Bill Belichick's PostGame Press Conference Transcript
Opening Statement (partially ommitted due to the broadcast cutting in late)
"Our guys just made a few more plays than theirs did, and it was a good solid win for us. I think we still got to really work on playing 60 full minutes and doing everything right all the time But we did enough things today so it was good to come out of there with a win. That's a good football team."
On his thoughts on the first half production:
"It's a combination of taking advantage of our scoring opportunities, getting the ball in the endzone. We came close there at the end of the half we just weren't quite able to get that in there on 2nd and 3rd down. So I think I can do a better job of just managing that situation. And then after the exchange of possessions to start the 3rd quarter, we had the touchdown there so it was kind of a big swing there at the end of the half where we had the points, we exchanged those possessions in the 3rd quarter. But, you know, we had more possessions than they did so it was real good clock management there in the second quarter. We would have liked to have gotten a touchdown out of it, but we moved the ball consistently, we ran the ball well, threw it well, we had some balance, picked up some 3rd downs, and did pretty well in the red zone. But it can always be better."
On the play of the offensive line:
"The backs, the tight ends, the receivers, they blocked well but the offensive line did a good job. We played at a good tempo, played fast and I think their conditioning, their hard work all through practice, training camp and all that, to go out there and be able to not only block them but play at a high tempo and play fast, do it with good conditioning and good technique and all that was good. We had a couple negative plays that slowed us down in the first half but - we had a few in the whole game really -there was a handful of negative plays that kind of slowed us down, but other than that I thought our execution offensively was pretty competitive."
On the play of Stevan Ridley:
"I mean every player is responsible for taking care of the ball, whoever has it, quarterbacks, runningbacks, receivers, punters, returners, everybody - so that's always number one. Stevan ran hard, I think all our backs did, Woody [Danny Woodhead], [Brandon] Bolden, [Shane] Vereen made a couple plays for us. So I think all our backs ran hard and were productive. I'm confident in all of them."
On the fact that Brady and Manning were on the same field and his appreciation for its signifcance:
"I mean it's two great players, obviously. Two great, great players. They're both great. [There's] nobody I'd rather have than Tom Brady, but Manning's a great player."
On the fourth down play in the fourth quarter and what he was thinking by going for it:
"Trying to pick it up. It's too far for a field goal and the ball was on the, 30, whatever, yard line. So just trying to pick up the first down."
Why not punt?
"Because we didn't have very far to go. We would have gained some yardage if we punted it, possibly, depending on how good the punt was, we would have had to protect it and all that. I thought we had a good chance to pick it up there, we just didn't do a good job on it."
On how big Danny Woodhead was for them an the big 3rd down pick up he had:
"Danny was great, I mean again, we got good production from all our backs. But Danny, that was the 3rd and whatever it was, 15, 17, whatever it was on the outside zone play and that was a big play. But I mean Danny ran well, has always been productive for us. Just like he was last week on the scramble play against Buffalo. Steve and Brandon, we have confidence in all those guys. They've all been productive for us."
On the faster tempo and if they went faster than normal:
"Well I think that we tried to uptempo it a little bit to keep them from substituting and they were able to substitute in at times, but I think at other times they couldn't get them in, it looked like they had to hold them, and so when they weren't substituting we had a little better idea of what they were going to do with the group that was in there. When they start subbing it's hard to tell exactly what group they're getting to. Are they subbing one for one, or are they putting in a different personnel group and all that? So when they keep the same guys out on the field then we can have a pretty good idea of what they're going to do in that package. But I mean they got in and out of some stuff like we expected they would, but we felt like the tempo helped us control the game a little bit."
On if it helps them when they're running the ball:
"I don't know about that."
On what it is about Shane Vereen that has them favoring him on the goal line:
"What are you talking about?"
"The touchdown run that he had earlier:"
"He was in the game."
"I understand that, but is there something about him that you would prefer in a situation like that over anyone else?"
"No. When we start subbing people then they can start subbing them, so whoever is in there just stays in there. Again, they're all productive. We feel like they can all do it."
On his feeling about Brady after a game like this:
"He did a great job. He did all the things he needed to do for us to win. Made great throws, managed the game, did a lot of good things in the running game, made key plays in critical situations."
On if that's something that shouldn't be taken for granted:
"No, you never take it for granted. You work at it every week. It'll be just as hard next week out there in Seattle as it was today against Denver, as it was last week against Buffalo, it's hard every week. Every week we go against other good teams, good players, good coaches. It's hard every week. No, you never take it for granted. Are you kidding me? It's the National Football League."
On his thoughts on the fact they had two 200 yard rushing weeks and what it says about the fundamental importance of the running game:
"I don't know. We just try to go out there and move the ball and score points, that's what we try to do. Sometimes we run it, sometimes we pass it, sometimes we do a little of both, sometimes we do more of one than the other, but we try to go out there and move the ball and score points. That's our offensive philosophy."
On his thoughts on linebacker Rob Ninkovich and the fact he's had a couple of forced fumbles over the last two weeks:
"We work on that every single week, talk about it every day - about putting pressure on the ball, getting it out. Rob kind of had the same play last week in the Buffalo game where he came from behind, knocked the ball out out, they recovered it. But this time we got it, Vince [Wilfork] made the play. Same thing on [Willis] McGahee's run. He's able to not only make the tackle but we're always aware of the ball like they were when they stripped one out on us. That's just good defensive football, just being alert."
On Sterling Moore's forced fumble:
"On [Demaryius] Thomas' play, right? That was similar to the play that he had last week, except I don't know if he got stripped in that game. But you know, again, when the defender is going in to make the tackle, if he sees that the ball's not being properly secured, then a good player will recognize that and be alert to try to put pressure on it. Try to punch it out, or get pressure on the ball and knock it out."
On the fact a good defense against the Broncos was also the fact they ate up so much time and did a good job keeping the ball out of Manning's hands:
"Yeah, but they get the ball back after those scores so you still have to go out there and stop them."
On the fact that when they ate up 5, 6 minute plays and he had less time to work with:
"Right, but I mean the teams get the same number of possessions. I mean every time we get the ball, they get the ball, every time they get the ball we get the ball. Right? So I mean you've got to go out there and stop them. Look, we've seen, I mean Peyton had one game, who was it against...they had like 15 minutes of time of possession... Jacksonville or somebody I don't know...a couple years ago...they had 15 minutes in time of possession and still won. So you've got to stop them. I mean It's great to to have the ball on offense. It's great to have a long drive, but you still have to go out there and play defense."
On how the running game compares to early in his tenure here:
"I don't know. I think we're looking at a whole different...I'd say it's a lot different."
On why that's so:
"Scheme, multiple players, there's no Corey Dillon. It's a different style. Different running plays, different style of runners."
On why they have trouble closing out games:
"Well, we're 3-2 so...look there's a lot of things we can do better. No question, a lot of things we can do better. Keep working on those, try and do a better job of them."
On his thoughts on Alfonzo Dennard's play:
"It looked like he was in on a few of plays, we'll take a closer look at it on film. I think there was a couple of other things that weren't so hot. But he did show up and make a couple of plays, so I mean that was good. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys on defense. Ras-I [Dowling] and Sterling [Moore], Alfonzo, of course Devin [McCourty], Kyle [Arrington], both safeties, so we had a lot of guys contribute. But it was good to see Alfonzo out there. It was good to see him."
