Bill Belichick's PostGame Press Conference Transcript
Here's the transcript from head coach Bill Belichick's press conference following the Patriots win over the Bills on Sunday:
OPENING STATEMENT:
"Ok, well it was good to come in here and win today. I thought the players did a real good job. Buffalo answered our lead with 21 straight points and our guys responded with a bunch of turnovers, a bunch of points, and overall a pretty solid football game. Certainly a lot of room for improvement, but it's good to come in here and do enough things well. We made a lot of plays, we missed some opportunities but we made a lot of plays and that's a good feeling to come in here and be able to do that. We've got a long way to go, hopefully we can continue to work hard and improve. I think our team's got a good attitude. They work hard, they're tough and hopefully we can keep getting better. But we've still got a long way to go here."
On if there were any adjustments made at halftime:
"Well, I mean we felt like we missed a lot of good opportunities in the first half. We had the ball down there and didn't take advantage of it. We got some turnovers and weren't able to put points on the board. Fortunately in the second half we were able to capitalize on that. We had some good field position, we had a couple punts down inside the 5 yard line, weren't able to hold them down there. So I just think we played and executed a little bit better, there was no magic."
On the play of the offensive line without Logan Mankins:
"Our line, our tight ends, our backs they all did a good job. We were a little disappointed in our running production in the last couple of games and really made a big emphasis this week. The offensive line, Dante [Scarnecchia], Josh [McDaniels], George Godsey [tight ends coach], I mean everybody really put a lot of emphasis in it. We worked hard on it in practice and were able to have some good results today so it was good to see that hard work pay off. But you can't say enough about the offensive line. These guys have got a good front. We were able to block them and the backs ran well."
On the spark Brandon Bolden gave them today:
"He did a good job. I mean our backs ran well, we had a lot of production. But Brandon ran well, no doubt about."
On how key it was to keep the running game going in the 3rd quarter despite being down:
"I think the key thing was to put together a good drive, and we did that. We hit some passes, we hit some runs, and we just needed to come back and make it a one score game. But that was a big drive for us. A bad drive there, and I mean, we could have gotten knocked out at that point. Although I thought we had a couple chances to really knock them down in the first half, we missed them, but that was a big drive to come back and answer that. Again, fortunately we were able to be able to convert those turnovers in the second half into points and the game kind of got out of hand there at the end but it was obviously a lot more competitive than the final score would indicate"
On the play of Devin McCourty:
"Devin's had a lot of good coverages and he made two real good plays on the ball. Devin works hard, we have a lot of confidence in him. He's one of the hardest working players on the team. Believe me, nobody feels worse after missing an opportunity than he does, but nobody will work harder to get it fixed and get it right. So give him a lot of credit for that."
On what he saw on the play right before the half (the Spikes fumble):
"That was a huge play. That was a big momentum play because we were getting the ball to start the third quarter so we felt like we would have a chance to cut into it a little bit if we could just get out of there with a field goal, I mean as it was that turnover was huge. But I don't know, there was a big pile of bodies in there, ball came loose, Vince [Wilfork] came up with it, I'm not sure exactly what happened. I thought overall we did a pretty decent job in the running game. I mean this is a good running team. Overall I thought we handled the running game fairly well, pretty competitively. But that was a huge play, knocking the ball out we had two fumbles so those were big plays, 4 interceptions. So anytime you get six turnovers that's a good thing."
On if there was a time where he thought the team was in trouble:
"Things weren't looking too good there at the end of the first half, yeah, absolutely. I mean you always want to try to get off to a good start and play the game from ahead. But sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't. The big thing is to play sixty minutes and finish the game. We haven't done a great job of that the last two weeks. It was certainly a lot better today, so we'll take the outcome."
On what he felt turned things around for the defense:
"Well you know they hit a big play there on the long touchdown. Then they hit two other big plays where they had the long pass to [Fred] Jackson and then the seam pass to [Scott] Chandler, right? So they got a lot of yards in just a couple of plays. I mean obviously we can't give up big plays. You can't play good defense that way, so we've got to try and limit those big plays and make them drive it and play better on 3rd down. I just think our execution...we just kept battling in there and made enough plays at the right time I guess. It wasn't perfect, but we did enough good things."
On the reaction to the fumbles by Welker and Gronkowski on the sideline:
"Well there's nothing we emphasize more than ball security, that's from day one. Everybody knows how important it is to take care of the ball. It always has been the number one priority, it always will be so whoever handles it, we've just got to do a better job of taking care of it. That's not a good way to win football games is to drop it on the ground. And we know they're trying to pull it out, they did a good job of pulling the ball out. But we knew that was coming, we just have to hang onto it better."
On if they were 'chomping at the bit' to get back out there:
"I think any competitive player wants to keep playing, and keep competing, absolutely."
On what happened on the two missed field goals:
"I don't know. Just have to take a look at it. It looked like they were both fairly close but you know, we've got to make those kicks. But it's a whole group. It's a snap, it's a hold, it's a kick, it's everything. I don't know, I'll have to take a closer look at it."
On if he felt good about giving Gostkowski another chance at the end:
"Yeah, we just felt like it was another opportunity for us to kick under pressure and so we did it. I mean I felt like we needed to do it."
With Mankins out, on the continuity he saw on the offensive line:
"No the offensive line did a good job. I mean they did a great job. Buffalo has a good front. Donald [Thomas] stepped in there at left guard and our tight ends did a good job. Our line blocked well, our backs ran well. It was a good group effort. In the running game it's not about one guy. You've got to have a lot of blocking and running and all that's got to be coordinated, and we had a good day doing that today."
On how closely he's studied the Broncos and when he turns his attention to that:
"In about 20 minutes. [Smiles] They're obviously good. They run an offense that we've seen many times or some facsimile of it from Indianapolis so I'm sure they'll be ready to go. We've got a big challenge for us this week. We know they're a good football team. They obviously did a great job opening the week against Pittsburgh we all saw that game. I mean they're a good football team. We'll just have to have a good week of practice and be ready to go."
On if the running game gave Brady more freedom to do some more checks at the line in the second half:
"I wouldn't say...not significantly. I mean that's part of what we do anyway. We have an element of that in our offense and it kind of depends on what play's called. Some are called either or, some we just go ahead and call and run it. And some we don't change because we get the look that we think we're going to get to run the play and so there's no need to change it. I'd say we probably do it about the same every week and how it turns out may be different but I would say our method is pretty similar.
On if he has an update on Dont'a Hightower:
"No."
On his thoughts on the play of Brandon Spikes:
"I mean we know he's a heavy hitter. He had a couple solid hits in the game. He brings a physical element to the running game and to the tackling."
