Joe Benigno: The head coach of the New
England Patriots, Bill Belichick. Coach, how you doing?
Bill Belichick: Oh, OK Joe. How about you?
Benigno: I'm doing well.
Belichick: Good.
Benigno: First of all...
Belichick: Belated Happy Thanksgiving.
Benigno: And same to you.
Belichick: Did you have a good holiday?
Benigno: I had a great holiday. I loved
watching all the football. I got a real kick out of watching Ron Dayne run
down the sideline against the Cowboys...
Belichick: [Laughter]
Benigno: ...and your old buddy Parcells there, I
have to tell you. By the way Coach, my condolences on the loss of your
father. I didn't get an opportunity to talk to you.
Belichick: Well, thank you. He
had 86 great years, and we're all thankful for that. He did what he loved to
do. Something we all want.
Benigno: Coach, how about your team?
Let's talk about them right now. You just had a real tough weekend in Kansas
City, you got beat up pretty good there. But you are 6-5 right now, you've
got a two-game lead in what's turned out to be—I don't know if you're
surprised—but what's turned out to be a weak AFC East. We know about all
your injuries, especially in the secondary, but how about the state of your
team right now?
Belichick: We've just got to find a way to play
better than we played in Kansas City. It was kind of the same thing that
happened to us when we went out to Denver earlier in the year—fell behind
26-3, 28-3, whatever it was. It's just not any way to play a good team like
that, especially on the road. So we've got to get back to work, we've got to
do a better job of playing and coaching and just performing better than we
did last week.
Benigno: How about the state of your division,
Coach? Are you surprised the way it's played out? Obviously the Jets have
had all these injuries, but Miami was a young team anyway with a new head
coach, but I'm a little surprised with Buffalo, I guess the Losman thing
hasn't really worked out. But are you surprised how bad the division's been?
Belichick: The way I see it is, we've played two
games in the division so far. We played a very competitive game against
Miami, which basically came down to the last play.
Benigno: Right.
Belichick: And then we played a very
competitive game against Buffalo.
Benigno: Buffalo. Right.
Belichick: We had a real tough game against New
Orleans two weeks ago, and the Jets had one with them last week. So it's
unusual to be going into December and have had only, for us, two division
games. We've got four of the last five in the division. I'm sure they'll all be tough like they always are. That's really what we're looking
at. I don't really care too much about what happened in the past, but we've
got this week and Herm's done a great job every week of having his team
ready to play, and they play hard. They're tough on defense, and I thought
offensively they really had a lot of spark, executed well, didn't turn the
ball over against New Orleans, and came within a couple inches of beating
them. And the week before we beat them by a couple inches.
Benigno: Right.
Belichick: They were throwing into the end zone
on the last play against us. So I'm sure it'll be a dogfight like it always
is in this division.
Benigno: How about the Colts, Coach? We're
talking to the head coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick. How about the
Colts—they beat you up pretty good in that Monday night game up in
Foxboro, finally got you there. Can they, in your mind, go undefeated?
Belichick: Oh, I don't know. You know, we're
done with them, we're on to the Jets. The only team I really care about
now is the Jets. Whatever happens out there, we don't have any control over.
I don't know, catch up with them later if necessary.
Benigno: Do you kind of relish a little bit?
Because you guys are, obviously, three times in four years you win the Super
Bowl, now you're almost kind of, you know, you're 6-5, you
still lead the division, but now you're kind of almost in a little bit of an
underdog role now, Coach. Do you like that, being in that state
right now?
Belichick: You know, I don't think it's that
important to us what the perception is outside, whether we're a favorite or
not a favorite or even or whatever it is. What we try to do is focus on
our job, the task at hand, and do the best job we can preparing for the team
that we're going to play...
Benigno: Mmm-hmm.
Belichick: ...and get ready to play them.
And what everybody else thinks or says we can't control anyway, so we don't
really try to worry too much about it.
Benigno: How about your running game? I
guess we're not going to see Corey Dillon this week, are we?
Belichick: Well, he's day-to-day. So
we'll evaluate him and issue the injury report later on today. But whoever's
in there, we need to do a better job running the ball than we have, that's
and emphasis for us. It has been, and we need to continue to work on
that and balance it off with our passing game and protect the quarterback
and not turn the ball over and all those things. So, that's certainly plenty
of work for us to do there offensively, and defensively we've got plenty of
work to do there, too. If we can't play better than we played against Kansas
City against the Jets, then we'll be looking at the same result.
Benigno: Right. Right. And how about
your secondary right now, Coach? I mean it's been so banged up. Every time I
turn around I'm seeing a new guy. Artrell Hawkins, I mean guys ... who's
this other kid you got there? Who's the kid that's got like the Polamalu
hair? I can't even think of his name.
Belichick: Michael Stone?
Benigno: Stone! Right. I mean every time
I turn around there's a new guy in the secondary. It's unbelievable.
Belichick: Right, well every team in the
NFL has got some situation they're managing. I have confidence in our
players, I've got confidence in the guys that we put out there. I just think
we've got to do a better job of coaching them, and they've got to do a
better job of playing. And I think we're capable of performing better than
we have, and that's what we need to do.
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.
Benigno: How about Bruschi returning,
did that really surprise you, Coach? Did you think you'd see Bruschi this
year?
Belichick: It was a gradual thing. I
think that Tedy got better day-by-day, and there finally became a point
where he felt better than he had felt in the past. It wasn't certainly
anything that we even thought about or anticipated back in February, but
after a few months, and the progress that he made, and I think what he saw as a possibility, then that became something that maybe, if things so
right. And fortunately they did. So it's good to have him back.
Benigno: Has it been a tough transition
for you, Coach, losing Romeo and losing Charlie? Has that been difficult
this year?
Belichick: Well, that happened a long
time ago. I mean you're talking almost twelve months ago when Charlie even
was named at Notre Dame. So a lot of water's flowed...
Benigno: Right. Right.
Belichick: ...under that bridge. It's
something that we dealt with a long time ago. Right now the big thing for us
is all the people that are here have been in place for a while, and we've
worked together all year. We've just got to find a way to perform better
starting this Sunday.
Benigno: Alright, before I let you go
... again, I'm talking to Bill Belichick. Do you feel that this team can
make a legitimate run to the Super Bowl when all is said and done again?
Belichick: Well I think that's a long
way off right now. I think from my standpoint what we need to do is
get ready to play our best game of the year against the Jets. That's where
we're at right now.
Benigno: Right.
Belichick: I have no idea what's
going to happen after that, and I don't really care. I mean right now we've
just got to find a way to prepare for the Jets and see if we can find a way
to move the ball and stop Curtis and stop Bollinger and the receivers and
Jolley and everybody else. That's the task at hand for us right now.
Benigno: Coach, always a pleasure.
Again, if I don't talk to you, happy holidays. Again, my condolences on
losing your father. And it's always a pleasure, Coach.
Belichick: Okay, Joe, thanks. Good
talking to you.
Benigno: You be well. The head coach, of
course, of the world champion New England Patriots, Bill Belichick. |
