Q: Is 18 rushing first downs a target number for you?
Belichick: Not really. We never really talk about that. We talk more about scoring points. You have seen us play. We throw it 25 times in a row. If we rush for 21 first downs, that could be good too. It depends on what the game situation calls for, how they’re playing you and what their opportunities are. We played Minnesota a couple of years ago. We knew we weren’t rushing for 18 first downs against them - not the way they played it. So, that’s not what you do. Sometimes, you get opportunities in one area and you try to take advantage of those. Sometimes, you get them in another area. But, we have never been a team to say, ‘we have to throw this many passes. That guy has to catch so many. That guy has to run so many. We have to run this many of those play.’ I just don’t believe in that because you don’t want to force something that isn’t there. You don’t want to run the ball where there is no place to run it. You don’t want to throw it, where there is no place to throw it. There has to be better plays to run than where they are. [We try] to go where they are not.
