HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK

CONFERENCE CALL
December 2, 2019

Q: What did you think of Jonathan Jones' coverage on Deshaun Watson's back-to-back end zone throws in the third quarter, especially the first where he battled to the end and batted the ball out of Will Fuller's hands? How would you characterize his play in those two plays?

BB: I thought his coverage was good, really good – really as good as it could be. It was a good throw and a good catch. We could have executed the blitz better, but I thought Jon did an outstanding job on both plays. 

Q: Has that been a strength of his, battling until the end of the play and knocking the ball to the ground?

BB: Yeah, he's a good finisher. He has good ball awareness. He's broken up a lot of passes like that.

Q: What time did the team get back? What did you think of the way the guys battled through the illnesses you were dealing with last week?

BB: We got back about six in the morning. Yeah, we have a lot of tough, competitive players on our team. We competed hard, just didn't coach well enough and couldn't make enough plays.

Q: It seemed like the offense had a nice balance and rhythm on the first drive, but then it turned more into a passing situation. Was that more because of game circumstance or matchups? How did you view that aspect of the running game not sustaining after that first drive?

BB: They played a lot of man coverage, put an extra guy on the line of scrimmage. So, we ran it and threw it. We had our chances, we just couldn't – like I said, in the end we just couldn't, make enough plays and couldn't score enough points. They did a good job. I thought we had our chances, we've just got to make more out of them.

Q: Is there anything to be taken from the offensive production late in the game? Can you build momentum off of the last couple of drives?

BB: Build momentum?

Q: Gain some confidence from an offensive standpoint.

BB: Yeah, I guess so. I mean, we start all over against Kansas City. We'll see how that goes. I don't really think this game will have too much to do with that one, but I don't know.

Q: Do you see from your young players, as they've had more game experience, that they're playing at times trying not to make mistakes in games, rather than reacting and having the confidence to do the right thing?

BB: Yeah, that's probably the case for all players, really. The more confidence and more experience you have doing something, you can be more aggressive with it. It's the 12th regular season game, so it's not really the first time at bat here anymore. So, we just have to do a better job, that's all. You know, win games like this against good teams on the road. We've just got to play better.

Q: Do you think at all about the standings as they relate to the top seed and home-field advantage or is it too soon? Are you noticing what Baltimore is doing and that they have the win over you?

BB: No, the only thing we can do anything about is the next game. So, focus on Kansas City and I'm sure we'll all add it up at the end.

Q: Do you have enough play makers on offense, or do you feel you don't have enough options for Tom Brady on offense?

BB: I think we all have to do a better job. So, start with that, see how it goes.

Q: How would you evaluate the way the team handled the two onside kicks? Do you take any solace from the fact that they were pretty competitive?

BB: In the end, we couldn't quite make the play. We were close, but in this league, we've got to find a way to make those tough plays. Again, we've got to coach it a little better and execute a little bit better. They were close, but we could do it a little bit better and that would help us, so we've got to try to do that.

Q: What did you see that allowed them to isolate your linebackers in coverage more than other teams have done?

BB: That's definitely come up before. As I said, really all through we could have coached and played – you know, they had us on a couple of scheme things and then there were a couple of times we were in position and couldn't make the play or should have been able to handle it and didn't. So, we just have to do a better job all the way around of coaching, playing, execution. Again, it's a good quarterback, good back, but we've got to handle the passing game better than we handled it, period.