New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his press conference at Gillette Stadium on Monday, September 22, 2008.
BB: We are in the morning after here and I think this is a game that we all obviously feel bad about. This was a total team loss. I don't think we did a good job coaching, starting with me and we didn't do a good job playing. We got beat in pretty much every phase of the game. Other than special teams, I thought that was competitive. But, offensively and defensively they did a better job all the way around. Give the Dolphins credit for the way they played and we know we've got to do a better job. It starts with me and extends to everybody. Our football team just has to play better than that. I know we are capable of that, but we just didn't do it yesterday and that's disappointing. We'll look at the corrections. We'll move on and try to be better for San Francisco. That's really about all that we can do. Correct the mistakes on this one put it to rest and get on with the next one.
Q: You have faced Chad Pennington many times before. Is this the best he has played against you?
BB: He's played good before. But, he played well, there's no doubt about it.
Q: When have you seen the formation of Ronnie Brown before?
BB: We worked against it last week. That's the formation the Jets used last week with Leon Washington and he's thrown out of it and run out of it. We worked on it a week ago.
Q: Do you expect to see more of it [formation] in the future?
BB: I don't know. I think we better be ready to defend it. When you are on defense all you can do is react to what the offense does. You don't control the ball. You don't control their plays. You don't control their personnel. You don't really control anything. You have to adjust to what they give you. If they give you three backs in the backfield, no backs in the backfield, nine-foot line splits quarterback goes in motion - whatever they do, that's what you're on defense for. I can't tell you what the other offenses are going to do. You will have to ask them that.
Q: Have you set your schedule for the next two weeks?
BB: Yeah. We will talk to them about that this afternoon.
Q: How much did that play in the first quarter change the confidence of the team?
BB: That one play changed the game? I don't think that. No. It was early in the game. It was the first quarter. There were a lot of plays left after that.
Q: Miami threw a lot of passes down the seam. What happened there defensively?
BB: Well, they executed some plays better than we defended them. Different things on different plays, we just need to do a better job - a better job of coaching, a better job of defending.
Q: You said you have seen that formation by the Jets before. What did Miami do different?
BB: They executed the plays well. They executed them better than we defended them. We have to do a better job of coaching and a better job of playing. There are 11 guys on defense, so it wasn't a one-on-one situation or anything - it's team defense. It starts with the coaching and extends to everybody doing their job on the play. That's what it is.
Q: After watching the film, how did you think Matt Cassel played?
BB: Well, I think if you take away the interception in the first half, he's 15 for 20 and I thought he actually threw the ball pretty well. We got behind in the game that skews a lot of things, how you approach the game, how you play it and how you have to play it. So, I think there were some good things and some plays he would probably like to have back just like the same way everybody else feels.
Q: Kevin O'Connell came into the game in the fourth quarter. Why was that move made?
BB: We put in a lot of people at that point.
Q: What did you see in Kevin O'Connell?
BB: Just let Kevin run the offense and get some game experience.
Q: You mentioned the success in the kick return game. What was Ellis Hobbs' average?
BB: I don't know. He averaged 30 or something a return. I thought we played competitively in the kicking game. I thought our return game was productive on both punts and kickoffs. I thought our kickoff coverage was productive. We had our moments in the punting game, made a couple field goals. I think that was competitive. I don't think it was competitive on offense or defense.
Q: Have you sensed any frustrations from Randy Moss?
BB: No. I think Randy is one of our most consistent players. I think he's been like that since he got here last year. On a daily basis, practice, games, preparation, I think he's one of our most consistent players.
Q: Did the schedule change at all based on the outcome of the Miami game?
BB: No. We talked about it today. All of our focus was really on Miami, getting ready to play that game and playing it. Then when it was over we talked about what was the best thing we could do for this week and the two weeks coming up to the San Francisco game.
Q: After looking at the film, did one aspect of the game surprise you?
BB: They gave us a couple of new things. We didn't handle them very well, as well as we would've liked to handle them. But, that happens in every game. Every team gives you something new - a new wrinkle. We just didn't get a stop and that's what we need to do on defense. We need to fix the problem and figure out how to handle whatever it is their doing. We didn't do a good enough job on that yesterday.
Q: When you look at your play in the red zone how much of that was the Dolphins execution and how much was lack of execution from the offense?
BB: It was probably both. I give them credit for playing good defense, but I think we had some opportunities in some plays that we could have gotten a little more out of. That would've helped us out. The bottom line is, we haven't done a good job the last two weeks of getting the ball in the end zone in the red area and that's something you have to do in this league. It will catch up with you sooner or later. We got by with it against the Jets but we didn't get by with it yesterday along with a lot of other things. [We'll] continue to work on it.
