Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his postgame press conference at the Georgia Dome on Thursday, August 19, 2010.

Opening Statement

"We had a good week down here. We've had really good work against the Falcons on Tuesday and the whole process helped our team. We got to run a lot of plays and added some more to it tonight. We had a chance to really cover some things as a team the last couple of days. We got a few things accomplished this week. Overall it was a good trip. Players stepped up and competed well tonight. The Falcons are a really good team at home. We knew that they would have a lot of energy, which they showed on that first drive. But fortunately we were able to keep them out of the end-zone. We made enough plays to stay up most of the game. It's good to get this one behind us. We move onto more of a regular week, with St. Louis and our last two pre-season games. Overall the players stepped up and played competitively tonight. We had a good effort and again a good week. A good three days, we got a lot done. But we still have a lot to do. However, I feel good about the way the players work and what we got accomplished this week."

Q:How did RB Fred Taylor look out there tonight?

"All the runningbacks ran pretty well tonight. When Fred hit that draw and bounced through there, it was good to see. But all the runningbacks had long runs at one point or another tonight. Fred has had a good camp and he has been out there everyday. He has worked hard and he is in condition. He looks like he has come a long way."

Q:How important was it to get WR Wes Welker some real action?

"It was the next step but he still has a ways to go."

Q: Did you want to get the ball in WR Wes Welker's hands?

"You can't control that in the passing game. Big thing was to get him in there and let him play a little bit. We talked what was the next step for him this week and he felt good about it. So we put him in there and he played a few plays."

Q:What did you see TE Aaron Hernandez's touchdown catch?

"I couldn't see much because a lot of people were blocking my view in the end-zone."

Q:What have you seen overall from the tight-ends and them helping the team's balance?

"They have a long way to go. Clearly TE Alge Crumpler is the most experienced and he makes a lot of good decisions. He has been through the ropes. He just has to acclimate himself to our system. TE Rob Gronkowski and TE Aaron Hernandez both have shown flashes of good things, but they still have a ways to go. They are working hard to make progress. Like most rookies they are improving from last week to this week, which is good."