Skip to main content
Advertising

Official website of the New England Patriots

replay
Replay: Patriots Unfiltered Wed Nov 20 - 02:00 PM | Thu Nov 21 - 11:55 AM

Bill Belichick Press Conference Transcript 9/14

Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his press conference at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, September 14, 2016.

BB: OK, so obviously a big week for us here in the division against Miami. There are some new faces down there but I'd say the thing that's most etched in my mind, and I'm sure our teams, is the last time we went down there it was a pretty rough day for us. Other than James White breaking a tackle we barely had 100 yards of offense, couldn't play defense, couldn't really do anything. It's a good football team. They've added some significant players from the last time we played them. I think Mike Tannenbaum and Chris Grier have done a good job acquiring some of the high-level talent they have down there. It's a very talented team. Obviously, a change in the coaching staff. Coach [Adam] Gase's offense is something that we're a little bit familiar with schematically from when we last played them in Denver in 2014. Coach [Vance] Joseph's defense is very aggressive. They obviously played great against Seattle in every part of the game, put  a lot of pressure up front, played the run well, tackled well, played good pass defense, and they're very strong in the kicking game - this being one of the best special teams units we'll see all year. Coach [Darren] Rizzi and their specialists, their core players, do a really good job. Obviously, they had the big field-goal block against Seattle, but they're a good punt rush team, a good return team. They've added - of course [Jarvis] Landry; one of the top returners in the league - but they added [Jakeem] Grant to that group. He's been impressive as well, another explosive player. [They're] really solid all the way through in all three units, a good football team, good players, well-coached. I hope we can be more competitive against them than the last time that we played them.

Q: Despite your familiarity with Adam Gase and his system, is it harder to get prepared because you don't have much familiarity with how he will incorporate these particular players into his system?

BB: Right. Well, I mean we've seen five games of that so, but yeah, no it's not like when we played Denver in the - I don't know - middle of November, whenever it was back in 2014. Yeah, sure it's a lot more questions but, you know, and certainly with [Ryan] Tannehill and his ability to run on some boot-passes, the keeps off of the zone-read, things like that that obviously [Peyton] Manning wasn't doing out in Denver. I'm not saying it's exactly the same. The core elements I'd say are similar but there are definitely some things that are unique and specific to Miami's personnel and what he's done down there. I'm sure there are some things that they're going to do that they haven't shown yet that we'll have to deal with. But I'd say fundamentally there's a lot of carryover from when we played them in Denver. But obviously we'll spend most of our time looking at these about five games - four preseason games and the Seattle gam - and prepare for what Miami players [did] and the way Miami executes the offense, which is similar but definitely different than what we saw two years ago from Denver.

Q: They lost Olivier Vernon on the defensive line but still have dominant players like Ndamukong Suh and Cameron Wake. How challenging is this defensive line?

BB: Yeah, really good. They added [Andre] Branch, too. They've got good depth at end, good depth at tackle, the linebackers are really fast; Jelani Jenkins and [Kiko] Alonso. Those guys can really run and they blitz their safeties quite a bit so between [Reshad] Jones, [Isa Abdul-Quddus] there, even [Michael] Thomas who plays a little bit in the safety/nickel type of role. They blitz those guys. They're very disruptive. The front's very disruptive. Those guys are big, they're physical, they really penetrate the line of scrimmage, they cause a lot of holding penalties. They get their share of plays, sacks, tackles for loss, all of that, but they also get a lot of holding penalties shooting the gaps there. Guys just can't get ahold of them or get in front of them. They grab them and now its first-and-20 or second-and-20 so I think that's kind of a part of their game that goes a little maybe under the radar, but the penalties that those guys draw - I mean there's several of them every game, and probably several more that don't get called. So, we're going to have to do a good job in that obviously. That was a problem for us in our last game. We need to fix that but it's tough against this group. They do a good job. They're very talented up front. They have a lot of depth and they just keep coming at you.

Q: Does their defensive scheme change a lot with Cameron Wake only coming in on third-down situational opportunities as opposed to first and second-down?

BB: Well, the third-down scheme is a little different than the first and second-down scheme. So, I'd say whether he's in there or not, on first and second-down its going to be similar to what it is, and whether he's in there or not on third-down its going to be more of a third-down scheme, if that makes any sense.

Q: Have you seen anything from defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and his defensive line in the first five games of this 2016 campaign that is different than their past performances?

BB: Yeah, we watch smart coaches. I mean that's the same thing you always get from him. Yeah, I mean it's a combination of some of the things they did last year, some carryover in the secondary. Vance came from Cincinnati, which there are some elements to some of the things that Cincinnati does there with the linebackers up at the line of scrimmage. There is, again, some secondary pressures, some blitz-zone, and then the defensive line is obviously a [Jim] Washburn-style defensive line. So, there is some element I'd say of all of those factors in there.

Q: How do you assess their offense?

BB: Explosive. They've got a lot of big-play receivers; [DeVante] Parker, [Kenny] Stills, obviously Landry. They've got a good tight end. The backs are really good. They have really good depth at running back. [Arian] Foster's a very hard guy to tackle. He has got tremendous balance, gets a lot of yards, can really run the outside zone play, good receiver - [Damien] Williams, [Isaiah] Pead - so they've got depth at all of those positions. Tannehill's obviously a guy that can throw the ball well as we've seen. Also can extend some plays with his running ability, is a threat to keep the ball, on again, their zone-read package. They run a lot of bootlegs, a lot of misdirection plays so they keep you honest. They're probably as well-balanced as any offense we'll see all year in terms of run, pass, inside, outside, strong side, weak side, receivers, tight ends, backs. However you want to look at it there's pretty good balance with whatever the other components are of the running game, the passing game, the run-pass ratio, whatever you want.

Q: Since Sunday night how many calls have you taken from teams about potential trades for Jimmy Garoppolo or Tom Brady?

BB: Yeah, we're really just focused on getting ready for Miami. That's what we've been working on. That's what we plan on working on all week.

Q: Can you give any update on Rob Gronkowski's availability for the Miami game?

BB: Yeah, we'll update you after practice when we turn in the injury report, just like we always do. Can you make sure that gets to them right away Stacey [James]? I don't want to hold anybody up here.

Q: How hard is it to focus on this game this week after the emotional high of a big road victory last Sunday?

BB: Pretty easy. All you've got to do is turn on our game against Miami last year. It's sickening. Yeah, it doesn't take long at all. I don't know if you had a chance to see that or not. It wasn't very good; bad coaching, bad playing, just bad period.

Q: When you look back at last season, how much do you second guess the approach you took going into that game down in Miami last year?

BB: Right now we're focused on playing them this week Mike [Reiss]. The 2015 review, I'm sure you did that. That was great. I'm sure you did a great job on it. We're really past it. We're on to 2016. We're playing the Dolphins.

Q: I only bring it up because you have referenced the game down there last year.

BB: Yeah, I'm referencing the game that we competed against them. I'd say that's relevant. Last time we played that team it didn't go very well, so I hope we can play them more competitively this year.

Q: How much of that game's outcome last year was due to the approach you took going into it?

BB: We approach every game differently. I mean we have different players, they have different players, they have different coaches. It's obviously going to be different. Every game is going to be different. Just like a double-header in baseball is different. You've got two different pitchers pitching. Yeah, it's different.

Q: In your time evaluating quarterbacks do you think that some guys just have a certain level of confidence and poise or can some guys acquire that through their time playing?

BB: Yeah, I mean I don't know. I'm sure there are a lot of examples of all of the things you mentioned. There are a lot of quarterbacks so I'm sure everybody falls into one of those categories.

Q: Have you ever gone wild at a Bruce Springsteen concert?

BB: I've seen a few wild Springsteen concerts, yeah.

Q: Did you have anything to do with the Tom Brady banner coming down in preparation for the home-opener?

BB: We're talking about Miami.

Q: But in preparation for the Miami game did you have any discussion about it coming down?

BB: In preparation for Miami I've been talking about Miami and working on Miami. I don't do concerts, I don't do banners, I don't do parking, I don't do concessions. I just try to coach the team.

Q: What improvements have you seen from Ryan Tannehill since he has been in the league?

BB: Since he killed us last year? I mean that was pretty good. He's a good quarterback. He's smart, he handles the offense well, he certainly takes control of things at the line of scrimmage, as we've seen quarterbacks do in Coach Gase's offense. It obviously runs through the quarterbacks. It tracks adjustments, but he's a good decision maker, he's athletic, throws the ball well. He can certainly make plays out of the pocket. The big drive that he had in the fourth quarter going - I don't know - 85, 90 yards against Seattle on the road to take the lead. I mean I don't know how he could've done any more than that in that critical situation. He's a good player. He's definitely a problem for us.

Q: You seemed to have a really balanced attack this past Sunday. How do you keep that going this week?

BB: Well, we're playing Miami this week so it'll be a whole new challenge, whole different team. Everything's different. We're going to have to do a good job against Miami. It doesn't matter what we did some other week, some other game. It doesn't matter.

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.

Related Content

Advertising

Latest News

Presented by
Advertising

Trending Videos

Advertising

In Case You Missed It

Presented by
Advertising