 "I had no knowledge whatsoever about this situation until Monday morning." - Bill Belichick |
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick met with the media on Wednesday and was surprisingly candid during his opening statement as it related to the "Deflate-Gate" story that continues to rage on following the team's victory over the Colts on Sunday.
Belichick told the media that he was unaware of the situation until Monday morning, saying he had no knowledge and that he's learned more about ball pressure in the last three days than his entire 40-years of coaching.
"When I came in Monday morning I was shocked to learn of the news reports about the footballs. I had no knowledge whatsoever about this situation until Monday morning," said Belichick (via PFT). "I've learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew — or had talked about — in the last 40 years that I've coached in this league. I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls, the process that happened between when they were prepared and went to the officials and went to the game, so I've learned a lot about that. Obviously, I understand that each team has the opportunity to prepare the balls the way they want, give them to the officials, and the game officials either approve or disapprove the balls, and that really was the end of it for me, until I learned a little bit more about it the last couple days."
One thing we know about Belichick over the years has always been his philosophy as it pertains to ball security, which is why in practice he's always made the footballs as bad as possible with the intention of giving players the worst situations to deal with so that they could be ready for any type of condition on the field.
That was a point he made as he addressed the media, and that he has never had any sympathy for players who complain about the condition of the football.
"Let me just say that my personal coaching philosophy, my mentality, has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice, and so with regard to footballs, I'm sure that any current or past player of mine would tell you that the balls we practice with are as bad as they can be," said Belichick. "Wet, sticky, cold, slippery, whatever. However bad we can make them, I make them. Any time that players complain about the quality of the footballs, I make them worse, and that stops the complaining.
"So we never use the condition of the footballs as an excuse. We play with whatever, or kick with whatever we have to use, and that's the way it is. That has never been a priority for me, and I want the players to deal with the harder situation in practice than they'll ever have to deal with in a game. Maybe that's part of our whole ball security philosophy."
Belichick also went on to say that moving forward, the Patiots will make sure the footballs are inflated higher than above the minimum limit to prevent any potential situation where they would fall to a level below the minimum limit. But his general response was consistent to what he's always said about the weather, or any other situation. The condition of the footballs has never mattered, and that they'll play with what's out there.
"I can tell you that in my entire coaching career I have never talked to any player, staff member about football air pressure. That is not a subject that I have ever brought up. To me, the footballs are approved by the league and game officials pre-game, and we play with what's out there. And that's the only way that I have ever thought about that."
Belichick didn't add much beyond that, saying that they'll continue to cooperate with the league, and that he's disappointed the stories are centering around this and not the two terrific victories from his football team.
"The National Football League is investigating the situation. We have cooperated fully, quickly and completely with every request that they have made, continue to be cooperative in any way that we can. I have no explanation for what happened, and that's what they're looking into, so I can't comment on what they're doing. That's something that you should talk to them about."
"It's really unfortunate that this is a story coming off two great playoff victories by our football team and our players, but again we've been cooperative with the NFL investigation. We'll continue to do so, and we'll turn all our attention, focus on the Seattle Seahawks."
He ended the press conference shortly after, following a flurry of questions that were mostly responded with, "I've told you everything I know" and "I don't have an explanation for what happened." It ended shortly after that.
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