New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his press conference at Gillette Stadium on Friday, September 12, 2008.
BB: We are winding down here in the week heading down to New York. The Jets are a good situational team. They do a real good job on a lot of those one-play, situation-type things in all three phases of the game. It's an area we work on every week but will put a little extra emphasis on them this week, with some of their situational plays, particularly, in the kicking game. Otherwise, we will just try to pull it all together here and have another good day of preparation, [a] good mental day and go down there and play our first division game on the road. That's where we are for today.
Q: Any chance you will activate [Matt] Gutierrez by Sunday?
BB: We will see. That's a possibility. We will talk about those things as we get to the end of the week, probably, tonight or tomorrow. We talk to the practice squad guys about being ready to go every week. We have seen plenty of those activations come up on Saturday or the end of the week.
Q: Are you required by the league to designate a third quarterback?
BB: No. Well, that is the 46th player. So, if you don't have a third quarterback then, you only have 45. The 46th player can only be used as a quarterback. You can't play any other position until the fourth quarter and then there are other restrictions in the fourth quarter, too. You couldn't put down Ray Ventrone as your third quarterback and then put him in the game, in the kicking game, in the fourth quarter. It is really only for a third quarterback. If you designate somebody else, you would knock him out for the whole game.
Q: Is it fair to characterize the Jets defense as pressure based?
BB: Yes. They do at times. Some games more than others and some situations more than others, but you better be ready for it. There is certainly a chance you could get a lot of it. They don't always bring it but they will at times. At times, they will bring it a lot so you better be ready for that.
Q: What is the percentage that the Jets use in terms of pressure on defense.
BB: I would say it is about half pressure.
Q: How many guys do they blitz?
BB: They bring at least five. They have some formation adjustments too, where they might have a normal coverage call and, in certain formations, they'll blitz part of the formation or it turns into five-man pressure. Some of it is a little bit of what you do offensively and some of it's what they do. But, there are certain formations. If they feel like they can take advantage of, then they'll blitz all the formation, or maybe just blitz part of the formation.
Q: Is 50 percent [blitzing on defensive plays] high in terms of what you've seen?
BB: Again, that was the Miami game. How they will play us, it could be 75 or 25 [percent of pressure].
Q: They have a lot of new players on both sides of the ball. Do they look like they are meshing well together?
BB: When you look at last year's games and this year's games, you see a difference. [Alan] Faneca is a seven-time Pro Bowl guard. He is a real good football player and gives them outstanding play at that left guard position - a lot better than they had last year. [Kris] Jenkins has a lot different playing style than [Dewayne] Robertson. They are both good players but they play quite a bit differently. The quarterback - we know about him. [Calvin] Pace is a lot different than what they had last year at outside linebacker. [He is] more of a pass rusher. [Vernon] Gholston, he doesn't play that much on defense but he plays on third down. Gholston, Pace, [Bryan] Thomas, they are all kind of similar. [They have a] new corner [and] all new tight ends. Those players have their own individual skills and, in some cases, I think it's a significant upgrade. Like, Faneca for example, and other players have a contrasting style - like Robinson, Jenkins or [Dwight] Lowery and, whoever the other corner was last year, [Justin] Miller, [David] Barrett, Hank [Poteat], or sometimes [Drew] Coleman. So it's a little bit of both.
Q: Can you comment on [Kerry] Rhodes at safety?
BB: He's good. He plays good against everybody. He is one of the best safeties in the league. He does everything well. He's a real good football player.
Q: Did you not name practice players of the week? I did not see any black jersey's.
BB: You got us on that one. We will get those black jerseys. We will get on that right away. You are right on top of it. That's something we talked about this morning. We are going to get on those jerseys.
Q: I know you have more important things to worry about.
BB: I wouldn't say that. That is important. You will probably see them out there today and we will give you the credit.
Q: How do you like the Jets young cornerbacks?
BB: We played against [Darrelle] Revis last year. He is a good player. He had a big play for them last week against Miami. Lowery has come in and done a good job for them. Coleman plays inside in the slot in some of their sub defenses. He's a quick guy. Barrett gives them a good level of experience. Justin Miller started the year for them at corner, then injured his toe in preseason and wasn't active last week. He's dangerous as a kickoff returner and in the secondary. Not sure what his availability is, but he is a good player when he is out there. They have good depth at the corner. Barrett is playing all over - corner, safety [and] inside in the sub defense. He gives them a little bit of a presence in both places - corner, safety and in the inside positions when they go to sub.
