All Things Bill Belichick
     
 

radio quotes

  
  Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
08-Dec-2008, WEEI
Coach's Question of the Week:  "With all the injuries you've had to deal with, has this been your most challenging year of coaching since you've been here in New England?"
Bill Belichick:  "I think every year has its own challenges. Every team we play has good players, good coaches and good schemes, so every week is a big challenge. I think that we've had our challenges this year, but the best thing about this season for me has been the way that our players have responded – the effort that they've given, the attitude that they've kept, how hard they've worked, and really done everything that we've asked them to do. It hasn't always been easy, but they've never backed down and they've tried to respond with their best effort on a consistent basis. I really appreciate that, and I have a lot of respect for our team for that, so from that standpoint it hasn't been hard at all. And that's really the most important thing, is how your team responds and how your team tries to approach the game and do what you tell them to do. Every year there are challenges, but when your team acts as a team and plays like a team and works hard, that makes it a lot easier to deal with whatever the obstacles are you have to face."
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  Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
01-Dec-2008, WEEI
How he feels about playing a regular season game in London in 2009:  "Well, you know, I've known [Tampa Bay] Coach [Jon] Gruden a long time. We go back to when I was a coordinator and he was a coordinator in the league, and competed against him at different times through the course of our head coaching careers, and I think we think alike, we have similar philosophies about the game, so I'll leave it in Jon's hands. Whatever he says, that's probably about the way I feel."
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  Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
24-Nov-2008, WEEI
Glenn Ordway:  "Congratulations. Nice win yesterday on Miami. I take it that…you guys obviously did some work. We'll start with that Wildcat offense, because I don't want to spend a lot of time with it … but obviously a much different outcome in the nine plays that they ran with that."
Bill Belichick:  "I think the players did a good job. It starts inside with Vince [Wilfork]. Vince had a whale of a game. That was really a total mismatch."
Fred Smerlas:  "He was two-gapping that guy with one arm!"
Belichick:  "Yeah. We got a lot of stuff turned back into him; he handled the middle. We tackled better. It wasn't perfect, we still missed a few, but we tackled a lot better than we did in the first game. But the players did a good job. They did. They played good technique and they tackled well."
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  Bill Belichick on Patriots Friday
14-Nov-2008, WEEI
Bill Belichick:  "I know Matt [Cassel] had a great night, throwing for 400 yards and running for 60 or whatever it was, but to me [Randy] Moss was probably the most dominant player in the game for us. Because he took so much coverage with him. And then in the critical play of the game, made a play that…I don't know how many other receivers in the league make that play. And for a guy to be doubled as much as Randy was in that game and still work as hard as he did to get open, and at the same time continue to force them to double him and then create those opportunities for everybody else. But then when it came down to…you know, he got single coverage out there – he ran past [Ahmad] Carroll and Matt just overthrew him. But that was his one chance, really, to get down the field and he had him beat by five yards. And then on the last play of the game, his ability to get open and then make that catch, I mean, the stats really don't indicate just how, I thought, impressive Randy's performance was last night."
Glenn Ordway:  "It's interesting you mention that, because I think people are critical when a guy does not make a lot of catches in the game, sitting there saying, 'What the hell did he do in the game?' Were they forced to change up during the course of the game once you started exploiting them because of their over-play on Randy Moss?"
Belichick:  "Yeah. I mean, we threw for 400 yards. Most of that was away from Randy. Really. Most of that was away from him. … I think last night's game, to me, is why he's a captain on this football team. The players respect him. He went out and did all he could do, which a lot of that was to help the team out in other ways. Even though it wasn't production in his column, it was team production that he had a lot to do with."
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  Bill Belichick on Indy's 1070 The Fan
31-Oct-2008, ESPN Radio
On his head coaching tenure with the Cleveland Browns:  "We really feel proud about what we accomplished there. The team was 3-13 in 1990 and we turned that around. In 1994 we were 11-5 and won a playoff game against the Patriots and lost to the eventual AFC Champion Steelers. So, we played very competitively there, but in the end just came up a little bit short against Pittsburgh a couple times. Fortunately, when I came to New England we were able to come out on top on those championship games against Pittsburgh. {Laughter} That makes a big difference. But they were exciting years. They were the Browns. And a lot of people, such as Nick Saban and Pat Hill and Al Groh and Ozzie Newsome and Phil Savage and all sorts of people like that, have gone on to have very successful careers, Kirk Ferentz, with other teams, and Scott Pioli, gone on to do very well other teams or in various positions throughout the National Football League and in college football."
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  Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
06-Oct-2008, WEEI
Glenn Ordway:  "I think you'll get a kick out of the fact that on television, on that direct-snap play to Faulk it was mentioned that 'they stole a play from the Miami Dolphins from a week ago.'"
Belichick:  "You haven't seen us do that before, have you?"
Ordway:  [Sarcastically] "No, I've never seen that before. It's amazing to me. I get a kick out of that! But why does it work so flawlessly every single time? Different quarterback this time. He sold it, obviously. But why does it work so flawlessly every single time, Bill?"
Belichick:  "I wish I knew, Glenn. I don't know. The play was well-executed – Dan [Koppen] made it a good snap and Kevin got a good read on the play, Logan Mankins made a key block on the nose and then bounced up to [Takeo] Spikes and Kevin kind of ran off the safety coming down. So, it was good blocking by [Matt] Light, Mankins and Koppen at the point of attack, and the cut-off blocks on the backside by [Billy] Yates and [Nick] Kaczur, and Faulk made a nice cut and was able to squirt through there to the goal line."
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  Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
22-Sept-2008, WEEI
Bill Belichick during Patriots Monday on WEEIBill Belichick:  "We had some mistakes in the game at every level. I made them, assistant coaches made them, players made them. There were things that could have been better and need to be better. We all need to do a better job. I would say there were a few plays where things didn't come out the way we wanted them to for a combination of reasons. And those plays were big plays in the game. And then as the game got away from us, then it became a one-dimensional game and we weren't really able to handle that offensively. And defensively, the damage had been done."
Pete Sheppard:  "When you say you made a mistake – because a lot of fans always ask and I'm always curious myself – could you give us just a little example that you think, a mistake that you made particularly in one particular play? Because that's a common question I get from a lot of fans and friends. Occasionally you've said that and they always like to say, 'Can you give us an example of what he thinks might have been a mistake that he made?'"
Belichick:  "Well, when you're the head coach and your team goes out there and gets beat 38-13 or whatever it was, and that was the score at the end of three quarters, early in the fourth quarter, it's hard to feel like 'I did a great job yesterday.'"
Sheppard:  "But is it the play you called or the execution?"
Belichick:  "Everything. Everything. Should we have spent more time on some gadget plays? Should we have spent more time on the gadget formations? We spent time on some things that they didn't do as much of. But again, that's always going to be the case. Should we have talked more about certain plays? Or, looking back on it, should we have had this defense in or that defense in because that would have been a good thing to have as it turned out in some of the things that they did but we didn't want to waste time on defenses where we didn't think we'd be able to use those? Different calls – should we have not been in a split safety coverage on the pass down the middle to [Greg] Camarillo? So, yeah, you second guess a lot of that stuff."
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  Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
15-Sept-2008, WEEI
Coach's Question of the Week: "What are the distinguishing skills and responsibilities of the outside linebackers versus the inside linebackers?" "I think the biggest thing in the 3-4 defense – it doesn't really matter what defense you play, 3-4 or 4-3 – I think the major difference to me is playing on the line of scrimmage, like an outside linebacker does, versus playing off the line of scrimmage – four and a half to five yards off – and having to fill up into the line, having to read blocking schemes, and working the different gaps. When your on the outside, you kind of know what your responsibility is; it's pretty well set. You're either the outside guy or you're the next outside guy and there's one guy outside of you. More pass rushing, you cover the flats. Inside linebackers in the running game have to fill from pretty much sideline to sideline on either side of the ball, and their pass coverage responsibilities vary quite a bit – you have all the play action passes and different passing combinations that they have to recognize and match up with. So, there's quite a bit of difference between those two positions. It's hard to find a player that can play both inside and outside. Now, we've moved [Mike] Vrabel from outside to inside, and we moved Thomas from outside, then we moved him inside and we put him back outside. But overall, it's hard to find players that are adept at both positions; it's usually kind of one or the other. … Probably the one guy who could have played either spot at that level that I've coached was [Lawrence] Taylor. And Taylor played on the line, but when we played him off the line as kind of a 'Will' linebacker – like on the goal line and situations like that – he would have been real good."
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  Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
08-Sept-2008, WEEI
Steve DeOssie:  "Is there any leadership void with Tom [Brady] out of there, and if so, how do you fill that void?"
Bill Belichick:  "I think that every player and every coach needs to do their job. And if a person goes out – whether it's Tom or anybody else – if a person goes out of the lineup, then the next person that steps in needs to perform that job the best they can. Obviously Tom's a great player – he was the MVP of the league last year – so I'm not saying that. I'm just saying whoever the next guy is has to do their job. Part of that position [quarterback] has to do with leadership, but Matt [Cassel] and Kevin [O'Connell] had to do that in the past, whether it's run out of the huddle and make an audible at the line, run the two-minute drill or whatever it happens to be. And everybody else has to continue to do their job. There are a lot of people on this team that don't play quarterback and they need to be prepared to play their game and do their job on Sunday just like the quarterback does. The more we worry about what everybody else is going to do and the less we focus on our job, then I don't think we're going to do it very well."
Fred Smerlas:  "That's a good point you just brought up. It's not so much bringing your game to the next level when someone of importance gets injured, it's not letting your game slip worrying about what someone else is going to do. If you have contain and you get a two gap, do that and don't worry about trying to make the extra play and putting yourself in a position where the team could take advantage of you making a mistake."
Belichick:  "Right. Exactly. I hear people say, 'Well, we're going to have to play good defense. We're not going to be able to give up…' Well, that's what we try to do every week! We're going to go in there and try to play good defense every week no matter who the quarterback is. And, 'We're going to have to run the ball.' Well, we ran the ball for five yards a carry with [Laurence] Maroney and [Sammy] Morris yesterday. So, we're going to try to run the ball no matter who the quarterback is. We ran the ball 28, 29 times a game last year. That's part of our offense!"
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Bill Belichick on Patriots Monday
01-Sept-2008, WEEI
The similarities between spring training and training camp, and the time he spent with St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa: "I think it's very similar when we draft the players and we're bringing the rookies in. You're starting at a very fundamental level – stance and hand placement and footwork and some of the most basic things that it takes. But it's fun to do that and go back and work on those things and then you get into the season and you're working with Tom Brady and Randy Moss and Mike Vrabel and Rodney Harrison and guys that have played a lot of football, that have been through a lot of schemes and know all the tricks. It's fun to work with them, too, because you can do things with those players that are a lot of fun as a coach, to put together stuff [that's] pretty sophisticated. They are great players that can execute it and understand it. … It was fun down there when I was down in Jupiter with the Cardinals. They actually, in the morning they had a game in the afternoon. I went over there in the morning with Tony and they were putting in their play with runners on first and third, and they had four plays, four different plays on that if the guy on first tried to steal, there were four different plays they could have. So they spent the whole morning going through those. I mean, I didn't realize there was that much to it. I thought you either throw the guy out at second or you don't and you get the guy on third if he breaks. But they have a whole, you know, fake throws and cut-off and so, you know. That was pretty interesting. I hadn't realized there was so much to first and third. … They kind of talk through it and walk through it, and then they have all the infielders and the catchers and they have like three or four different groups do it – one guy goes and they run the different plays and all that. So you can actually see it."
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  Patriots Monday: Preseason
25-Aug-2008, WEEI
Bill Belichick:  "What did you think, Pete, of the fans coming in before the game? I didn't like that first play."
Pete Sheppard:  "Well, somebody missed a block. … I did not influence anything."
Belichick:  "We talked about trying to establish the running game and creating some second-and-medium, second-and-short situations, and then we lose five yards on the first play and it's second-and-15. I think I can call them that good."
[Laughter]
Sheppard:  "No, but he was terrific with the people that came in."
Belichick:  "Oh, it was great. We had a lot of fun."
Steve DeOssie:  "That was a great donation, by the way."
Fred Smerlas:  "How did Pete get in the mix?"
Sheppard:  "Because he asked me to. What was ironic was that you were breaking down the special teams for them the whole hour, and sure enough, what happened? You talked about how good they were and you pointed out some not so good things…"
Belichick:  "How they like to run right back up the middle?"
Sheppard:  "Right back up the middle. And sure enough, it happened twice in it seemed like two minutes."
Belichick:  "Yeah."
Sheppard:  "But you were terrific with them."
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  Patriots Monday: Preseason
18-Aug-2008, WEEI
Ordway:  "Robert Kraft talked the other day about the possibility of going to a 17- or 18-game regular season and obviously cutting down the preseason. Do you need four games in the preseason?"
Belichick:  "Well, it depends on the player. I think the rookie players could probably use six games. And if they had six they'd learn from all six. If they had four they'd learn from four. If there were two they'd learn from two. I think that the less opportunity you give the players in preseason, the more it helps the veteran players and the more it hurts the younger players. So whatever it is, it'll be the same for everybody. But to me that's the tradeoff. Everybody talks about developing younger players, and they had that Europe league for a few years with the idea of developing players over there, which I don't think too many got developed there. [Laughter] I mean, there were some that played… But in any case, you're trying to find ways to give young players experience and playing time, and right now the best way to do that is in training camp and preseason games. … It's just a question of who you're giving the preference to. But if you cut that down then it's going to be harder for those players to develop as players. You take a rookie quarterback and you only have one or two games to play him in the preseason and then you don't think he's going to play for you as a rookie – that's a lot to ask. I'm not saying it can't happen, but it's a lot to ask. If you give him more time than that, then you give him more opportunity to get ready. I mean, it's a tradeoff. I don't think there's a right or wrong, I just think it's a tradeoff."
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  Bill Belichick & The Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon
12-Aug-2008, WEEI
Ordway:  "This Thursday and Friday are the most important days of the year here at WEEI and over at NESN when we run our Jimmy Fund Radio Telethon. We are hoping this year to raise over $4 million and we've asked some people in town to help us out with a few auction items that maybe would help boost that figure up. We asked Bill Belichick if he could come up with something that would be innovative, something that was one-of-a-kind, and Bill's come up with a terrific idea in which the highest bidder – and we're going to do the auction today between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. – will get 4 club seats to the Patriots–Eagles preseason game on August 22nd. But that's not all, because the highest bidder and the three guests are going to meet earlier in the day before the game at Gillette Stadium, they're going to be escorted to Bill Belichick's office for a private meeting with the head coach of the New England Patriots before the Pats take on the Eagles, and the coach will sit there and talk to you about the gameplan for that evening's game, show some video of the Eagles, give an inside perspective of what he expects in the game, and then Bill's going to escort you out onto the field so you'll be able to watch the pregame warmups – I'm sure there will be a good photo opportunity for you. And as I said, after that, you go sit in these beautiful club seats and watch the Patriots and the Eagles. And the coach joins us live on the telephone right now from Foxboro. Hey Bill. How are you?"
Belichick:  "You know, Glenn, you know what we might even throw in there? We might let them call the first play."
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  Bill Belichick Post-Draft Interview
28-Apr-2008, WEEI
Glenn Ordway:  "Bill, you just said it, you win 18 of 19 games this past year, you're sitting here in the offseason assessing what you've got. And I know you tell us this every year: each year is it's own year and it's a separate issue."
Bill Belichick:  "Well, it is."
Ordway:  "And I agree with that. But you know what you've lost, you know what you've gained, how do you sit and assess and say to yourself, try to figure out what you need?"
Belichick:  "Well, I think you just try to keep improving your football team. That's what you do. You look at a team like Buffalo that's picked up Marcus Stroud and now made a couple draft picks – they got a good corner, they got another offensive weapon, their offensive line is better. Miami's improved. The Jets have made a lot of moves in the offseason. I mean, everybody's improving their team. And you know how it is every week in this league – it doesn't matter what you did last week or last year, every team in this league's capable of winning every game. There's no byes, there's no play down to Division 1A, AA and all that. This is the National Football League and we see teams every week upset other teams and all that. So if you don't play well you're not going to win in this league, I don't care who you are or what you did last week. So that's the way we're approaching it and I think there are a lot of things we could do better. We can do a better job of coaching, we can do a better job of playing; and those are some of the things we've tried to address in the offseason."
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  Bill Belichick at the Owners' Meetings
01-Apr-2008, SIRIUS
"[T]he main point of the commissioner's discipline and his comments on the integrity of the game – which of course, I support 100 percent, nobody loves the game more than I do, I've had a long history in it, and I 100 percent support what his comments have been. The positive in all the things that have happened here in the last six months have been that we've, organizationally, tightened a lot of things up and we're going to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again, or even approaches this. That's been a positive of it. We streamlined our efficiency in our organization and it was certainly spurred on by the situation that happened in September. That part of it, I think we're stronger and better than we were."
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  Patriots Monday from Super Bowl XLII
28-Jan-2008, WEEI
On Eli Manning not having made any big mistakes during the playoffs:  "I think it's overall execution on offense. They're staying out of long-yardage, Eli's making good decisions, the receivers are open, the offensive line is giving them good protection, they balance it off with the running game. They've been basically playing from ahead in most of the games, so they've been able to kind of dictate the tempo and the flow of the game. And as you said, they haven't made a lot of mistakes – and they haven't been forced into very many mistakes, either. So I think that's something we're going to have to find some way to do is we're going to have to force them to make a mistake. I think we just wait for them to have a bad play. We might be waiting all day and not get one."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
21-Jan-2008, WEEI
On having playoff and Super Bowl experience:  "I think it helps. There's no question. I think it helps for guys who have been through this and been through the process and have been in big games. But I go back to the '01 Super Bowl against St. Louis. They had been there and they had all the great players and the great offense and led the league in defense and everything else, so if it was all about experience we would have never won that game. I think experience is good, but more important than experience is playing well. And I think that's really what this game's going to be about, is which team plays the best. Experience might give you a marginal edge, but I don't think it's that significant. I think good playing will overcome experience. And I've seen that. I firmly believe that."
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  Bill Belichick with Joe & Evan
18-Jan-2008, WFAN
Evan Roberts:  "Is there a famous artist that you'd like to write a song for your Patriots, possibly, so every time you guys score there could be this great song blasting over the P.A. system?"
Belichick:  "Well…if I had one it'd be either maybe Jon or Bruce."
Joe Benigno:  "Bon Jovi or Springsteen, obviously."
Belichick:  "I bet maybe we could get them in on it. … Maybe Tom Petty, Into the Great Wide Open."
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2007

  
  Coffee With the Coach Post-Game
24-Dec-2007, WEEI
Smerlas:  "Coach, did you see what they're saying in the newspaper now? You smiled after the game and now it's 'the softer side of Belichick.' Isn't it amazing how things change?"
Belichick:  "You're only as good as your last handshake."
Sheppard:  "They timed it: 14.7 seconds across the field with a smile on your face."
Ordway:  "I was going to say… we would give you a group hug today but you seemed to get a lot of love yesterday after that game. Not needed here, apparently. Pretty impressive."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
10-Dec-2007, WEEI
Sheppard: "Are you prepared for the onslaught of ridiculous, dumb, stupid questions from the media about what happened in Week 1? … Because all that crap's going to come up again, unfortunately."
Bill Belichick:  "Well, it is but it isn't, Pete, because I'm not going to get into all that. We've already talked about it, and if that's what comes up there will be some very short press conferences this week. [Laughter] We'll talk about the Jets, but we've already talked about all of it – my relationship with Eric, the handshakes, what happened the first week of the season, all that. So… We're not going through that this week. We're going to concentrate on the Jets and the game, and all the other stuff, like I said, if that's the way it's going to be, there'll be some short press conferences."
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  Bill Belichick on the Real Post-Game Show
03-Dec-2007, WEEI
"It was a heck of a football game. The Ravens are a veteran team that knows [how to play] and plays with a lot of heart. And it was an emotional crowd down here. I just think our guys did another great job in the fourth quarter of making the plays that we needed to make. It was a real credit to them to withstand the pressure they had us under and get some defensive stops and make some key third down, fourth down, conversions and finally score in the red area. So it was a good win for our team, but a tough one."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
26-Nov-2007, WEEI
Sheppard:  "[W]ill you start running the ball a bit more, or is it strictly game-by-game: how the game is going, the flow of the game?"
Belichick:  "It's definitely game-by-game. We're not going to sit here and say we're going to hand the ball off this many times to this guy or throw it this many times to that guy; a lot of that depends on what we're getting defensively, what we feel like are the best points to attack. Offensively, what we're trying to do is move the ball and score points; that's our objective out there. It's not to get stats for a certain player or anything else. Whatever we need to do to do that, then that's what we'll try to do. So as long as we're moving the ball and scoring points, I'm happy and our offense is productive. When we're not, I don't care if we're running it, throwing it, or what we're doing, then we're not doing our job offensively. And as we've said many times, the offense's only job is to move the ball and score points. That's what they're out there for."
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Bill Belichick on the Joe Benigno Radio Show
13-Nov-2007, WFAN
On the accusations of running up the score:  "I think in all those individual situations, really, my decisions are just what's best for our football team. And that takes into consideration a lot of things: score, field position and so forth. So I don't think kicking a field goal with a big lead is…I don't think that's a great thing to do. … [W]e're just going to try to do what we think's best for our football team. The guys are out there playing. They're trying to play well. I don't blame them for that."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
12-Nov-2007, WEEI
On comments made by Don Shula:  "Well, I've known Coach Shula a long time. He and my dad went back to when they were in Ohio, long before I was around. I knew Coach Shula when I came into the league in '75 – he was at Miami and I was at Baltimore. His kids, Mike, and of course Dave was the head coach at Cincinnati when I was at Cleveland. So I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He was a guy that I really looked up to in Annapolis when he was with the Baltimore Colts and as the head coach there. So I have nothing but respect for Coach Shula, his career and what he's accomplished, and he's entitled to his opinion. … I have nothing but respect for him and what he's done for this game, and what he's done for me personally. He's been a good friend and a guy who's given me some good advice along the way. And again, I'm glad I haven't had to coach against him too many times, but I have nothing but respect for Coach Shula."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
05-Nov-2007, WEEI
Ordway:  "[Y]ou've always talked about you really start to know your football team after about nine or ten games during the course of a season. What do you know about your football team now [that] maybe you didn't know seven, eight, nine weeks ago?"
Belichick:  "I think one thing we found out was that we can play from behind. We haven't had to do that this year, fortunately. But we showed we can play from behind and play in a tight game and play good situational football. I think it's clear that offensively we have some balance. We can throw the ball; we've thrown it against everybody. We have balance in the running game. We're at the top of the league in third down, so we're able to convert third downs. So I think those are some things that we can do. Defensively, we've been a good third down team. We're plus-11 in turnovers, so our overall ball protection has been decent, and we've been able to take a few away. Our return game is getting better. So I think there are some things to build on, to work with. We're certainly not there. Our red area defense hasn't been very consistent. We can do a better job offensively of taking advantage of our scoring opportunities. But I think there are some things we can work on [and] that's what we'll spend this bye week doing."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
29-Oct-2007, WEEI
Smerlas:  "…Have you ever, in all the years you've been [coaching], heard such a hoopla about how you guys are winning games? … It's bizarre. And any team you've ever seen – Indianapolis Colts, the Greatest Show on Turf – have you ever seen anyone say 'Boy, you guys are just putting up too many points'? It baffles me. I don't know what planet I'm on here. And you've been around for a long time."
Belichick:  "Yeah, and you know, Fred, my background is on the defensive side of the ball [and] we always felt like it's your job defensively to try to limit the points. But hey, everybody's entitled to their opinion or whatever. All we're trying to do is go out there and win games and play good football. In situations at the end of the game nobody's trying to embarrass or run anything up on anybody, but not playing is, to me, more disrespectful than playing. So taking a knee and doing that, I don't think that's really the answer. The ball's on the 7-yard line and it's 4th down, kicking a field goal to make it 41-0 instead of 38-0, I don't see where that's … I wouldn't appreciate that if I was on the other side. But again, it doesn't really matter. I think it's just important for us to go out there and…you know, the players are doing what the plays are called to run, and as coaches we're trying to do the things that we feel like are the right thing to do for our football team at that particular time. It's not about embarrassing anybody, it's just about doing what…"
partial transcript 		 
     
  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
22-Oct-2007, WEEI
"The only thing I care about, Glenn, is trying to win the game. That's the only thing that matters to me. In yesterday's game, after the interception cut it to three scores there was still the better part of the fourth quarter left. And I've seen three scores in four minutes! So another turnover, you get it to a two-score game – that's one pass, an onside kick and a Hail Mary. So any time you get it down that close, I think the game's a long way from being out of reach. So we're going to play to win, and if I feel like we're in danger of losing, then we're going to do whatever we have to do to win."
partial transcript 		 
     
  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
15-Oct-2007, WEEI
Belichick:  "I'll tell you what, though, there were a lot of Patriots fans down there. They were really…we could hear the 'De-fense' chants there in the fourth quarter a couple times. And when we came off the field, of course, the Patriots fans – there were a couple thousand of them!"
Ordway:  "I wouldn't be surprised if this week's game is more like a home game… A lot of people are going down [to Miami]."
Belichick:  "Last year, you couldn't tell because we were never in the game. So you don't know whether there was anybody there for us or not because there was nothing to cheer about. … We have to make one play, at least, so they can cheer."
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Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
08-Oct-2007, WEEI
DeOssie:  "Your team had played almost flawless football up until the third quarter of yesterday's game. Does this give you something to throw at them for the Dallas game – preparing for Dallas – giving them something to improve upon, to look at, to realize that they might not be as good as they think they are?"
Belichick:  "Well, I don't think that we've played flawless football by any stretch. I think we've had our moments…and I think right now you're at that point in the season – we're basically a third of the way through the season – and teams have had three, four, five games to look at us in the regular season and they're deciding how they want to play us and what they think…how they want to attack us – what they think our weaknesses are, and maybe what they think our strengths are that they want to take away. So I think we know a lot more about how other teams see us now than we did a month ago, and I think we're going to have to make some adjustments to that. We've been making some but I think we're going to have to make some more. And there are some things that we need to work on that I'm sure other teams are getting better at – I think we need to get better at them too. And certainly situational football would be one of them. We didn't have a good day on third down, we struggled in the red area defensively, and our return game has been sporadic. So there are a lot of situational things that we need to keep working on, and I think we can make some plays there if we can get them down. … I just think collectively as a team we didn't execute as well as we're capable of. I don't think it was a particularly good job of coaching. I think we need to do a better job as a coaching staff of preparing the team and maybe coming up with some alternatives to some things that we're seeing. I think collectively we just have to work harder and keep working to stay ahead of the competition. The competition's good."
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  Coffee With the Coach Post-Game
01-Oct-2007, WEEI
Sheppard:  "Alright, it's right around the end of the second quarter and [Chad] Johnson makes a catch. He comes over to you, says something, you start laughing. Can you share with us what happened during that exchange? I've never seen that. I don't ever remember a player coming over to you at the two-minute warning to chat."
Belichick:  "Well, I just greeted him before the game. Last year I'd told him we were going to double cover him every game and he asked me if we were going to double cover him again today and I said 'Well, you know, [that's the] only way we can cover you.' [Laughter] So after that play he came over and, you know, he caught that swim post on us for about, I don't know, 20 or 25, whatever it was. So it was the two-minute warning and he walked over and he said 'I thought you were going to double me.' And I said 'We did double you that time and you still got us. We're just going to keep doubling you.' [Laughter] He was like 'Come on, man. Let me go one-on-one sometime.' [Laughter] I'll tell you what, that kid, he was a great guy to be around at the Pro Bowl. He's as hard a working player as I've seen on the practice field and competitively in games. He just has fun playing, you know? And I really, I appreciate that and respect him for that."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
17-Sept-2007, WEEI
Ordway:  "Saturday night we heard that you brought in our buddy Lenny Clarke…to break the ice, motivate the players. Can you tell us how that went, because we love Lenny but Lenny must have…taken some shots at you, I would think, in his little comedy session."
Belichick:  "Pretty much of a roast on me. … Well, he got a few shots in on some other people, too. But Lenny, he's been a good friend and he's a huge Patriots fan, just a huge Patriots fan, and he was pretty pumped for the game. And it was his birthday Sunday. … So he went to the Red Sox game Saturday and then came over and saw us Saturday night, and then Sunday went to the Patriots game. So it was a big 'Lenny Clarke, Happy Birthday to Me!' … But anyway, I talked to him, and he has a tough schedule, he's always on the go out doing stuff…shooting TV shows and doing stuff. So it just worked out that it was his birthday, he was in for the game, so I asked him how he felt about stopping by Saturday night and he was up for it. He had a routine that just happened to be ready. … He was rippin' 'em. Oh, he was awesome."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
08-Jan-2007, WEEI
If that was probably as good as they've been in all facets of the game: "Certainly far from perfect. It was a real nip-and-tuck game there until probably about the middle of the fourth quarter, but I thought we did a pretty good job in all the phases. Our kickoff coverage was real good for us and that gave us some good field position. We moved the ball offensively, didn't have to punt in the second half, got the ball in the end zone – even though they stopped us a couple of times, we ended up getting the ball in the end zone. And defensively, we played good red zone defense, played pretty good on third down. So we did enough things to win. It wasn't perfect, and we certainly had some problems with the Jets through the course of the game, but we ended up making a few more plays than they did."
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2006

  
  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
31-Dec-2006, WEEI
DeOssie:  "Did you realize that this is a franchise-best defense, in terms of points allowed, that the Patriots have had? And a big part of that is you've only given up, I think, 10 touchdown passes during the season. I'm not sure if sometimes that's lost on you, when you're in the middle of a season. This defense doesn't seem to get the recognition of what some people note as a better defense in the league. But you guys have done a fantastic job in terms of keeping points off the board."
Belichick:  "I appreciate the compliment. Certainly, a lot of credit needs to go to Dean Pees and his defensive staff and the players. I was made aware of that this week, and it's something that, as a team, we can take pride in that accomplishment over a 16-game regular season schedule, so that's nice. Obviously, it doesn't mean anything going forward, but it certainly is something that we can be proud of as a regular season accomplishment."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
11-Dec-2006, WEEI
Why he agreed to be wired for sound for HBO's Inside the NFL: "Well you know, being mic'd, that's not really my thing. But when NFL Films approached me on this story, it was just going to be like a three generation story – my dad, who played with the Lions, and I coached there for two years, and then trying to relate it to the kids because we were playing the Lions. So it was kind of a three generation thing: a little bit of a perspective of what I learned from my dad, and then kind of the experiences that Stephen and Brian have had here doing different things – charting plays, being here in training camp and stuff like that. So that was kind of the pitch of it. I thought it was an interesting thing … three generations and trying to tie it into the Lions and all. I thought it was a good storyline so I agreed to do it."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
04-Dec-2006, WEEI
The most controversial call he's been a part of in the playoffs: "I'd have to say that, it wasn't the playoffs, but the controversial call that got us into the playoffs, which was what really prompted the whole instant replay rule, was the quarterback keep by Vinny [Testaverde] against Seattle where his was kind of tackled on the like one-and-a-half-yard line and then he sort of crawled forward … it was a fourth down play and they gave the touchdown. He was clearly down, but there was no replay. So once they awarded him a touchdown, that was it. And that put us into the playoffs…or knocked Seattle out, I should say. That was really the play that I think kind of pushed the league over the edge on the instant replay, because it was so clear that he didn't make it and it kept Seattle out of the playoffs. Had there been replay it would have changed the fortunes of…"
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
27-Nov-2006, WEEI
How many hours a week he spends and when does he start watching film of the next week's opponent: "I start watching film on the next week's opponent on Friday and Saturday of the prior week. So today's now Monday, I've probably already watched a good eight to ten hours of Detroit in the extra time on Friday and Saturday after we kind of finish up our preparations on Chicago. Now as it turned out, Chicago and Green Bay both played Detroit earlier in the season, so there is some carryover on those games, as well. When we were watching one team you kind of get a feel for the other team – who is matched up against who and that type of thing. And then from this week on, Monday and Tuesday are the big film days. We really try to watch a lot of game film; I'd say probably a good half of the day is on that. And then as you get further into the week you break it down into situations, like Wednesday all the runs, all the play action passes; Thursday all the third downs, all the red area; Friday all the goal line, two minute. Then each special teams segment: kickoff team one day, punt team the next day. So I'd say, depending on which day of the week and how well you know the team and how much extra work you feel like you need to do on them, probably four to five hours a day."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
20-Nov-2006, WEEI
DeOssie:  "Does going against a defense like the Bears present, is the tendency to get more conservative offensively, maybe try to slug it out? Or is it to maybe try to throw some wrinkles in there and show them something they haven't seen before?"
Belichick:  "I think that's an interesting question, Steve. I think that number one, you have to find a way to take care of the ball. I don't think you want to get in a situation where you're so exotic and so spread out and so trying to trick them that you end up letting them come in there and pound you. But at the same time I think you've got to give them something different to look at – just sitting in the same thing all day and think that these guys aren't going to be able to play it well, I think that's kind of wishful thinking, too. So, I think there has to be a little bit of a marriage between keeping them off-balance and changing up on them a little bit and doing the things that you do well and that you're sound on, so that you don't cut somebody loose and end up having that game-changing play."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
06-Nov-2006, WEEI
Getting over a loss: "You get to a certain point where you're done, you've mourned, you've had the funeral. It's time to bury it and move on and get on with the next game. That's the only choice. The good thing is that the last time we had five turnovers and lost in Denver, that was the end of the season. Well, we're not at that point today. So if we can learn from our mistakes and our performance yesterday as a team and move to higher ground and play better next week, then that's good. We didn't have that opportunity when we lost in Denver. That was it."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
09-Oct-2006, WEEI
Ordway:  "You're doing an interesting thing this week, you were just telling us, you're going to the Navy-Rutgers game back in Annapolis. I remember you telling us the story about your sports book collection with you and your dad going out seeking books. You were the cheap one, right?"
Belichick:  "My dad starting collecting them back in the '50s and '60s when he would go out scouting. [He'd] get into the school on Friday afternoon, so he'd just start hitting some old book stores and picking up old football books from the '20s, '30s, '40s. He had a tremendous collection. Then as I got older, I mean, I knew the books that he had and all, so I would occasionally go into a bookstore and if I saw one that he didn't have, I'd pick it up. But then you get in there and you see there are two or three pretty good books, even though he's got them they're still good books – they're old, the price is right – so before we knew it I was collecting them. We just decided to consolidate and put our collections together and give it to the Naval Academy. Other than the Library of Congress and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I think it will be the largest private football book collection in the world."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
18-Sep-2006, WEEI
When asked what his daily routine was: "In football, it's amazing how you're on a routine. What you do Monday morning at 7 a.m. and Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. and Friday morning at 7 a.m. are the preparation for that day, and it's different. So if I tell you what I'm doing at 7 a.m. on Thursday – working on third down, getting ready for the team meeting, getting ready for our individual meetings – then I know that's what I've got to do on Thursday. And Wednesday it's something else. Friday it's something else. And Saturday, and Tuesday. So we're very regimented because our preparation schedule is at a certain rate, and on certain days we work on certain things. So that's what I work on. But generally speaking, I work more in the morning, and then when I get tired at night I wrap it up. I can feel the diminishing returns set in, and go home, try to get a good night's sleep and get started in the morning. When you're the head coach, too, things come up from time to time within the day that you don't always plan on but you have to allot some time for – whether it be player- or coach-related, or league-related or whatever it is. So then sometimes you feel like, well I've got a couple hours to work on this, and then something happens and [chuckling] you don't. That time vanishes so you have to find some time to make it up. But the majority of my time is working on preparation for the meetings with the players, and practice. And then when we're meeting and practicing, then it's involved there. And afterwards it's kind of taking a look at what we did, and start to get ready for the next day."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
11-Sep-2006, WEEI
Ordway:  "There was news here this afternoon that you guys did trade Deion Branch out to Seattle for what you guys have described as an undisclosed draft choice. There are numerous media outlets that are claiming that it's a first-round draft pick, and you've already passed on that question earlier this afternoon, so I'll move to the next one, and that is, did you reach the point of no return with this deal, Bill? Because it did take a while. The guy was gone for the entire preseason and camp. Did it get to a point where you just didn't see any light at the end of the tunnel; this wasn't going to work out to the team's satisfaction? Or maybe it did work out to the team's satisfaction."
Belichick:  "I would just characterize it, Glenn, as it just didn't work out. I think that a lot of people tried hard to make it work, but in the end it just didn't seem like it was going to work. So we made the decision that we felt was in the best interest of the football team."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
05-Sep-2006, WEEI
Smerlas:  "Were you ever the Turk?"
Belichick:  "I was. My first year with the Colts, I was the Turk. Yeah, 'Billy Bad News.' I'll tell you, when they saw me coming, it was always bad news." …
Smerlas:  "Does it ever get easier for you to make cuts? At the end sometimes you find a guy's been with you for a long time, does it ever get emotionless?"
Belichick:  "No, no, I think it gets harder, because the longer the players are with you and the more established your relationship is, the harder it is to sometimes tell them that things aren't going to work out. Unfortunately, that's the bad part of the business. But that's part of it and you just have to accept it and move on. I think everybody understands how competitive the National Football League rosters are and everybody knows that everybody can't make it, as much as you'd like for it to happen."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
28-Aug-2006, WEEI
Sheppard:  "Reports out there that – I hate to talk about next season already – but next preseason reportedly you guys are playing Seattle in China."
Belichick:  "It'll certainly make training camp a lot different from what it's been like this year. Going to Seattle, and then going from Seattle to China, halfway across the world. So it'll be a different camp, that's for sure." …
Sheppard:  "The other thing is 'Rescue Me'. We saw Kiefer Sutherland win an Emmy last night for '24,' so I assume next year you will be nominated for an Emmy for that great line you had about loving lacrosse on Rescue Me."
Belichick:  "You think so? You think I can get a nomination?"
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  Preseason Patriots Monday interview on The Big Show
22-Aug-2006, WEEI
"The playoffs against Jacksonville and Denver – we'd been playing football for over five months at that point, and we were at a point as a team where we could do things that we're just not able to do now. There's no way to take five months of practice and preparation and meetings and games, and then take six months off and come back and start at that point. As much as you'd like to, it isn't realistic. So, we're just rebuilding it brick-by-brick, day-by-day, down after down, and I hope that in five months we'll be further ahead than we were last year at five months. I hope this year we're further along after four weeks than we were last year at four weeks. I think that's what we really have to try to do, is take it day-by-day. There's no way we can be where we were in December of last year, there's just too big a gap there. But we've got to just try to get better every day and put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward."
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  Post-Draft Interview on The Big Show
02-May-2006, WEEI
Ordway:  "You guys have had some good hits after that release on June 1st. But I'm wondering, since we had a substantial increase in the salary cap number this year, do you expect that that list will be shorter than normal?"
Belichick:  "It might be. Yeah, I think it might be. I think teams are under less cap pressure this year than they have been in some other years – I'm saying on a league-wide basis. I think that's possible. But again, I think in terms of managing your team and managing your cap, you still want to keep an eye on the whole salary structure. I think teams will still continue to do that even if they're under it because any savings that you have, if you can utilize it in some better way, then it's worth doing that. So I think there will still be some players that fall into that category that financially teams just won't want to carry them."
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  Patriots Monday: Coffee With the Coach
16-Jan-2006, WEEI
If this has been a trying season for him: "I think that it's been really good for me to coach the players that I've coached. I mean, this team is a hardworking, focused, dedicated, football-is-important-to-them team. The most trying seasons for me have been to work with players who just really don't put as much into it as I feel like they should or they're capable of. If the guy's out there giving you everything he's got, doing everything he can do to try to be the best player and to give you the best chance to win as a team that he can, I can't argue with that. That's all I'm looking for. What's disappointing is when players don't put forth that effort, and have another personal agenda, or just non-team type players. And that doesn't really exist on this team. So from that standpoint it's challenging every week. There are good teams and good players out there every single time we line up on Sunday, or Saturday, whenever it is. But the way the team worked and their effort and their attention to detail and their unselfishness – I love that about this team. And I have a lot of respect for every single one of them because they all put forth that effort."
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2005

  
  Joe Benigno Radio Show
30-Nov-2005, WFAN
Benigno:  "Has this been maybe your toughest year so far? I mean, obviously you had a tough time your first year, but that was your first year. Has this been the most difficult year for you as a coach with the Patriots?"
Belichick:  "You know, I don't really rank them, Joe. I enjoy what we do week-to-week in terms of the competition and playing in the National Football League, going up against other great teams and coaches and players. That's what I enjoy doing. Every week's a challenge. You don't play your best in this league you're not going to win too many games no matter what your talent level is. Just try to get that out of the team every week, and like I said, I've just got to do a better job of it."
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  Bill Belichick discusses Steve Belichick on The Big Show
28-Nov-2005, WEEI
"When he wrote [Football Scouting Methods] I was eight years old, so I wasn't really too much a part of that. But what he did, probably like any kid with their father, when he brought work home, I was interested in it. And then he would do things like, when he would give the scouting report to the team, I would be able to come and tag along with him and sit there while he gave the scouting report for the team that he had scouted to the Midshipmen – Bellino and Staubach and all those guys. So that was kind of cool to hang around. Then on Tuesday nights – the Midshipmen are on a pretty tight schedule, so I think they had an hour on Tuesday night and that's when they would come over and watch film – he would get the whole team in there. It was just him, and the team, and me. Then he would put the projector on and go through the team and point out things that they should be aware of, whether it was formations or splits or stance or whatever. And so as he did that I definitely started picking some things up."
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  The Drive with Michael Felger
20-Oct-2005, ESPN Radio Boston
On the self-scouting he will do during this bye week: "Kind of like the way the games have gone, is it breaks down into the three segments of the game – offense, defense, and special teams, and even beyond that and into the plays. There are a lot of good things and then there are a lot of things that just aren't consistent. I think you can pretty much find that in each game, a lot of times within each game – the first quarter of Atlanta to the second quarter of Atlanta, or the first half offensively of San Diego to the second half offensively, or the first half defensively in Denver to the second half defensively. There are things there that are okay – I'm not saying that they're perfect, I don't mean it that way – but there are things that are okay and then there are other things that are not anywhere near what they need to be. And again, a lot of times it's the same things. I think it's been frustrating for all of us – for the team and for the coaches and the staff – because you look at plays and you can find examples of them looking real good, and then you can find examples of the same thing looking not so good. So I think we've got to try to even those peaks and valleys out and just be a little bit more precise in our execution, and more consistent."
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  Post-Draft Interview on The Big Show
25-Apr-2005, WEEI
"In the end we want to make sure we get a good value for the pick. I think in any position other than quarterback – or one of the special positions like punter or kicker or something like that, where you can only have one guy playing at a time – having a couple players at one position, that are good, isn't really a bad thing. You're trying to get depth on your team, and if you can create that then that's a positive. We had, obviously, three number one picks on the defensive line. It's just trying to do what's best for your football team, and sometimes that's taking the best player even where there may be another position that you…if the player was at equal grade, if he was there you might take him. But in this situation where you get a guy that you like and you feel is good for your team and your program – even if you have some depth at that position – you might still go ahead and pick him."
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  Joe Benigno Radio Show
05-Jan-2005, WFAN
"It's a very competitive league, and you're going up against the best every week. And every other team that you play, their coaching staff, their players, they're working just as hard as you are. You just can't leave a stone unturned. You want to make sure that you've got your execution up to its highest level because that's where it needs to be. It's such a competitive league, especially now. We go to this time of year where one play can mean everything. It determines the whole course of your season. So it's important, and you just want to put everything you have into it and get it right."
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2004

  
  Bill Belichick discusses the Cleveland Browns
29-Nov-2004, WEEI
"[T]hey've been playing very well on defense. They came in here last year and held us to nine points. They're tough on defense, they pursue well, they're a very aggressive team, they hustle the ball, they're fundamentally pretty good. I don't really know how Cincinnati got that many points [on them yesterday]. But I've seen their recent games, and they did a good job against the Jets. That's a 10-7 game. They played well on defense. I went back and watched our game last year, and we had a lot of problems with them. We couldn't score, we kicked three field goals. But I mean it was tough. And offensively they go out there and put up 48 points against the Bengals. It's 48 more than we scored in Cincinnati."
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  Bill Belichick discusses the new book Patriot Reign
20-Sep-2004, WEEI
"The reason that Michael [Holley] had the access that he did was to give the fans a look at kind of how the organization runs a little bit, and some of the things behind the scenes. I mean, we can't let fifty people in to do that; it's just not feasible. So that was the intent it was done with."
full transcript		  
     
     


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