Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his press conference at Gillette Stadium on Monday, October 12, 2009.
BB: OK. Well, it was - like for all of you I'm sure - a short night. So we're kind of scrambling a little bit here this morning, getting back on our feet here. We'll watch the game this afternoon with the team and then move on to Tennessee. Pretty much the same thing as we talked about yesterday, missed opportunities. We had our chances, didn't take advantage of them. Denver made more plays in critical situations in key times than we did. That was, of course, reflected in the final score. We've just got to do a better job. We've got to be more productive. We've got to make more plays, got to make them at the right time and we have got to make them in critical situations. We're just going to have to work our way through it.
Q: Were you pleased with Jerod Mayo's progress having come back so quickly?
BB: Yeah, I thought Jerod had some ... He's a good player. There's no doubt about it, he's a good player. He hadn't played in a few weeks and - like any player - the only way to get through that is to play. He made some plays and there're things I'm sure he'll do better next time around. But it was good to have him back out there.
Q: You gave up 90- and 98-yard touchdowns, how deflating is that?
BB: Anytime they score ... When we're out there on defense, it's to keep them out of the end zone. Anytime they get it into the end zone, that's not a good feeling. It doesn't matter if it's 90 or 10 [yards]. If we get a chance to stop them, then that's our job to stop them.
Q: The offense struggled on third down. Is that a matter of execution?
BB: It wasn't good in the second half, yeah. We didn't have much production in the second half, 0-for-6 on third down, no points. Yeah, we didn't do well.
Q: Are you pleased with how the pass rush has been?
BB: Well, I think we've had our moments. Yesterday was a lot of quick passing, a short passing game. There weren't a lot of times where he was standing back there holding the ball. There were times we were getting to him, but the ball was out of there. Pass defense is all interrelated. It's all about the timing of the coordination between the coverage and the rush. [If] the receivers are covered [and] the quarterback has to hold the ball, then your pass rush has a chance to get there. If they are not covered, then it doesn't make any difference, they don't have to block anybody and the ball is gone. If the pass rush isn't there and the defenders have the receivers covered, then the pass rush isn't closing on the quarterback. Then, the quarterback holds the ball and eventually NFL receivers uncover against any coverage. So it's all about timing. It's about having the receivers covered when the quarterback wants to throw the ball. It's about the pass rush getting to the quarterback at the time when the receivers are covered. So it's team defense. There's no 'it's this,' [or] 'it's that.' We've had our moments where we've rushed well. We've had our moments where we've covered well [with] good pass defense, all those things are in sync. When they are not there, [that] is generally a problem.
Q: Yesterday, Adalius Thomas spent a lot of time in coverage and not as much rushing the passer, what went into that decision?
BB: I don't think his percentages of doing anything are any different than what they've been.
Q: What do you do to take away the short passing game?
BB: We have to do a better job of it, yeah. We have to do a better job of defending it. We've got to coach it better. We've got to play it better. We've got to do a better job.
Q: Tom Brady took blame for a couple of the plays, especially the deep balls to Randy Moss. How much of his development is him missing last season and do you expect him to have been on track by now when it comes to timing?
BB: I think in the skill positions you are always working on timing. You are doing that all the time; every year, every quarterback, every receiver, everybody's doing it. The routes always change a little bit. The coverages change. The team you're playing - their personnel changes, you play against different guys week to week, so there's always a little bit of a timing adjustment on a game-to-game basis. So it's an ongoing process. It's everybody. It's the receivers, tight ends, backs, the quarterback. It's no different in the passing game on offense than it is on defense. It's protecting to throw the ball and hit whatever the receivers are, whatever the passing combination you have, whether you're running - then, it involves the backs, tight ends and receivers - that combination displaces the defense enough so the quarterback has a place to throw, and the receivers are open, and the protection is there for him to get it off. That is the offensive coordination of the passing game. It's the compliment of the defensive coordination. We need to do a better job on that all the way around - that's everybody. That's all 11 guys out there on the field. It's not one man in the passing game [and] it's not one man in pass defense; it's all 11. And it's coaching, too. We've got to do a better job of that as well, the design and the overall execution. So if it's not getting done well, then that's also a function that we're not coaching it well enough.
Q: Matt Light left the game yesterday, but he seemed to be in good spirits after the game. Do you feel confident that he will be back early?
BB: I don't have any updates on anything from the game.
Q: What are your impressions of the Titans?
BB: They're pretty good. They are a pretty good football team. They've got a great running back - two good running backs with [LenDale] White, too, excellent tight ends with [Alge] Crumpler, [Bo] Scaife and [Jared] Cook. [They have a] good receiving group, good young receivers in [Kenny] Britt, [Justin] Gage and [Nate] Washington. [They have a] good quarterback [who can] make all the throws, [Kerry] Collins. Defensively, their front's real good. They're fast. They're active. The linebackers are tough, physical guys. [They're] very experienced at the corner position with [Cortland] Finnegan and [Nick] Harper, and safety, too - [Michael] Griffin and [Chris Hope]. It's an experienced defense. They are well-coached, obviously, Jeff [Fisher]. Great defensive coach, Chuck Cecil, Chuck does a great job. They're physical. They're tough. They run the ball. They can control the line of scrimmage. They have real good skill players. So they're a real good football team. They present a lot of problems. They have a lot of good players. They play hard. They're tough and they're fast, real fast. [They're] fast on defense, fast on offense.
Q: How do you think Sebastian Vollmer did stepping in for Matt Light?
BB: I thought it was all right. Like everybody yesterday, there were some things that could have been better, but it was all right.
Q: Are you impressed with the way they moved Brandon Marshall around?
BB: That's what they always do. They move all the receivers around.
Q: Are you satisfied with how Chris Baker is playing?
BB: Well, certainly after a game like yesterday, I think everybody can play better. Coaches can do a better job, players can do a better job. We can all do a better job. Chris is similar to a lot of other players we'll be talking about; he's got a lot of good plays, got some other plays that could be better. Collectively, as an offensive unit, we are not consistently doing things as well as we need to do them all the way across the board. It's not one position, it's not one player, it's not one particular type of play. But overall we're just not as efficient and precise as we need to be. There's no other way to put it.
Q: When does that consistency start happening?
BB: You try to be consistent from day one, from the first day you walk out there on the field, and keep building on it, try to keep improving it. That's why we meet, and practice, and work for. That's what we are here for is to play good football, be consistent, do it as much as possible, do it at the highest percentage as we possibly can. That's what we've always done, that's what we're going to keep doing.
Q: Are you happy overall with Myron Pryor's progress?
BB: Myron's coming along. I think being back the last couple of weeks has helped him. He missed a few weeks there at the end of preseason, start of the regular season. He came back and played a little bit, but now that he's got more reps in practice, and built on some of the game experience and corrections, and going back out the next week I think he's starting to show a jump in his improvement. He's gained experience and that's showing up his play a little bit.
Q: The last two games, late in the game, Joe Flacco and Kyle Orton had long drives, is that a result of fatigue on the defense?
BB: No, I don't think that had anything to do with it. After we turned the ball over at midfield, we stopped them three plays in a row. We made those plays and we didn't make some of the plays in overtime. I don't think it had anything to do with that, I think it was just that they executed a little better than we did. If Baltimore executed theirs a little better, they wouldn't have lost. I think you have a hard time going down there and telling them they had great execution on their last drive. I don't think they feel that way anymore than I would feel like we had great execution on our last drive yesterday.
