last week when Marcus Cannon went down, did you give equal thought to using a tight end or using a guard? What goes into that thought process?
BB: I'd say it starts during the week. It starts on Tuesday when we look at potentially what are the players that are going to be available, who's going to be active for the game. Sometimes we have a pretty good idea who that's going to be and sometimes we don't. Whatever the case is, we take that information and work it from there, so if we know who's going to be active, then we practice those backup moves, whatever they are. So, whoever the backup right tackle is practices that. Whoever the backup right guard is, center and so forth, whether that's another player who's already on the line, which when you only have seven players, that could definitely be part of it, sometimes you go into the game with your five guys and the other two, they are the plug-in guys and nobody else moves. But sometimes that's not the case. If you go into a game where you're not sure who the active players are going to be because you have game time decisions looming, then you practice those contingencies. If this player is at the game, here's how we're going to do it. If this player is not at the game then that's how we're going to do it. It's the same thing at every positon. Honestly, I think it would be pretty irresponsible if we got a player hurt and then we had a meeting on the sideline like, “What are we going to do?” Now is the time to talk about that, not in the middle of a game. Now, when you start losing multiple players at a position, if you lose two players at any position, on any team – that's an issue. I mean, two of anything with anybody, pick any team in the league, I doubt that wouldn't be an issue. Once you start getting into that area, then you've got to think about kind of what's our emergency move? How do we get through this? Maybe it's not so much who would play there, but what you could actually do with that person there, how you would manage the game, what you would call if you got to that point. Third quarterback, third tight end, third right tackle, third defensive end, third safety – third anything – if you're going that far down the line, it would be an issue. It would be an issue. I'm not saying you couldn't handle it, but it would be an issue. Some more than others, but I would say everything … You don't go into the game thinking about losing two guys at the same position. When that happens, that's a difficult situation. And particularly in the kicking game because now you're talking about that's 66 players on special teams – kickoff, kickoff return, punt, punt return, field goal, field goal rush – that's 66 players. That means you have to have 66 backups. I mean, you've got to have it. So, this guy is out on this team, who is going in for him? You've got to have somebody. It might be the same guy for five positons, but you've got to have somebody. OK, now you lose two guys at the same spot, again two anything – two safeties, two corners, two linebackers, two whatever they are – and they're going to be playing the same players in the kicking game. You're not going to have your middle linebacker as your gunner, so if you lose two gunners, you lose two gunners. If you lose two interior punt protectors, you're losing two interior guys on the punt return, you're losing two frontline blockers on the kickoff return, you're losing two interior, so the multiples in the kicking game, I can tell you from experience having been a special teams coach, you're really talking about making some adjustments. Like I said, it's hard enough to lose one because you're looking at 66 plus 66. You start dropping down below that, then the opportunity to even give that guy reps at that position when you get 11 guys on the field, whoever that guy is, just getting him out there is one thing, him having reps at what he's doing is probably that would be a dream I would think that most likely didn't happen during the week. So, those are tough. Lose two long snappers, lose two punters, lose two anything – that's pretty challenging. But special teams, people don't realize how difficult it is to just manage the roster in the kicking game because there are a lot of guys you can just eliminate from special teams. You don't seen any offensive linemen on the kickoff team, you don't see any defensive linemen on the kickoff team, you don't see any quarterbacks, other than the kicker and the punter, so you can take probably 15 to 20 players and just eliminate them from a lot of those teams. So now you're working with a much shorter list. And what that total number is, is one thing, but realistically what that number is, is it's another ball game. So you start talk about how many players you actually have and then you're looking at 66 spots minus the field goal team, you start looking at 66 spots and then who backs those 66 spots up and then who's behind them.
