New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports) Here’s a transcript of what New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien had to say to reporters during his Zoom conference on Tuesday:
On the Failed Fourth Down QB Sneak
“It didn’t work. So, when something doesn’t work, you go into the game really having a strong belief that it’s going to work, and when it doesn’t work, it’s on me. We have to do a better job later in the game, when the game was already decided pretty much, we ran a short-yardage play and did a good job on it. We’ve had glimpses of being able to do it. I think you’re right. That was a big turning point in the game. I also think, ball security, we’ve got to take care of the ball. I think when you don’t turn it over on the road, you have a better chance of winning. We’ve got to take care of the ball better, we’ve got to execute better. Like we always say, guys and I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but we’ve got to coach better, and in that situation, we felt like we had a good play, we didn’t get it done, and it didn’t work. So we need to figure out a better way to either do that or do something else.”
On Bailey Zappe
“Bailey works hard. That was probably a tough moment for him. When he got released, we brought him back. He’s really improved a lot. He’s got a really good demeanor for the position. He’s really improved a lot. I thought when he got into the game the other day, he did some good things. Obviously, the game was not very close at that point in time, but he did some good things and for him, that’s definitely something to build on. He’s a guy that works very, very hard. Great guy to coach.”
On Mac Jones and what he’d like to see from him this week:
“Mac’s a battler. He’s a competitor, and when you play quarterback in this league, you have to limit the mistakes, and you have to limit the bad games that you have, obviously. We’re all in it together. We have to do a better job of coaching up some things with him a little bit better. He’s got to do a better job of making good decisions for us. He knows that. He takes a lot of ownership. You guys saw that, I think, after the game. He blames himself. The game wasn’t lost because of one guy. The game was lost on our part, because of how poorly we played and coached in the game. Mac is here today. He’s working very hard to get back on the right track and we have a lot of belief in Mac.”
On how he helps Jones take a step forward against the Saints, and if he works through it in practice, coaching rooms, meetings, what’s the best strategy there?:
“Yeah, I think it’s a little bit of both. I think that it’s important to communicate with him, we obviously communicated right after the game, on the plane, when we got back here yesterday morning. Yesterday, we had a very productive day. We have to do a good job in our room, our coaching room, like you said, of making sure we’ve got the plays that we want to attack the defense that we’re facing. Every week is a new challenge. New Orleans is not really anything like Dallas. They play a different type of scheme. Like you said, they’re very, very good. So you approach it that way too. We’ve got a new challenge. We didn’t meet the challenge last week as a group, and we have to do a better job of meeting the challenge. So we’re very honest. I mean, I’ve been doing this a long time, a very, very long time, and we’ve had a lot, a lot of good days, whether it was here or other places I’ve coached, and we’ve had some days that weren’t so good, and you have to learn from those days, and you have to limit those days, and that’s what we’re working hard to do.”
On what he thinks they can build on despite Sunday’s loss:
“Yeah, I mean, that’s a big thing. Even though the score of the game was what it was, there were some things in the game that, again, I’ve said this a lot, and you guys have heard it, but there’s glimpses of what we can be. We have to see more of that. Like on the first drive. I thought we moved the ball very effectively on the first drive. We got down there. We called a play-action pass on third down, didn’t get it done. Probably could have executed, coached that play a little bit better to come away with a touchdown. But we did move the ball. There were other times where we moved the football. Mike [Reiss] brought up the one where we moved the ball to midfield and didn’t convert the 4th-and-1. So, these aren’t excuses, these are things that we think as we look at it, like, hey, how can we do this better? How can we do this more consistently? And I think that’s what coaching’s about. Coaching is about teaching, motivating, and problem-solving, and we have to solve problems right now. The clock’s ticking. We realize that, but we think that there’s some things that we can do to improve.”
On how he looks at the uncharacteristic decision-making of Mac Jones during Sunday’s game:
“Look, there’s nothing that we just say, ‘Ah, it was a bad day, we’re just moving on.’ We don’t do that. We really examine what we’re doing, what we did in that game, what we can do better. Obviously, we take these losses very hard, and we want to try and improve as fast as we can. I think that we can do a lot of things to help Mac’s decision-making. He can do things himself to be better, I’m sure he would tell you that, he’d be the first to tell you that. And so we’re going to work hard on that this week. ‘Here are some things that we’re going to help you with. Whether it’s mechanics, or where you’re eyes are, or what it is.’ And then he’s already talked about, ‘Hey, here’s some things I’m going to do’ and we’re going to be on the same page. We’re very much in it together. Nobody’s pointing fingers, and we know we have a lot to improve on. We have to get it done, though.”
On how he approaches a player knowing what they have to do vs actually doing it in the game:
“Yeah, it’s definitely one thing to know it in the meeting room, on the practice field, and then whole other thing to know it in the game. That goes for coaching and playing. You have to be able to react. You have to rely on your fundamentals when things aren’t going very well, let’s go back to what our fundamentals are. Whether it’s footwork, where our eyes are, our cadence, little things that you go back to that is part of your progression of execution. Whether it’s as a coach or as a player, when things aren’t going well in a game, people talk about adjustments, yeah, you have to make adjustments during the game, those happen. But you also have to understand like, ‘Hey, you can’t let this thing get out of hand,’ and that’s what happened the other day. It got out of hand because we didn’t do a good enough job of stemming the tide, and fixing things right away, and going back to our fundamentals. So I think that’s what you really have to do, and we’re going to work hard on doing those things on both sides of it, coaching and playing, this week, and try to get back to doing what we do best which is play smart football and really rely on what our foundation is here of teaching and playing.”
On trying to instill belief after their diminished offensive performances the last few weeks:
“You always have to talk to the guys. None of us feel good about where we’re at. We came into the season really believing in what we’re doing, we still have a strong belief in what we’re doing. We feel like there are things that we’re doing well even though that might not look like it on the outside and we have to really build on those and make those happen more often. Yeah, you’re always communicating with your players, and to me, as a coach, if you go into the room and you start pointing fingers like, ‘Hey, this is your fault,’ that’s when you’re in trouble. So, we don’t do that here. We’re very much together. I have a lot of respect for the players in that room and the work that they put in, at every position and we’re all in it together and we’ve all got to do a better job. That’s just the bottom line. They all have to execute better. We have to coach better. We’re working at it and we have to see the results soon and we understand that.”
On thinking about guys he’s coached, and if a quarterback has to understand what they can and can’t do, and being in tune with their mechanics
“Absolutely. I mean, I think you always have to play mentally, within yourself. It doesn’t mean that you can’t take calculated risks. It doesn’t mean that, when something opens up and you’re not necessarily a runner, that you can’t take off and run. It doesn’t mean that. It just means that you have to do a really good job of making sure that you understand what we’re trying to do on every play and then executing that play to the best of your ability at a high level and take what the defense gives you. And really I would say, for the most part, Mac does that. I think that’s, again, where we have to work together. We’re going to work really hard this week to improve some things. But I thought that last game, for Mac, some of the decisions that he made were very uncharacteristic of Mac and I think he’ll get back to doing it the way he knows how to do it. And he’s just trying to make a play, he’s wanting to win, he’s very competitive, and maybe the plays weren’t great so I have to be involved in that big time with him, I understand that. And I think you’ll see a lot of improvement in Mac as we keep moving forward here.”
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