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Bill O'Brien Conference Call Transcript

New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien addresses the media during his conference call on Tuesday, November 15, 2011.

Q: When Tom Brady is scrambling around the goal line like that, is there any set plan for what your wide receivers are supposed to?  

BO: That's definitely the case. Starting in training camp, we always have some type of scramble drill that either relates to the red area or out in the field so there are definitely patterns that they can follow or spacing rules that they can follow when they're down based on the formation they're in or where it is on the field. That's definitely the case.  

Q: What are some of your initial thoughts on the Kansas City defense at this point in the season?  

BO: I think they're a very well coached defense. They have a lot of players in that defense that are playing well right now and have a good knowledge base, knowledge of the defense obviously. With Coach [Romeo] Crennel there doing a great job. I just think it's a disciplined defense, it's a defense that doesn't give up a lot of points, doesn't give up a lot of big plays and so it's another big challenge for us.  

Q: Are you all using the no-huddle any more this year than previous seasons? In general, can you talk about why it has been so effective for you this year?  

BO: I really don't think that we're using it any more than we have used it in the past. Even the first year that I was here in '07, we used it quite a bit that year. Really what it is, in the NFL, having come from college, you're able to speak directly to the quarterback up to a certain point so the mechanics of just huddling basically on the ball, which is really just what we're doing, is fairly, I wouldn't say easy, but there's not a lot of mechanics to it. I wouldn't say that we've used it any more than we've used in the past. Again, it just something that our players have executed well to this point, for the most part, I wouldn't say it's been great all year. But at times, it's been good for us and it's basically because the players have done a good job with it.  

Q: How long are you able to communicate with the offense up until the point where they get up to the snap?  

BO: The rule is that 15 seconds on the play clock, you have up until that to talk to the quarterback.  

Q: Do you think it gives you or any offense some sort of competitive advantage to be able to talk to the quarterback while he's at the line as opposed to in the huddle?  

BO: No, I think everybody plays under the same rules so I don't think it gives anybody - because the defense has the same rule, so I don't think it gives anybody any advantage over anybody else.  

Q: Let's not call it an advantage then, does it give you a different way to look at the way the defense is lining up or a different way to gauge things that are going on on the field because the offense is already at the line when you're talking to them?  

BO: That could be, depending on who you're playing, I wouldn't say that it gives you a huge advantage versus huddling, no.  

Q: We didn't see Chad Ochocinco in the second half. Did being in the no-huddle contribute to that or was it something else?  

BO: Just as the game plan went and the different packages that we used, we had Wes [Welker] and Deion [Branch] in there a little bit more than Chad. There was nothing to that, he played well. He's again, a guy who is going to contribute for us all the way through here and continues to get better every week.  

Q: I know you were going up against a tough run defense against the Jets but would you have liked to see more production out of your running backs and was there something you saw that wasn't getting done?  

BO: We just all have to do a better job - executing, coaching it - everybody is involved in that. Obviously we'd like to see more production from the running game but our players ran hard, they blocked hard. It wasn't as good as we want it to be. We're going to work hard every week, this week, every day, to improve that.  

Q: What is your take on the state of the offensive line right now?  

BO: I'm really proud of these guys. Obviously Dante [Scarnecchia] does a great job with them. They play well together - all of them. There have been some injuries there too and then there are guys that just play through the normal bumps and bruises of the season. It's a tough area to play - basically every play is like a car crash in there. With Matt Light and Logan [Mankins] and Dan Connolly stepping in for Dan Koppen and Brian Waters being added in there this year and then Sebastian [Vollmer] and Nate Solder on that other side - they've all done a really good job and play well together.  

Q: Does familiarity with Romeo Crennel help you in any way, shape or form going into Monday night's game?  

BO: Not necessarily me. I don't personally know Romeo. Obviously I have a ton of respect for him as a football coach but I've never met Romeo. I just know what I see on tape and we're putting that all together right now.  

Q: I'm just talking about how he runs a defense - hi schemes and so forth.  

BO: We're studying it, just like we do any defense that we play. Like I said, we're in the middle - we start early on Monday morning through to Tuesday and we don't really have the game plan done until, for first and second down, at the end of the day. We're in the middle of it right now, we're just studying it and trying to put it all together right now.

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