Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick
William Stephen Belichickis an American football coach, and the long-time head coach of the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Belichick has extensive authority over the Patriots' football operations, effectively making him the General Manager of the team as well. He was previously the head coach of the Cleveland Browns...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth16 April 1952
CityNashville, TN
CountryUnited States of America
I thought Tom did a good job managing the game, especially opening night where you know you're going to get a couple of different (defensive) looks. He showed a lot of poise.
Overall our passing game was pretty efficient. We dropped a couple of balls, and we were disappointed we didn't get the ball in the end zone there when we were down there. Looked like Tom threw the ball well, set up quickly, and got it out there.
Really, that's the best we've played in the red area all year long. We made a couple of stops after a sudden change, after we turned the ball over offensively. We came in there and didn't let them score a touchdown. We held them, based on the field position that we had, so, I mean, there were some positives to build on.
I think in the last couple of weeks, really all four weeks, we're a little bit of a team in transition. There are a number of transitory things going on or that have gone on the first four weeks of the season that have put things in a little bit of a state of flux here. They weren't what they were a month ago. Some of them aren't like they were two weeks ago. Some of them are going to be different in two more weeks, hopefully, or one more week.
That was a great experience for me, working with Joe, ... It was my first real exposure to the 3-4, and the way that Joe played the 3-4 was a lot different than the way we played it in New York (under Bill Parcells) a couple of years later.
When you have a football team, everybody has a role on it. And Ro's role, for the most part in the last couple of years, . . . was to get the defense ready. Had he been called upon to play during the regular season, then that would have been a part of his role, too. But, for the most part, it wasn't. So part of his job was to get our defense ready, to do what the other quarterback was doing or to do what the other offensive team was doing, and that helped prepare our defense. In no way can I minimize that.
This year, we have an extra third and an extra fourth. Having those extra mid-round picks in a full draft certainly gives you flexibility to move up, but there's only so far you can go in the first round. From 21st, you're not going to be able to get into the top 10, but you could move up a couple of spots.
We had a couple of turnovers early in the first half, but bounced back offensively and we were able to get some points on the board. And our defense came up with some big plays.
He's been here for three years, won a couple of championships, been a great leader. He's done really everything that we've asked.
Having those extra mid-round picks in a full draft does certainly give you flexibility to move up in rounds. There's only so far you can move in that first round. From 21 you're not going to be able to get into the top 10, but you could move up a couple of spots.
There's probably more (quality) linebackers than we've had the last couple of years. Some of those guys have had a lot of production, have had a lot of playing time.
I felt that once we got to the 31, 32 yard line, we were in field goal range. We didn't want to get in the situation where we throw a couple incomplete passes and Pittsburgh had another timeout. It's like basketball; we were playing for the last shot.
The last couple of years we've had a lot of guys go in the first round at receiver, mostly bigger receivers, and there has certainly been a trend and a little bit of a stampede to get those kind of guys. It seems like there are fewer of them this year.
I thought there were some good things defensively. It was nice to see the turnovers. I thought we played more competitively in the running game and on third down. But we've only been in camp for three weeks. It's not like we're three or four months down the road.