HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
Friday, August 26, 2022
Alright, well we didn't have a really good night tonight in any phase of the game. That's obvious. Might have left it on the practice field on Tuesday and Wednesday. Certainly practiced a lot better than we played out there tonight. Obviously, I need to clean up a lot of things here. We just didn't play well in any phase of the game. We didn't play with any kind of consistency. A couple of touchdowns called back, turned the ball over, didn't play good defense, didn't play well in the kicking game. I've obviously got to do a better job and so, it starts with me. We'll get back to work this week and work on what kind of things we need to work on. Like I said, it's disappointing because we did things a lot better in practice against the Raiders than we did tonight. Hopefully, we can regain that level of execution and performance.
Q: Was it the plan for you to play that first offense through the first quarter and into the second there?
BB: Yeah, we played our first group throughout the first quarter.
Q: Was that the plan coming in?
BB: When we decide to do it, yeah.
Q: It may be early on this, but just want to check on Ty Montgomery. Any idea of how serious that might be for him?
BB: Yeah. I don't [know].
Q: What stood out to you from this week about your team that you liked over the course of the week and how do you get that consistency to where you need it to be come September 11 from your team?
BB: I thought we competed well with the Raiders in all areas. They have a lot of good players. It wasn't perfect and I won't say anybody dominated anything, but we were competitive with them. We made a lot of good plays, they made good plays. But tonight we just didn't do much of anything right. So like I said, maybe we left if on the practice field. I don't know but I've just got to get our team to a more consistent, higher competitive level than we were tonight. So, that's what we will do.
Q: When it comes to the running game, is there anything that you're noticing that is keeping it from being consistent?
BB: Well again, we had several good runs in practice this week. But yeah, you could say that about every part of the game tonight. There wasn't anything that was consistent.
Q: As the numbers get smaller and the roster gets cut down, is it less difficult to find that consistency, to find continuity and hone in on some of the things that you'll focus on for the first game?
BB: I don't think it's about continuity. It's we just have to perform better, and I've got to coach better. We've got to play better. I don't think it's any big mystery.
Q: Mac Jones just acknowledged when he was chatting with us that he did get a little bit frustrated at one point coming off the sideline. Is that okay in your eyes?
BB: I don't know. I'm sure everybody has their own emotions.
Q: One of the things that stood out was in the second quarter, the [Brian] Hoyer strip sack, J.J. Taylor coming back to recover that. Something that sticks out to you in film you can show the team as far as hustle plays when things are kind of not going your way?
BB: Yeah. I mean, there are always good things in the game. I think there are, I'm sure there are good things on some of the bad plays that we had. I'm sure there are bad things on some of the good plays we had. But in the end, it's just too many big mistakes and too many little mistakes. Turn the ball over, get two touchdowns called back, give up a couple of big plays on defense that were totally unnecessary and just basic fundamental execution in all three phases of the game needs to be better. So we need to coach better, we need to play better. We'll start working on that this week.
Q: It seemed like Anfernee Jennings has some extended playing time tonight. What have you seen from him throughout camp and to where what he's put on film so far?
BB: Well again, just kind of like we have all preseason, the guys who didn't practice as much, especially against Carolina and the Raiders, played more. And the guys that practiced more, played less. So, that's about the way it was for everybody.
Q: We know you value dependability in players. How much progress do you feel like you've made in terms of determining dependability when it comes to certain plays? Is that something that you can have a good idea of at this time of year?
BB: Yeah, I'm not following you, Phil.
Q: Do you feel that there are plays that you execute more consistently, whether it's practice or in these preseason games, given what you've seen so far from your team?
BB: I just don't look at it that way. Some plays were good against some defenses, and against certain things, some plays don't. I don't say that one play is necessarily great against everything, I have a hard time with that. I'm sure there are other people that maybe they think differently, which is fine. I think you have to be able to execute what you need to execute, to win in that situation, against that opponent in that game. It changes from game to game for me. I think it's hard to do three things in this league and think that's going to be enough to win, but if that's what some people believe in, that's what they believe.
