Bill Belichick Q&A, 9/22
Courtesy of the Patriots’ PR staff, here’s the transcript of Bill Belichick’s Q&A with the media this morning at Gillette Stadium:
- BB: We are in the morning after here and I think this is a game that we all obviously feel bad about. This was a total team loss. I don’t think we did a good job coaching, starting with me and we didn’t do a good job playing. We got beat in pretty much every phase of the game. Other than special teams, I thought that was competitive. But, offensively and defensively they did a better job all the way around. Give the Dolphins credit for the way they played and we know we’ve got to do a better job. It starts with me and extends to everybody. Our football team just has to play better than that. I know we are capable of that, but we just didn’t do it yesterday and that’s disappointing. We’ll look at the corrections. We’ll move on and try to be better for San Francisco. That’s really about all that we can do. Correct the mistakes on this one put it to rest and get on with the next one.
- Q: You have faced Chad Pennington many times before. Is this the best he has played against you? He’s played good before. But, he played well, there’s no doubt about it.
- Q: When have you seen the formation of Ronnie Brown before? We worked against it last week. That’s the formation the Jets used last week with Leon Washington and he’s thrown out of it and run out of it. We worked on it a week ago.
- Q: Do you expect to see more of it [formation] in the future? I don’t know. I think we better be ready to defend it. When you are on defense all you can do is react to what the offense does. You don’t control the ball. You don’t control their plays. You don’t control their personnel. You don’t really control anything. You have to adjust to what they give you. If they give you three backs in the backfield, no backs in the backfield, nine-foot line splits quarterback goes in motion - whatever they do, that’s what you’re on defense for. I can’t tell you what the other offenses are going to do. You will have to ask them that.
- Q: Have you set your schedule for the next two weeks? Yeah. We will talk to them about that this afternoon.
- Q: How much did that play in the first quarter change the confidence of the team? That one play changed the game? I don’t think that. No. It was early in the game. It was the first quarter. There were a lot of plays left after that.
- Q: Miami threw a lot of passes down the seam. What happened there defensively? Well, they executed some plays better than we defended them. Different things on different plays, we just need to do a better job - a better job of coaching, a better job of defending.
- Q: You said you have seen that formation by the Jets before. What did Miami do different? They executed the plays well. They executed them better than we defended them. We have to do a better job of coaching and a better job of playing. There are 11 guys on defense, so it wasn’t a one-on-one situation or anything - it’s team defense. It starts with the coaching and extends to everybody doing their job on the play. That’s what it is.
- Q: After watching the film, how did you think Matt Cassel played? Well, I think if you take away the interception in the first half, he’s 15 for 20 and I thought he actually threw the ball pretty well. We got behind in the game that skews a lot of things, how you approach the game, how you play it and how you have to play it. So, I think there were some good things and some plays he would probably like to have back just like the same way everybody else feels.
- Q: Kevin O’Connell came into the game in the fourth quarter. Why was that move made? We put in a lot of people at that point.
- Q: What did you see in Kevin O’Connell? Just let Kevin run the offense and get some game experience.
- Q: You mentioned the success in the kick return game. What was Ellis Hobbs’ average? I don’t know. He averaged 30 or something a return. I thought we played competitively in the kicking game. I thought our return game was productive on both punts and kickoffs. I thought our kickoff coverage was productive. We had our moments in the punting game, made a couple field goals. I think that was competitive. I don’t think it was competitive on offense or defense.
- Q: Have you sensed any frustrations from Randy Moss? No. I think Randy is one of our most consistent players. I think he’s been like that since he got here last year. On a daily basis, practice, games, preparation, I think he’s one of our most consistent players.
- Q: Did the schedule change at all based on the outcome of the Miami game? No. We talked about it today. All of our focus was really on Miami, getting ready to play that game and playing it. Then when it was over we talked about what was the best thing we could do for this week and the two weeks coming up to the San Francisco game.
- Q: After looking at the film, did one aspect of the game surprise you? They gave us a couple of new things. We didn’t handle them very well, as well as we would’ve liked to handle them. But, that happens in every game. Every team gives you something new - a new wrinkle. We just didn’t get a stop and that’s what we need to do on defense. We need to fix the problem and figure out how to handle whatever it is their doing. We didn’t do a good enough job on that yesterday.
- Q: When you look at your play in the red zone how much of that was the Dolphins execution and how much was lack of execution from the offense? It was probably both. I give them credit for playing good defense, but I think we had some opportunities in some plays that we could have gotten a little more out of. That would’ve helped us out. The bottom line is, we haven’t done a good job the last two weeks of getting the ball in the end zone in the red area and that’s something you have to do in this league. It will catch up with you sooner or later. We got by with it against the Jets but we didn’t get by with it yesterday along with a lot of other things. [We’ll] continue to work on it.
From the locker room, 9/21
Courtesy of the Patriots’ PR staff, here are some quotes of note from the Patriots’ locker room after today’s game:
- Ellis Hobbs III, Cornerback
- (On how Miami was able to run up the middle so often today) “I expected us to execute our game plan. I guess they [Miami] saw it as a weak spot or a spot that they could hit in their game plan. I think they did an excellent job of what they wanted to do today. They controlled pretty much every phase of the game. ”
- (On Miami being able to execute the direct snaps to the running back) “Going into the game, we knew there would be some element that we would see that we haven’t seen before. You can only game plan and practice so much for everything. Everything else you have to adjust to. As a whole, we didn’t do a good job adjusting to pretty much anything. They kept us on our heels and did a good job of executing their plays on offense.”
- (On if he is tired from the amount of running he did today) “I am exhausted but that is the business. You are not going to sit here and mope and complain. Trust me, I could be doing something else making a lot less [money] for running around. I am tired. I try not to show it but when you are tired you are tired.”
- (On If he can take any positives from today after how well he did in the return game) “It’s bittersweet. I always say ‘if you have a good day at the office individually, please let’s win so you can enjoy it.’ It didn’t happen. You take it for what it is and understand that it is a plus but as a team it is not going to win ball games doing things out here individually by yourself. We all have to play as a team.”
- Deltha O’Neal, Cornerback
- (On if the bye week coming up makes it any tougher to deal with a loss) “It is going to be hard because you have to sit on it [today’s loss] for two weeks until you can play another team to get the bad taste out of your mouth. It is going to be a rough couple of weeks but it is a long season. This is only the beginning. We have a lot more football ahead of us.”
- (On how much worse today’s loss was because it had been so long since they had lost a regular-season game) “It does [make it harder]. I just can’t wait to get back out there. I wish the bye week wasn’t this week but later in the season so we could get this nasty taste out of our mouths.”
- Richard Seymour, Defensive End
- (On the defense’s performance) “They ran some unbalanced formations that it didn’t seem that we had any answers for. You have to give them a lot of credit. They made the plays that they needed to make. We were a step behind and a step late all day. It felt like we were just reacting to what they were doing and didn’t really have any answers. Even when we were in the hole, we didn’t even make the tackles and make the plays that we needed to make. When you have a day like that, it’s very disappointing. Competitively speaking, it stinks because we have the bye. You want to get back out there and redeem yourself.
- (On the Ronnie Brown’s performance) “Like I said, they were running unbalanced formations and they were long ones sliding over to the other side. We would slide over and sometimes we stayed. We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We really didn’t know what to do. We didn’t even make the plays when we had him wrapped up, bottled up sometimes. They did whatever they had to do to win.
- Jarvis Green, Defensive End
- (On the team’s performance) They made more plays than us on defense. This just wasn’t New England Patriots football today.
- (On whether he was concerned by the team’s performance) We have concern. We’re all human. We need to get better. We need to work. We have a bye coming up so I think it’s a really great time for us to start over and get better on the things that we messed up on today. We need to get better and get ready for the next opponent.
- (On adjusting to Ronnie Brown during the game) We just weren’t making the plays. We went into the locker room and came out ready to adjust and got everything together that we needed to do make the plays and we didn’t make the plays. They still outplayed us.
- (On the Dolphins’ running game) Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are great running backs. Those are the best guys that they have to carry the ball and to have that option — whether to give it to Ricky, or to give it to Ronnie — we just didn’t make the plays. Inside, we were still getting basic blocks in between the tackles.
- (On the play of Jake Long) He’s a pretty good player. He had a great game today. They did a lot of different things on us today. The way we prepared, there were a lot of things that were new to us.
- Sammy Morris, Running Back
- (On the offense’s execution) “We didn’t have a lot of continuity on offense. Offensively, we didn’t do enough. We didn’t have a lot of turnovers, we just didn’t execute and we’ll come back in tomorrow and see exactly what happened.”
- (On what Coach Belichick said after the game) “They made a lot more plays than we did. He said it’s tough to interpret what happened out there, I just know we didn’t play well enough to win.”
- (On what went wrong in today’s game) “I think the better question is what went right, which is nothing. What it boils down to is execution.”
- (On if he can take any positives from this game) “The scoreboard was pretty evident that we can only go up from here. We will go back in tomorrow and look at the film and find out what we need to correct.”
- Ty Warren, Defensive End
- (On the team’s defensive effort) “We’re prepared to come in here and do a good job. They came out and they out-executed us, allowed themselves an opportunity in the second half where they had a cushion to keep it vanilla and run the clock out. You never want it to get to that point in the game. The blame is all on us. I think you can go right down the line from me to whoever else you want to look at. We all have a play we’d like to have back in there.”
- (On Miami’s direct snap plays) “We looked at it on the sideline prior to halftime. You’re not really surprised by it because they have so many options they can do out of that package. They can pitch it the opposite way, they can run like they did, they can toss it out. You just have to be alert and obviously they were a little more alert than we were.”
- (On if they were prepared for Miami’s option formation) “We knew that gadget plays would be a possibility. We spent a lot of time just trying to watch film, but all in all, they just did a good job of executing and the hat goes off to them.”
- Jabar Gaffney, Wide Receiver
- (On playing from behind) “It kind of makes you one-dimensional and trying to catch up, but we never did it. We just never got back in the game. All the credit to them, they played a heck of a game.”
- (On if he saw the loss coming) “No, you never expect to go out there and lose and you definitely don’t expect to lose like that. So we’ve got to get back to work.”
- (On if the team had any problems in practice during the week) “No, we actually had a pretty good work week in practice and we expected to come out here and play good. But for some reason, we just couldn’t get it going.”
- (On if the Dolphins tried to take away the shorter passing routes) “Yeah, they did a good job of mixing it up. Miami always does that. They have a good secondary – a veteran secondary – and they played well.”
- Wes Welker, Wide Receiver
- (On how different the Dolphins look this year compared to last year) “They played really well out there. Obviously they did a lot of improvements and played a great game today.”
- (On Ronnie Brown’s performance) “He’s got a lot of talent and he definitely showed it today and how versatile he is and why he was the number two overall pick coming out [of college].”
- (On if he saw the loss coming) “I don’t think you ever see a loss like this ever coming. It’s one of those deals where they wanted it more and they played a lot better than we did.”
- (On what the problems were offensively) “Getting into a flow out there and making sure that everybody is doing the right things and getting open and making sure everyone’s on the same page.”
- (On if the offense expected to be able score more easily on Sunday) “Yeah, that’s what we expect to do. We’re supposed to go out there and score points and do well out there. Obviously that wasn’t the case today.”
- Rodney Harrison, Safety
- (On the challenges of defending the unique plays Miami ran) “Just staying disciplined and staying in your gap and making tackles. Ronnie Brown is a tremendous player and its hard tackling him in the open field as well as Ricky Williams. You just have to stay disciplined and aggressive. Unfortunately we had no idea they were going to come out and run those kind of plays and they came out and made some plays on us. ”
- (On if the defense sees this game as a step backwards) “It’s very disappointing but we just have to get better. Its just one bump in the road and I tell the guys that we just need to learn from it and come to work tomorrow with a positive attitude. ”
- (On what Belichick told the players on the sidelines) “He was just telling us some adjustments and telling us to finish and play hard. We were basically communicating that amongst ourselves and making sure that none of us quit and we didn’t. It wasn’t that we didn’t play hard, its just that it wasn’t good enough today.”
- (On if the team will just shrug this game off or learn from it) “You never throw a game out. I don’t care if it’s a 40-point win or a 40-point loss, you always have to learn something from it. We understand it’s a long season and we aren’t going to blow people out and we are just going to have to come to work everyday and work hard.”
Randy Moss Q&A, 9/21
- (On how stunning today’s game was) We definitely don’t live off the past and this is a new season, but this being our first loss of the season if definitely hurts. What makes matters worse is that it was in the division, so that’s really painful. They really came in and handed it to us in our house. As coach said, we’ve still got a lot of work to do. I think we’re going to use this week to try and rest and heal up but at the same time we’ve still got a lot of work to do. It [was] very disappointing out there today.
- (On Matt Cassel’s performance) I really can’t speak on him. What I can speak on is us as a whole unit, as a team, coaching staff and players. In this game you really can’t put a win or a loss on one individual, like the performance Ronnie Brown had today. There’s ten other guys out there with him that make plays happen for him to be able to score those touchdowns. They had a team win and we had a team loss. Like I said this week that we’re supposed to use for healing and trying to get back guys on the field, I think we’re going to be working. It’s a good thing but also a bad thing. I look forward to this week and the upcoming games. We’ll see what happens.
- (On whether the loss was a matter of execution or the Dolphins surprising the Patriots) Any time you look from the outside looking in you always see what they are doing but I really honestly think that with our preparation this week and the plays and the calls we had we left a lot of football out there. I’m not taking anything from the Dolphins and their coach. I looked on the other side of the field and saw how much this game meant to them. They dumped the water on the coach’s head and stuff like that. That was very disappointing looking over on the other side of the field and seeing that because that means their expectations were to come in here and put it to us, which they did. They stepped up and we didn’t.
- (On if the bye week helps or hurts the team at this point) Me personally I’d like to get back on the football field. We love to compete any time you get a chance to go out there and compete and make it happen. I was talking to Kevin [Faulk] on the bench and we were talking about, I don’t think people really understand how much work we put in during the week as professional football players. Sunday is really the day that you’re supposed to come out and just let everything go. With all the build up and frustration that the coaches put players through throughout the week, Sunday is really to get in between those white lines and let everything hang, let everything fall out. I can really see how enthused the Dolphins were and we didn’t really seem that way. Like I said this is definitely going to be a very interesting week, to see how we go about it.
- (On whether the teams’ issues were more mental than physical) I think it [was] everything– all of the above. Going with the heart, desire and determination. Seeing the way the Dolphins performed out there, they just wanted it more. I guess that’s something crazy for me to say, but I was out there and I could really see it. There were a couple plays that we had out there that we really felt could get the offense going and there were a couple plays that could get the defense going but every time we stepped up they smashed us in the mouth with either a defensive stop or some kind of first down or touchdown. They won as a team and we lost as a team. Week in and week out there is going to be a winner and there is going to be a loser. I think that the bar and the standards have been set so high that any time our play doesn’t meet the expectations of the fans and the people in the stadium of course we’re going to look bad. You either win or you lose and we lost. We’re going to have an off week to take off and really focus on getting back to what we know how to do and look forward to the week after that.
- (On being a captain and how he keeps his teammates from getting down) I don’t know. I really don’t. I think everything is more staying positive and coming to work every day. I think that with the concept of team around here, this is not the end. We lost. Like I said, you’re going to have winners and you’re going to have losers. Actually, this loss hurt. Being in the division, Miami Dolphins, they really put it to us today. I think the best thing is to come ready to work everyday. We have a lot of fun out there on the practice field every day. As bad as it seems, that Sunday’s supposed to be the day that you’re supposed to go out there and let it hang and let it all out, but we didn’t do that today. From a leadership standpoint [you] have to keep everything positive. Not look ahead, look week to week and try to go out here and prepare this week and get ready for a game.
- (On whether or not the emotions after the Jets game had an effect on this week’s game) No, not at all. After the Jets game we celebrated Sunday and Monday it was [focus on the] Dolphins. It really wasn’t a hangover or a carry over from last week. You have to tip your hats to the Dolphins because I’ve been watching football for a long time and I’ve really never seen the Miami Dolphins offense have all these gadgets and stuff like that. You have to tip your hat off to their whole team. They made some key plays on defense, offense and special teams. We didn’t do that. It’s a team loss today and it’s a team win. [We’ll] just go back to the drawing board.
- (On whether or not he has concerns about Matt Cassel’s confidence) Not at all. The main thing is no matter what happens we have to stay upbeat. Not just myself but you’ve got a whole team and coaching staff that has to say upbeat. I think a lot of people are looking for the captains for all this leadership and change things around but you have a 53-man roster and all these coaches, that’s hard to do. Not saying that it’s impossible, coach [Bill] Belichick is a hell of a coach. I look forward to good things coming from him this week and any other week. It’s a disappointing loss and it’s something that really hurts but the good thing about it is you get to come out the following week to try and make up for the week prior to that. You just go back to the drawing board and hopefully we can turn this thing around.
Game Notes
Courtesy of the Patriots’ PR staff, here are some quick notes from today’s game:
- HOBBS SETS PATRIOTS RECORD FOR MOST KICKOFF RETURN YARDAGE IN A GAME: Ellis Hobbs totaled 237 yards on six kickoff returns, setting a Patriots record for most kickoff return yardage in a game. Hobbs topped the previous Patriots record of 220 kickoff return yards, set by Kevin Faulk against the New York Jets on Dec. 22, 2002. Hobbs had long kickoff returns of 81 yards and 50 yards en route to his record against the Dolphins. His 82-yard return in the third quarter set up Matt Cassel’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney. Playing in his 50th career game today, Hobbs returned the opening kickoff of the game 50 yards to the Miami 49-yard line. In his 50-game career, Hobbs has now recorded six kickoff returns of 50 yards or longer and nine kickoff returns of 40 yards or longer.
- GAFFNEY SCORES: Jabar Gaffney snared a 5-yard touchdown pass from Matt Cassel on fourth-and-three with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter to cut the Miami lead to 28-13. The touchdown catch was Gaffney’s first of the season and the 14th of his career. Last season, Gaffney set a career high with five touchdown receptions.
- EVEN STEPHEN: Stephen Gostkowski was two-for-two on field goals, connecting from 37 yards and 44 yards. Today’s kicks were Gostkowski’s 13th and 14th consecutive successful regular-season field goals, extending the longest success streak of his career, and tying the fourth-longest streak in Patriots history (also achieved by Tony Franklin from 10/26/86 to 11/23/86). Gostkowski has now made 27 of his last 29 regular-season field goals (93.1 percent) and is 57-for-67 in his regular-season and playoff career, with his 85.1 percent accuracy rate standing as the highest in Patriots history. Last week against the Jets, Gostkowski tied his career high with a 4-for-4 field goal performance.
- GOSTKOWSKI MOVES INTO NINTH PLACE ON PATRIOTS SCORING LIST: On his extra point following New England’s third-quarter touchdown, Stephen Gostkowski passed running back Tony Collins to move into ninth place on the Patriots’ all-time scoring list. The extra point gave Gostkowski 265 career points, moving him past Collins’s total of 264 points for the Patriots from 1981-87. Running back Jim Nance ranks eighth with 276 points from 1965-71.
- QUICK HITS: 2008 Patriots Hall of Fame Inductee Ben Coates served as an honorary captain at the coin toss.
- Patriots tackle Matt Light is playing in his 100th career game today. Light, a 2008 offensive captain, was drafted by the Patriots in the second round (48th overall) of the 2001 NFL Draft.
- Sam Aiken made his Patriots debut today after missing the first two games of the season. Aiken, signed as a free agent from the Buffalo Bills in the offseason, caught his first pass in a New England uniform in the second quarter, a 9-yard catch on third-and-two
- Wes Welker gained 19 yards on a reverse in the first quarter. The play was Welker’s sixth career rushing attempt and his first of 2008. Last season, Welker rushed four times for 34 yards.
- Tedy Bruschi tackled Ronnie Brown for a loss of one yard in the third quarter.
- SWAT TEAM: Richard Seymour batted down a Chad Pennington pass intended for tight end David Martin on third-and-two on the Dolphins’ first possession of the game, forcing a Miami punt on the next play.
- Adalius Thomas batted down a Pennington pass intended for Ted Ginn on third-and-five in the third quarter, forcing a Miami punt on the next play.
Halftime notes
- This is possible the worst scenario possible for Patriots fans — New England trails 21-6 at halftime, and Joey Porter has two sacks. (He pulled his dirt-kicking routine after both of them.) No wonder there were plenty of boos as the Patriots left the field for the locker room at the end of the first half.
- On a beautiful afternoon for football here at Gillette Stadium, Miami’s ability to convert on third down and the Patriots inability to convert on third down has been a big reason the score is what it is at halftime. Chad Pennington has done a good job keeping the chains moving, finishing the first half going 2-for-3 on third down. Meanwhile, Matt Cassel and New England has struggled on third down, going 3-for-9.
- Stephen Gostkowski is a beast. The kicker is now 7-for-7 on field goal attempts to start the season, including a pair this afternoon. The second of the two field goals was the most impressive, a second-quarter boot from 44 yards toward the open end of Gillette Stadium that had room to spare.
- The Patriots appear to be using their running backs in shifts. In the first quarter, it was almost all Sammy Morris, all the time. The second quarter saw them go more toward LaMont Jordan (like Matt Light, playing in his 100th professional game this afternoon). However, it appears the Patriots will likely be going away from the running game more in the second half — a double-digit deficit will force you to change you game plan awful fast.
- The Dolphins have found success with the direct snap — two of them came in the red zone and resulted in quick Miami scores from Ronnie Brown, and a third resulted in a big gain after a handoff to Ricky Williams.
First-quarter notes
- Quarterback Matt Cassel was having an impressive first quarter — especially when he took a sack with 7:29 left in the quarter instead of throwing the ball away. However, a couple of plays later, he threw a bad pick — the first of his professional career — when he tossed a ball directly at Miami lineman Randy Starks. (No offensive skill position players were anywhere near the ball.) The Dolphins did a good job answering, cashing in on the interception a few plays later when Miami’s Ronnie Brown scored from two yards out to make it 7-0 with 2:29 left in the quarter. It marks the first time all season the Patriots have been forced to play from behind. (Cassel finished the quarter 5-for-7 for 42 yards and one pick.)
- With no Laurence Maroney, the Patriots appear to be relying heavily on running back Sammy Morris to provide the bulk of the offense on the ground — he finished the first quarter with 23 rushing yards, including a bruising 17-yard run (the longest play from scrimmage for New England in the first quarter) that brought the Patriots to Miami’s 32-yard line.
- In the passing game, early in anyway, it appears to be more of the same conservative approach that served them well last week against the Jets — lots of short stuff to Wes Welker and Jabar Gaffney. They were able to get the ball to Randy Moss twice in the first, but they were relatively short routes to the sidelines. (No. 81 finished the first quarter with 12 yards receiving.)
- Left tackle Matt Light got his 100th career pro game off to a bad start when he took a false start penalty early in the quarter.
Patriots defense
The Patriots opened in a 3-4 defensive scheme with the following players:
- CB: Deltha O’Neal, Ellis Hobbs
- S: Rodney Harrison, James Sanders
- OLB: Adalius Thomas, Mike Vrabel
- ILB: Tedy Bruschi, Jerod Mayo
- DL: Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour
Patriots offense
The Patriots opened with the following players on offense:
- WR: Jabar Gaffney, Randy Moss, Wes Welker
- TE: David Thomas
- RB: Sammy Morris
- QB: Matt Cassel
- OL: Nick Kaczur, Matt Light, Billy Yates, Dan Koppen, Logan Mankins
We’re at Gillette
Hey all … Kevin Winter and I just finished our pregame show on ESPN 890 (the most likeable pregame show in New England), and I’m ready to blog my way through this afternoon’s game at Gillette Stadium. Not going to pretend like you haven’t already gotten the inactives — if you haven’t, you’re just not paying attention — so we’ll just let you know that we plan on posting updates throughout the afternoon here from seat No. 117 in the press box. We’ll pass along analysis after the first, second and third quarter, as well as occasional updates as events warrant and a full series of quotes and notes after the game. Let me know if you have any questions throughout the day, and we’ll try and answer them as best as we can.
Friday Injury Report
Here’s the latest, just issued by the Patriots:
- Out: None.
- Doubtful: RB LaMont Jordan (did not practice–foot), WR Kelley Washington (did not practice–ankle).
- Questionable: RB Laurence Maroney (limited participation in practice–shoulder), LB Eric Alexander (limited participation in practice–calf).
- Probable: NT Vince Wilfork (full participation–back).