BB: How are you doing today? Just
kind of going through the game yesterday. I thought it was another one of
those, obviously, tough game with Miami like they always are, but a
game where we had a few opportunities with the turnovers that were created
defensively and even the one on special teams that gave us some field
position. We were able to capitalize on those opportunities offensively and
get some points out of them. They had one there later on in the game and we
were able to stop them. Just the whole turnovers, the field position, and
then our ability to capitalize on those opportunities really ended up
probably being the difference in the game. It was kind of a good thing the
way it came together. Obviously, there were a lot of things in the game we
could have done better. Miami is a good football team. They did a lot of
things well and that gave us some problems. There were some things we could
do better. As always, it was a dogfight with them. We were just fortunate to
get the turnovers, get the opportunities, and then be able to capitalize on
them when we had them down there and to the points on it. It's good to win.
I'm glad we're heading into the bye week with the record we have. It could
be a little bit better, certainly, but it could be in the other direction,
too. Our big focus is to just keep getting better. We have to keep
improving. We have another division game coming up here in two weeks against Buffalo. Obviously that was a hard game with them here the first
time. They had us for most of the game. We were able to just squeeze it out
there at the end. I hope we can just keep improving individually and as a
team, and be a better football team in the month of October than we were in
the month of September, and keep moving forward. That's kind of where we're
at. We made a couple of roster moves today, so that's where we are today.
Q: What potentially could [Jabar] Gaffney bring to the receiver group?
BB: I don't know. We'll take a look
at him. He's had some production in the league. We have a couple of weeks
here to work on it, so we'll see what happens.
Q: How about the two that got
released to make the room? [Johnathan] Sullivan, what was it
about him, just looking back on it, that didn't make it work?
BB: It just didn't work out. He's
been inactive every game. We have some other players that are ahead of him.
With Hank [Poteat], we signed a couple of people there, really
guys that played well on special teams. He's another guy that didn't really
play very much, so we're trying to get people that we think might be able to
contribute a little bit more. We're just trying to create as much
competition and depth for ourselves as possible. There will be some movement
and I'm sure it's a possibility like we've seen before, that guys who leave
the team could come back to it. We'll see what happens.
Q: You have Kelvin [Kight]
on the practice squad and Chad Jackson is here. I know there are guys
coming from that school have trouble when they come into the pros. Is there
any explanation to what is going on there?
BB: I really can't. It's just kind of
coincidental that the roster and the schools are lined up the way they are
at that position. Really there's nothing intentional or unintentional about
it. We're just trying evaluate players on their strengths and weaknesses and
what our opportunities are here. It just worked out that way. I don't think
it's anything more than a coincidence.
Q: Is Jabar a guy who has
spent most of his time in the NFL as a slot receiver?
BB: He's had plenty of work outside
too. I think he has the potential to play both. We'll work with him this
week and see how it is with our stuff. I think there are some similarities
in the system he was in at Houston with the coach down there. There
are some things that they did that I think carryover to what we do. We'll
see how that works as he gets into running our offense.
Q: Is there any hesitation to adding
another receiver to the ones you already have?
BB: Well, we really have four
receivers on the team. I think that's a little on the light side for us. I
just felt like there was another guy that we wanted to take a look at. We've
had some other guys in here. I think there are guys that have different
strengths and weaknesses. I don't think that some of the guys that we've had
at that position, that have been on the roster, I think they have some value
too, but like I said, we just have a little bit of extra time this week and
thought we might take a look at somebody else and see how that fits in.
Q: Does he have any special teams
experience?
BB: We'll evaluate that. I think it's
primarily offense.
Q: What did you think of [Charles] Rogers? You had him in as well.
BB: We just try to keep track of all
of the players in the league that we have an interest in and that can be on
what we call our street list or emergency list. We felt like Gaffney would be the best choice for us at this point.
Q: Is there an ideal time to have a
bye week during the season?
BB: We just have no control over
those things. Who we play, when we play them, when the bye weeks come, when
they don't come, when the game is Monday night, Saturday night, Thursday. We
have no control. So whenever it is, we just try to maximize our
opportunities, whatever they are. Long weeks. Short weeks. Everybody has the
same thing. In the end, we all play the same amount of games in the same
frame of time. Whatever the situation is, we try to make the most of it.
Sooner or later it all evens out. With every long week, there's a short
week. With every short week, there's a long week. Every team has a bye.
We've had them early, late. We just try to get better as a team during that
week. I think that's the most important thing. Figure out where you are at
that particular point in time and figure out how you can best utilize that
time to improve your football team. I think that's really what it comes down
to. We've had them after the second game. We've had them after the sixteenth
game. We've had them in between. I think you approach them all the same way
and do the best you can during that time.
Q: How persuasive was Richard
Seymour in getting the day off?
BB: It wasn't that big of a deal. I
meet with the captains every week. It was something that came up in the
meeting. It was suggested. It wasn't a bad idea. We talked about it. We
waited until after the game and made a decision on it.
Q: Heath Evans said after the
game one of the things that impresses him on this team is that the players
on this team have personalities that work well together. What would you
attribute that to?
BB: The players. As a coach, you
can't dictate chemistry. 'You're going to like this guy. You're going to
want to hang out with this guy. You're going to go this with that guy.' You
just can't do that. That happens on its own. We just try to bring players
onto the team that can help the football team on the field and off the field
have positive things that we feel like they can contribute to the team and
then how all of that blends together and how it works in smaller circles and
in the bigger team picture, it kind of has to run its own course. I'm not
saying it's unimportant. I'm aware of it and I try to keep an eye on it a
little bit, but I don't try to dictate it. 'Well, we want this guy because
he'll be friends with that guy or won't be.' I think you just kind have to
let that work itself out.
Q: Is it your experience that the
kind of players that are unselfish enough to buy into the team concept are
in general also the kind of people that sort of blend in with other people
because they're maybe a little bit more, courteous isn't the right word…
BB: Well, I know what you're saying.
I think there's a point to that. I think people who have some common
threads, those people tend to get along well together. Players that work
hard and are team oriented and football is important to them, they have a
tendency to blend with other players who work hard and football is important
to them and are team oriented. I think there's something to be said for
that. I'm with you all the way there.
Q: Do you need a certain mix of
personalities?
BB: Here's all I know – I don't want
them all like me. You don't want a team who are just a bunch of clones or
they all have to be a certain way. I want players to have their own
personality and their own individuality. I have no problem with that, I just
think it needs to fit within the team framework and that there are certain
criteria that have to be met for us to be successful as a team. That's for
the players to be in condition, players to work hard, football has to be
important to him and he has to put the team first. It's a team game. I think
that criteria needs to be met. Some guys are quiet. Some guys are more
outspoken. Some guys like one kind of music. Other guys like another kind of
music. Some guys come in early. Some guys stay late. Those are all different
styles there. That's not really that important to me. I don't think that you
want them all the same. I don't think they should be the same. None of us
are the same. I do think you have to have a certain framework that everybody
has to, for a team to be able to function, a large group of people to be
able to function efficiently, I think you do have to have a certain
structure. So that's what I try to provide.
Q: Have you noticed a progression of
improvement week-to-week with Rodney Harrison and his comfort level
on the field?
BB: It's gradual. Yes. I would say
yes, but I think it's been very small steps. I don't think it's dramatic
from play to play or game to game, but I do think that he's playing better
now than he played a month ago. Now I'd say that about practically every
player too because we've had however many more practices, however many more
meetings, games. Players improve during the course of the year. I do think
that he is doing things a little bit better now than he was doing them at
the beginning of September when he had only been on the field really for a
couple of weeks.
Q: When you guys get to third down
and maybe in the red zone, it seems that Tom [Brady] tends to
look more for Troy [Brown]. Is there any reason for that?
BB: You would have to ask Tom that question. I think that Tom would go to whichever player he felt like is
the best option for him on that play. Like for example on the touchdown. The
way the coverage developed, Troy really ended up being the guy who
was open. I think if it had been somebody else playing that spot, he
would've thrown it to him because that's who was open. There's very few
patterns where they're just designed to go to one guy. Very few. I think
it's dangerous for a quarterback to just lock in on one guy and say, 'Well,
I'm going to go to this guy,' unless he's got a favorable coverage situation
where he has a chance to get open.
Q: If you look at Troy's stats
from yesterday , he had most of his production on third downs and he had a
touchdown. Is there any explanation for that? Is he just in there on those
plays?
BB: Yes, he's definitely in there on
those plays. Like on the scramble situation, the first third down, when
you're the quarterback, you're moving around a little bit trying to find
somebody open and you scan the field and you see one guy come open, that's Troy getting open, which he did a nice job on that play. We were
really trying to throw him the ball out in the flat and he kind of adjusted
his route and scrambled a little bit and got open. I do think in scramble
situations, a lot of times a quarterback will go to one or two guys just
because he has confidence in them being able to get to an open spot in that
type of situation. But we don't have too many of those plays for the most
part. Most of the time we're kind of throwing the ball on time and we're not
scrambling around back there too much. There's always a few plays a game
though. I know Tom has a lot of confidence in Troy and he should.
Troy has made a lot of big plays for us and Troy has the ability to get open
and find open areas.
Q: How valuable have you found
self-scouting over a bye week to be the last couple of years?
BB: We do it every week. We don't
just do on the bye week. We do it on a weekly basis and kind of keep track
of our tendencies. You have a little bit more time to analyze it in the bye,
so I think that there is a little bit more attention paid to it. I don't
think it's that dramatic. I'm not saying it's insignificant. We do it every
week and we do a little more of it during the bye week. Put it that way.
Q: On a fourth down play, when you're
deciding whether or not to go for it, what's the dynamic there? Do you make
the call and then ask Josh [McDaniels] or someone for a play?
Do you quiz them about whether they have a play or not that's good in that
spot?
BB: That's a tough question because
each one is a little bit different. I think there are some times when you
know you're going to go for it on fourth down. Now, it all depends on what
the yardage is. Fourth-and-13, that's a little bit of a different story. I
think it depends on what the yardage is and you want to try to make that
decision on third down not fourth down, because that affects your third down
call. If you know you're going to go for it on fourth down, then sometimes
on third down, you'll take a play that will get you closer, maybe not
necessarily get you there, but it will get you closer. I think the distance
has something to do with it and then there are a million other factors – score, field position, field conditions, how
well you're playing on the other side of the ball and so forth. I wish I
could sit here and say, 'Well, A, B, C, this is how we look at it,' but
really each one is different. We've had games where we…well, like yesterday.
On one fourth-and-one, we went for it and another fourth-and-one, we kicked
a field goal on. To me, they were two different situations, but they were
kind of the same too. We talked about the end of the game situation
yesterday, the fourth-and-three, similar to the fourth-and-one at the Jets. Like I said, actually if I had that one to do over again, I would
have gone for it in New York. Each one is different.
Q: Do have plays that are just fourth
down plays?
BB: Definitely. Definitely. We have
plays that are…not saying we just have, 'Well, these are our three fourth
down plays,' but we have plays that we would call in a one down situation.
Let's put it that way. It could be third-and-three on your own 20. That
could be the same play as fourth-and-three at midfield. So, we definitely do
that. We talk about that before the game. Fourth-and-one. Fourth-and-two.
Fourth-and-three. It could fourth-and-goal on the five. That is probably a
different play than fourth-and-two out in the field. Philosophically, what
do you want to run for? What do you want to throw for? Maybe there's a
certain matchup where you would lean one way or the other. 'If we put this
group in and they put that group in, then we run. If they put a different
group in, we throw it.' It could go that way too. Yes, I think that's part
of the pregame strategy and the pregame meetings that we have. It's the same
thing defensively. What are our, what I would say, 'gotta have it.' If you
'gotta have it,' what are you going to do? We gotta stop them here, what are
we going to call? It's third-and-two, it's third-and-five, it's
third-and-10. Defensively, we 'gotta have it,' what are we going to call?
It's the same thing offensively. We 'gotta have it,' what are our plays in
that situation?
Q: The first fourth down play to Reche [Caldwell]. Did what happened on third down, where you ran
it and it kind of got stuffed there, did that steer you away from running it
again? What was the thinking there?
BB: That's what we had planned to do.
If I'm not mistaken, it was second-and-three. Anyway, we got to third down
and Josh and I talked about it at the time. Second-and-three, that is
when you could really see it come up. The hardest decision is it's
third-and-13 and you gain 12-and-a half. You're not really thinking
fourth-and-inches when it's third-and-13. In that situation, it was
third-and-short and we said, 'We'll run it here on third down,' and the play
we ran was a direct play right into the line of scrimmage to Heath. You
figure if you don't make it, it's going to be fourth-and-short. You're not
going to lose 3 yards on that play. The way Miami lined up was kind
of what we thought would happen. They had a lot of guys in there close
trying to prevent that same type of play again. We just felt like we'd be
able to get the ball on the perimeter. That was kind of a sequence that as a
coach, at least you can kind of see it coming. It's the ones you don't see
coming. Those are the ones that really test you as far as making the
decision, getting the right people in the game and all of that. They're a
lot easier to [mess] those up when they kind of come up out of nowhere.
Q: Your opponents expressed some
displeasure over the condition of the field, even some of your own players.
BB: It's terrible. Yes, it's
terrible.
Q: Is there anything that can be done
about that between now and your next home game?
BB: I don't know. The field is in
terrible condition. I don't think anybody in this organization is happy
about it or thinks it's in good condition. We'll see what we can do about
it. I can't tell you exactly what that is. That's the best I can do.
Q: Would playing on FieldTurf ever be
a consideration?
BB: I don't know. We'll see what the
options are and see what we can do. I don't know. It's October. It's not
like it's peak growing season here in New England. There's no question about
it. All that being said, Jon Bengston, who does our field, I think
does a tremendous job. He works hard. Our practice fields, we go out there
and practice on those fields twice a day in training camp. He's done a
tremendous job with them and they've held up great. We'll see what we can
do.
Q: Is it just a matter of having a
soccer team that plays here and the concerts that happen on that field too?
BB: I don't know. That's not really
my area of expertise, but I can look out there and see that the field is in
bad condition just like anybody that can see can see.
Q: Do you prefer a natural surface
than an artificial one?
BB: Well, if that's what we have.
Everybody in this organization would like to see that field in better
condition than what it's in. Everybody. We'll just leave it at that. I don't
want to speculate on whether to put weed killer on it or we're not going to
put weed killer on it. I don't know.
Q: Does it give you any advantage
because you're used to it?
BB: I don't know. I don't think so. I
don't think so. I think we play better on a better surface.
Q: Mike Wright looked like he
had a pretty decent game on special teams yesterday but he asserts that it
was possibly his worst game on special teams. Would you agree with that? Is
he being a little hard on himself?
BB: I think any time a player gets
penalized, that's not good. We all know that. He knows it. We know it. So
there's room for improvement. There's things he could do better. The play on
the punt was an alert play. He was rushing. He saw [Donnie] Jones fumble the ball and was able to get off of his guy and make the play. We had
some other guys on the field that could have been in a better position than
they were in and they weren't, but he made the play. So that was good. The
same thing on the field goal. He got his hands up. It was a low kick. That
was a combination of forces at work there. As we all know, you can't block a
field goal unless you get your hands up. We had other guys rushing on the
play that might have even had more penetration than him, but if you don't
lift your hands up, you're not going to block the kick. He did some of the
things that he should have done and a couple of plays were there to be made
and he made them. Then there were some other plays that could've been
better. A lot of times fans look out there and see one play and see a
blocked field goal, but there were a lot of other plays he was involved in
too, punt return, kickoff coverage, kickoff return. He was involved in a lot
of plays and I'm sure, like most of us, the ones that stand out are the ones
that didn't go well. When I think back as a coach on the game that was just
played, I think about the calls that I wish I had back, or the ones that
were really stupid calls at that particular point in time against what our
opponents did. Those are the ones that I remember. Somebody else might say,
'Well, gee, these two or three plays weren't really good,' and really you
don't even think about those. You just think about the ones that you screwed
up. I think that's the way that a lot of competitive players feel. A guy can
go out there and catch seven or eight passes and think about the one, not
even that he dropped, but he made a diving attempt at it and couldn't quite
reel it in. That will bother him more than the seven or eight he caught.
That's the way I would explain it.
Q: How much has Vince Wilfork become a force in the middle there?
BB: Vince does a good job.
I've said many times, it's probably one of the hardest positions to play on
this defense because there's so many things that happen in such a short
amount of time. The double-team blocks, all of the different combination
blocks, if he gets blocked by the center, both guards, the fullback, the
tight end, there's a lot of different things that can happen to a nose in
there. He's done a good job. Vince has worked hard. Early in the season last
year, he had a few difficulties reading certain schemes and techniques that
some of the more sophisticated centers and veteran centers were using. But
he really did a good job of understanding what was happening and how it was
happening and corrected the problems and now has really gotten to the point
where he's starting to recognize things almost before they happen. He can
kind of tell when the guards are tilted a little bit or when there is
another blocker that has the potential to come in and get him and create
some type of a gap in the defense and he plays those plays very well. He's
having a good year. He's doing a good job.
Q: Laurence Maroney's stats
seem to be a little inconsistent over the last three weeks. Has his effort
and preparation been consistent?
BB: I think Laurence has done
a good job. Actually, I thought he ran the ball pretty well yesterday.
Basically, what you want from the running back is to get the yards that the
play is blocked for and then whatever extra he can get on his own, that's
gravy. There were a couple of plays there where there wasn't much there.
Like we ran a trap there where there was really almost no hole at all and he
ended up just kind of squeezing through there for about four yards. You
watch the play and say, 'We're not going to gain anything on this play,' and
then they spot the ball and it's second-and-six. Those are good runs. That's
how we try to evaluate our back, is being able to get the yards that the
play is blocked for and getting the extra yardage on their own. What you
hate to do is leave yards out there on the field and run the ball and gain
two and say, 'Well, really if we had made the cut there where we should
have, we would've gotten six or seven.' To me, that's leaving yardage out on
the field. You don't want to do that. I think Laurence is getting better
each week. He's getting better each week and the way the defenses play, like Miami, they gave us a couple of different looks, a couple of tough
looks, their blitzes and the penetration. Then there were other times they
played flat down the line of scrimmage. That's something that a back has to
be aware of and he has to read those plays a little bit differently because
they're really not the same.
Q: Is it tough for a rookie running
back to adjust to the fact that he's not running for 125 yards every week
like maybe they did in college?
BB: In college they have good games
and bad games, too. You just have to learn to be a consistent player and
like I said, get the most out of what the play has to offer. Every play
can't be an 80-yard touchdown. That's high school. A really good back in
that level, college, is going to drop down a little bit, but you're still
going to have some success out running some people or running over some
smaller guys. In this league, there's not much of that. Just being able to
bounce out and outrun the whole team like the high school backs do, you
don't see much of that in this league. You have to get what the play is
blocked for and then find a way to get a few more yards on your own, whether
it's breaking a tackle, whether it's making a cut, whether it's spinning off
a guy or whatever it is. That's the way they should approach every run. I
think that's the way they do approach it.
Q: Did you get wind of your
quarterbacks' hi-jinx?
BB: How could you miss it? Tires
piled up in the locker room, it was hard to miss it. The car was up on
cinderblocks. It was an interesting week. It was nuclear war there. The way
it was escalating, I thought it was going to be a nuclear bomb. |
