New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his postgame press conference from Gillette Stadium on Sunday, September 21, 2008.
BB: Well, there is not too much to say here. I thought that Miami played a real good football game. They did everything a lot better than we did. The outplayed us. They out coached us. They certainly dominated on offense and defense. I thought we were competitive in the kicking game but that was about it, not on the offensive or defensive sides of the ball. They obviously deserved to win. They were the better team and they did everything a lot better than we did today. Not too much to say.
Q: Can you talk about the recognition of the Ronnie Brown and shotgun play?
BB: We had trouble with a lot of things. That was one of them. We had trouble a lot.
Q: Was that a play they had shown on film before?
BB: We had trouble with their new stuff. We had trouble with their old stuff. We didn't play very well on defense. We didn't coach very well. We didn't play very well across the board and they did a good job, so give them credit. We've got a lot of work to do. I know we are better than that.
Q: What do you attribute to that - coming in with the difference in records?
BB: If we had the answer to that, we would have fixed it. We will get back to work tomorrow and work to correct and improve it.
Q: Can you talk about the play of Matt Cassel?
BB: We couldn't move the ball on offense, we missed some opportunities and we couldn't stop them on defense. I don't know what else to say. They did a lot better job than we did on offense and defense.
Q: Could you see anything of this coming from a preparation standpoint? Did you have a good week at practice?
BB: It doesn't matter. Every week in practice you always work on things. You improve them and correct them as you go through the week. The bottom line is, they came out to play on Sunday and we didn't. We didn't do a very good job today and that includes everybody.
Q: Are you concerned that if you get behind by 10 or 12, which when Tom Brady was quarterback was not a big deal, is it a much bigger deal than it was before?
BB: That was never the game plan - to get behind by 10 or 12. We always want to go out and play well and, as the game goes on, play the situations that come up. We always played it that way, I'm sure that's the way we will continue to play it.
Q: Is it difficult for Matt [Cassel] because he has so little experience?
BB: Whatever the situation is, we have to play it. So, it doesn't make any difference - that goes for everybody.
Q: Have they shown the split out of [Chad] Pennington before?
BB: That hasn't been a big thing for them. We know that getting those two guys in the game is something that we expected them to do. We just didn't do a good job with it, or a lot of other things for that matter.
Q: Is it worse that you have two weeks to dwell on it or better that you have two weeks to make corrections?
BB: There isn't anything we can do about the schedule. So, what it is we work with, try to make the best out of it and do the best that we can to improve our football team during that time. When the games are scheduled we will play them. We will try to use the time the best we can - same as we always do.
Q: How concerned do you get about a game like this?
BB: What happened today is a reflection of the way they played and the way we played - the way they coached and the way we coached. Every game is it's own entity [and] we know that.
Q: You did have a regular season record winning streak. Do you take any pride in that?
BB: I think right now all we were concentrated on was the Miami game. That's what we will do. We will take a look at that, make some adjustments, corrections, go forward and start getting ready for San Francisco. That really is what our mindset is for this week and the next two weeks.
Q: Any particular reason the direct snap continued to give you trouble?
BB: They did a good job with it and we didn't.
Q: Has Ronnie Brown ever thrown the ball in the NFL that you know of?
BB: Yes. He's left handed, he's right handed. Believe me there were a lot of other problems besides that.
