Bill Belichick joined The Big Show with hosts Glenn Ordway, Fred
Smerlas, Steve DeOssie and Pete Sheppard during Patriots Monday on Boston's Sports Radio WEEI 850 AM.
GO: Back here on the Big Show, it is Patriots Monday,
we're down here at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Fred is here, Steve is here, Pete is
here, we're all here and it's time for the Coach to join us. Coffee
With The Coach, brought to you by Dunkin' Donuts. Stop by Dunkin' Donuts
today for a delicious coffee. America runs on Dunkin'.
[Crosstalk among the hosts]
GO: Congratulations, Bill.
BB: Thanks.
GO: Win number two on the season. I wonder, now that you've
had an opportunity to review that film, because the way the whole game
progressed where you get that big, huge lead, and then a couple of big plays get
them back into the game...
BB: Right.
GO: Do you feel better today looking at the film?
BB: I don't know if 'better' is the
word. I think there are things we need to work on and there are a lot of
things that we can do better – coaching, playing, just from top to bottom. We played
two games, it's good to be 2-0, but we have a lot of work to do and there are a
lot of things that we can improve on. We know we have a tough team coming in
this week in Denver and we'll have to be at our best. So that's our
goal, is to get our game up to its optimum level this week.
FS: On that play, the first touchdown
when they...who was it that smacked the receiver?
BB: Chad Scott.
FS: You thought he dislodged the
ball. Have you ever seen a guy not touch the ground after getting hit
like that?
BB: Yeah, well that was an unusual play.
He kind of landed on top of Eugene Wilson and just didn't touch the
ground. But he's a heck of an athlete. He and [Laveraneus] Coles both, those guys make a lot of outstanding plays. It was unusual but you
just have to keep playing to the whistle and get them down.
GO: Did you have any doubt about challenging that? Because
when you first see it happen you say to yourself there is absolutely no way
an elbow or a knee doesn't touch the ground. And then, obviously, after
you've seen it and television gets to slow it down, you see that it touched,
but it touched a body, another body. It didn't touch the ground.
BB: Right, and that's what I thought I
saw. I saw the elbow touch. I thought it touched the ground but it
touched our player. It was a good call by the officials. But that was around
the 40-, 45-yard line, and a touchdown, so I just felt like it was worth
challenging. Maybe something else hit that I didn't see. You just hope for
the best a little bit on that one.
FS: On the [Laveraneus] Coles play, which was...was that a crossing pattern, just run and cross...?
BB: Yeah, it was. They were in a slot
formation over on the left, and on the snap the receivers kind of criss-cross
released and the outside guy went inside, which was Coles, and the
inside guy went out to Ellis [Hobbs]. [Chad] Pennington got the ball off just as Rodney [Harrison] was
hitting him and we didn't quite have him covered for long enough, or get there
on time, however you want to look at it. And then, you know, Coles is a
great runner in the open field and he broke a few tackles. He's got a lot of
speed. He's a tough guy to bring down. We just couldn't get him.
SD: Was it just three or four defensive
breakdowns that caused those 17 points? Because it seemed like the first
half was a defensive domination, and a big part of the second half, too. Was
it just mental or was it physical breakdowns?
BB: I think a little bit of both,
Steve. I think we had plays where we missed tackles. We had guys kind of
right there, a couple times short of the first down, on third downs, so we
just weren't quite able to make the play. And also we had some adjustments
that we weren't quite on top of – maybe just a half a step late – and that
gave them a little bit of an edge. But really I thought there were four
plays in the game: obviously the two touchdown plays – long passes, that's 14
points; the strip-sack, that led to a field goal; and then we had a chance
to close the game out with a field goal and couldn't make that one. You
always say it's two or three plays in the game, but really those were big
plays, game-changing type plays, that the Jets made and we didn't.
Had we done a little better [chuckling] in a couple of those plays, might
not have been quite...
SD: Big difference.
BB: Yeah...
FS: The strip-sack came off the blitz
off [Tom] Brady's left corner.
BB: Yeah, we were in kind of a
sprint-out play to the right. We saw them in a blitz and we were trying to
get away from it and it just didn't time-out right. By the time we ran the
route, [Kerry] Rhodes got there and he just...
FS: Did Tom see the blitz?
BB: Yeah, he knew it was coming from the
back side. But it was just bad coaching, bad playing, it was just bad
everything on that play. It was not really very well designed on my part,
and it wasn't very well executed. It was just a mess.
FS: How do you punish yourself? Do you
take a lap around?
[Laughter and crosstalk]
BB: I watch the play. [Laughter]
GO: Bill, you tell us that a lot of changes that you make week-to-week are depending on who you play
– the opponent.
BB: Right.
GO: You were in a 4-3 an awful lot yesterday. How much of that
was that was the best defense to set yourself up in a base against the Jets, versus the fact that your personnel seems to be very, very strong
right now in down linemen; and that maybe we'll see a little bit more
of this during the course of the season because you have a lot of guys that
can play in that position?
BB: I think we have a number of
players that we have a lot of confidence in out there on the field, be they
linebackers, defensive linemen or defensive backs. We have a lot of guys
contributing and we use them in different packages. We just felt like that was
the best way to play the Jets, for a number of reasons – personnel
matchups, what they do, their scheme – and we were comfortable playing it. We
played it in the preseason. We just thought it was a good matchup for us in
that game and we used it exclusively. Really, we didn't have a lot of defense
in the gameplan, and I thought we were able to execute it obviously better
early in the game than later on. We did try to blitz a couple times and
those didn't work out well. We probably called two and that was two too
many.
PS: Do you think it surprised Eric
Mangini how you came out in the 4-3, knowing how well he knows how you
would coach against his team?
BB: Oh I don't know, Pete. You'd have to
ask him that – what they worked on and all that. Certainly we've shown it. We
showed it this year in preseason. We played a lot of it in a couple
preseason games, so I know they knew we had it. How much they worked on it,
I don't know. But we felt like it gave us a good balanced pass rush against
their passing attack, and we were able to do a pretty competitive job in the
running game. So like I said, we just thought that was the best...
PS: [Interrupting] You always talk about
[Richard] Seymour, [Vince] Wilfork and Ty
Warren. But, I mean, Jarvis Green over the years – every time he's
put in a position to make big plays, he comes up big.
BB: He is, he's a good player. I'm glad we have him. He gives us, like you said, a lot of quality plays
when he's in there, Pete. It doesn't really matter whether he's inside or
outside, he has the versatility to play both. He's played on both sides, and
he can rush the passer, he can two-gap and play the run. He's just a really
good, solid football player.
FS: And you have [Mike] Wright in there, who's more of a...he's what, 6'5", about 280 or 290, and he
penetrates real well.
BB: He's all of 290, Fred.
FS: Yeah. I mean he's a big...
BB: Yeah. He's strong and he's physical...
FS: Solid kid.
BB: He's tough. He is.
FS: And he moves well. I mean, he
engages, he gets off the ball extremely well.
BB: Yeah, he does. And of course he's
been able to contribute for us in the kicking game, too. You see him
covering kickoffs and he's on the punt return team, kickoff return. I mean,
it's not unusual, but you don't see a lot of defensive linemen
involved in a lot of plays on special teams, and Mike gives us good
production there, too. He runs well, he's a good athlete, he's tough, he's
strong. Mike's had a great offseason program, a great spring and a
great training camp. He's jumped and improved a lot since last year, and
it's showing out on the field. That's why when he's on the field, he's
battling for playing time.
FS: Offensive line seemed to pick up
most of the stuff pretty well as far as blocking...
BB: Yeah, we had two or three problems.
You know, they blitzed everybody a decent number of times – I don't know, 15,
16, whatever it was – and we had a couple problems with them. But there were
other times we picked them up, we got some plays on it. And then they also
came up and made it look like they were going to blitz and backed out of it.
But that's what they do. That really isn't anything that surprising, it's
just the way they play. They give you pressure and then they show it and
don't give it to you.
SD: You've got at least four rookies
poised to play major roles on this team. How would you rate their play over
the first couple games?
BB: Getting better. Getting better. It
was good to have [Chad] Jackson back out there and [Laurence] Maroney's done a solid job for us. [Ryan] O'Callaghan's
got a lot of playing time at right tackle, [Willie] Andrews has played in
the kicking game and given us some good production there. [David] Thomas has gotten some snaps in there at tight end and special teams. So
those kids have all played. They're getting better. They can do better. They have a long way to go, but they're starting to contribute a
little bit for
us. I think they can help us at times.
FS: How does O'Callaghan fit in
with the rest of those offensive...a little wacky, offensive linemen. It's a
different breed of people. Especially, you've got [Dan] Koppen in there who is a strange kid. [Laughter] ([Steve] Neal...)
BB: Go ahead and say it, he's from BC.
[Laughter and crosstalk]
FS: They're a unique group of guys.
Do they all seem to get along?
BB: They do. They do. It's a good group...
[Crosstalk] They get along well together. Dante [Scarnecchia]
does a great job with them. There's a lot of camaraderie there ... They get on
each other – but in a good way, needle each other and that type of thing – but
they also work well together and communicate pretty well up there. It's
really...those guys are like a glove. It's a hand, it's five
fingers, five guys. They need to move together and be coordinated and get
the right people there. All five are responsible for not necessarily
one-on-one, but sometimes it's just in combinations – two linemen have two of
their guys, or three have three, or four have four, and sometimes you've got
to sort it all out and just pick it up, and that's where that...it's not just
verbal communication, it's just being able to see the same thing and
react properly.
FS: Offenses are usually behind defenses
early on in the season, because you can send a lot of blitzes and
you've got to do pickups and things of that nature and timing with
receivers. Do you think
this is a better time to blitz the Patriots, that's why you're getting so
much of it early? You know, with the receivers being new to the game, because
you have two
guys just came in, the coordination of
everything takes a little bit more time to develop.
BB: I don't know, I think that a lot of teams in this league,
Fred, they have their style of play. Some teams like to blitz and and they're going to blitz. Arizona was a team that fell into that category, Washington's
a team that fell into that category – they blitz
early in the season, late in the season, [chuckling] in postseason, in the
middle of the season, doesn't matter.
They blitz in pregame warmup. That's what they do. And then there are
other teams that play it a little bit differently. So I don't think
we've gotten any
higher percentages or anything that's extraordinary. Basically, the Jets, although they had some different looks, they did the same thing against Tennessee last week. And I'm sure that they'll do the same thing
against Buffalo and whoever they play coming up. That's kind of their style
– they
like to pressure and you're going to get some of that.
GO: Field goal, the blocked field goal – what happened there?
BB: Just a poorly executed play all the way around.
It was a combination of things.
GO: Was the kick high enough?
BB: I think it was, yeah. We would have
made the kick. We gave up too much penetration. It was a combination of things going back a couple weeks.
Just bad coaching, bad playing, bad everything. I mean, you have to be
able to make those kicks. Last week we had problems in the same relative
area. You try to fix one gap and they come in another gap. We just have
to do a better job protecting the spot.
GO: Did you think at all about taking that penalty and
not calling the timeout? Taking the extra five yards, would that have given
him a different angle? I mean, does that play into your decision when you're
down that close?
BB: Taking what penalty?
FS: Delay of game.
GO: Delay of game.
BB: We took it.
GO: Oh...did...I didn't think you took
the delay of game.
You did take the delay of game?
BB: Yes. Well it was fourth-and-one, and
we thought about going for it, which...
GO: I thought you called a timeout at
that point.
BB: We called a timeout before the fourth-and-one and then we put the goal line...
[Crosstalk]
GO: Oh, that's right.
BB: We put our big guys in and made it
look like we were going to go for it on fourth-and-one...
Everybody: That's right. Yeah.
BB: Which we thought about...
GO: Good call, by the way, Coach. Taking
that delay of game.
[Laughter and crosstalk among the hosts]
BB: So then when they didn't jump offside
we couldn't take another timeout because we had just used one, and we can't take it on consecutive plays.
And they backed us up five and we kicked it from the 11. Well the ball
was on the 11, it was a 28-yarder.
GO: Right.
FS: Steve thought you were going to
direct-snap
it to the halfback when [Tom] Brady was walking away.
[Laughter and crosstalk]
SD: Is Corey Dillon going to be available this week?
[Long pause, then laughter and crosstalk]
PS: The answer to that is the injury report comes out Wednesday.
BB: Thank you, Pete. Thank you.
[Laughter and crosstalk]
GO: Yeah but, hold on, then they have
another one on Thursday. And then he has another one on Friday.
BB: They're day-to-day, Glenn.
[Laughter and crosstalk]
PS: In the limited time we saw Doug Gabriel, what did you
think of how he ran his routes and everything, first game?
BB: I thought he and Chad [Jackson]
both got out there and at least they got started. It was good to see them on the field.
They looked better in practice this week than they did last week. We got
them a little opportunity to play in the game and hopefully they will play
better, our timing will be better and all that next week than it will
this week, and so forth. Doug's been in camp, this is Chad's, really,
first game action of the entire season. It was almost like his first preseason
game, even though this isn't preseason for us, but it kind of is for him. I hope that they'll both continue to improve
and not only do a better job of executing their assignments but also
get the timing down with the rest of the passing game with Tom [Brady] and all
that. But I think Doug will be able to contribute for us, and I think
Chad will, too. It's good to see them both out there. I think we're close to getting
everybody back out on the field, the guys that missed a little bit of
time, it'll be good to see them all back. It was good to have Tedy [Bruschi] back,
and the two receivers.
GO: Not to make excuses for him, but
could that be part of what Brady's gone through for the first
couple of weeks? Again, trying to become familiar with these guys – I know he said this morning that
he could have thrown the ball a lot deeper to Gabriel, and under-threw him.
Is there a matter of he's got to figure out what Gabriel's speed's like,
how he can separate from defenders out there, that it just takes a while to
figure that out?
BB: I think there's always an element of timing,
but that's football. It's not like we've never had a receiver injured around
here; that's happened before. Guys go in and out. We've had players hurt on
the offensive line and the secondary and
at linebacker and everywhere else. So that's just part of it. There's always
going to be a little bit of transition; that's why we have to work on it
every week. Sometimes the plays change a little bit from week to week based on what the other team
is doing. We just need to work on the passing game. You know, we made some plays, we
got some big throws down the field, we converted a lot of third downs,
but there's a lot of room for improvement. We could still do better, so
we'll just keep working on it this week. That includes everybody – it
includes the coaching, the playing, the passing, the catching, the
protection, the
distribution of the routes, just the whole works.
FS: The young kicker from Buffalo [sic]
[Stephen Gostkowski] kicked the ball deep into the end zone.
[Laughter and crosstalk] His leg seems to be extremely strong. I mean, he
kicked the ball...
BB: Yeah, he's got a good leg. I don't
think there's any doubt about that. He's got a good leg.
FS: How many times did they not come out of the end zone? Two? Two or three times?
BB: Uh, was it two?
FS: Two times? I mean that's...he has a real strong
leg.
BB: I think all but one were in the end
zone. Maybe it was just one touch-back, but then there were two other ones that
were in the end zone that they brought back out.
FS: What's his range, would you say, in a game?
BB: I think it depends on the
conditions – the wind and the surface and all that. You know, kicking off at
Gillette, off this
field it's a little bit shorter...
FS: It'll be better this week with all
the concerts and the Revolution.
PS: I was going to say, are you
concerned? I mean, the Rolling Stone concert is Wednesday night and the Revolution are playing Saturday night before your game ... Are you
concerned about that at all? I don't know what the weather's supposed to be
like.
[Crosstalk]
PS: But does that come into play at all?
BB: Well, there's nothing we can do
about it so we'll just have to take a look at what it is at game time. Maybe
that will effect something, maybe it won't. I don't know.
FS: So, perfect game conditions, he's 50-plus, easily.
BB: Oh yeah. Well, what did he hit in
the Giant game?
SD: 54 [yards].
BB: So yeah, I don't think that's a
problem.
GO: So they're not going to re-seed this
week, huh?
[Laughter]
FS: How is that turf with the Jets? They
have that grass thing with the rubber things in it.
[Laughter and crosstalk]
BB: Right.
SD: Field turf.
[Lots of crosstalk]
BB: But that's what we have in the
bubble here.
FS: All those black little beads fly up
every time. How is that with footing? Do guys ever complain about it?
BB: Ideally it can be good. Sometimes,
though, those little molecule pebbles or whatever they are – those little rubber pebbles
– there
are so many of them, they're so fine, that if they kind of get higher in one place and lower in
the other then the footing and the surface isn't exactly even. You
know, if they get too high then you really don't have much traction and you slip.
And if they get too low then it kind of grabs a little bit. But it's fine.
It's probably about as good as you're going to get on that surface. They try to
roll it and even it out, but it is what it is. It's not perfect, just like
neither is the grass.
SD: Were you surprised that Buffalo was able to go down to Miami and win in September down there?
BB: It's a big win for
them down there. I didn't really see the game, just heard the score. I guess
they got ahead early and kind of stayed ahead until Miami scored there at the end, but that's a big win for Buffalo. You know,
I was impressed with Buffalo last week; I think they're a
good football team. They're very good on special teams, they're good on defense,
they have a good secondary, they can rush the passer, they've got a couple big-play receivers and
they've got a good running back. So, they've got a lot of weapons; they've
got a lot of people that can make plays. They're a pretty talented group.
PS: Well, you guys are 2-0 in the
division. Now huge in Buffalo upsetting Miami. I think it's
huge because all the NFL expert frauds have picked the Dolphins to go
to the Super Bowl. But, I mean, 2-0 to start with four games left in
the division, that's outstanding at this point,
after Week 2.
BB: Well you love to be 2-0 after Week
2, that's right, but I think that we've all seen teams get off to
a fast start and it doesn't really mean much. What we've got to
do...you know, we've got a
tough game here with the Broncos. We know that. They beat us
twice last year and really, on the scoreboard, pretty convincingly in
both games. So we just have to do a better job of playing against a team that
we had a little trouble matching up with last year. So this will be
a big challenge for us this week. Denver will be ready to go. They'll
come in here with a lot of confidence. We need to play our best game.
GO: Why do you think you've struggled
against them? Where are the matchups out there that cause you the biggest problem?
BB: Well, they just have a good football
team all the way around. They're good in every phase of the game – they can
run it, they can throw it, they can rush the passer, they can cover them, play good run defense...they're
good on special teams, they have good specialists...so they're a good football team.
I mean, [chuckling] they won a lot of games last year; it wasn't just us.
FS: Well don't forget, in that game you
dominated the play of the game...
SD: Here we go.
FS: But there were calls in the
game, you know penalties, interception, [chuckling] bad calls by the refs...
BB: Well, I mean there's nothing we can do
about those. We just have to...
FS: [Interrupting] The physical
play was...they didn't dominate...
SD: Bill, can I handle this one? It is what it is.
FS: But they didn't dominate the
physical play!
[Laughter and crosstalk]
PS: But early on in that playoff game
last year, you did do what you want...I mean it looked like you did what you
wanted to do. You stopped the run pretty well, [Jake] Plummer was
off his game a little bit early on. You had control of that game until the
turnovers.
BB: Well, the first half of that game was basically more
of a defensive game; there wasn't a lot of scoring on either side.
And then in
the third quarter they were able to put a
few points on the board one way or another, and we turned the ball over – that didn't help. We gave up a couple long plays, for different reasons,
but anyway, we gave them up. We had bad field position – we had the
ball, what,
four times inside our 10-yard line, or inside our 11, whatever it was. So
you're 90 yards away from the goal line against that
defense...it's hard to score a lot of points.
PS: How much of that gameplan from that
playoff game can you implement into this week?
BB: Well, we'll certainly take a look at
it. I think that Denver's made some adjustments in what they're
doing [and] so have we. And there's some new personnel, new faces on the field,
so we'll see how all that plays in. But I'm sure a lot of the elements of
the game will be similar, but Denver does a great job of game
planning. They change things up from week to week. Even though a lot of it's
their basic stuff, they give you different looks and they make it hard to
defend those plays. We try to do a little bit of that ourselves – you know,
try to change things up a little bit from week to week and still stay within
the framework of our scheme. So we'll just see how those things match up.
But I think the big thing we have to do is just play a good, solid football
game – tackle well, do a good job in the running game, not turn the ball
over, control the ball offensively, get some first downs, and then play good in
the kicking game. We need to do those to have a chance against Denver.
GO: It doesn't look like Plummer is operating with the bootleg like he was successful doing last year. Is that by design? Are
they becoming more conservative in their offense, or are teams doing a
better job of containing him?
BB: No, I don't think they're becoming
more conservative at all. I mean, they're going to run bootlegs. They ran
them against St. Louis, they ran them against Pittsburgh last year after our
games, so they run bootlegs. They run a possession passing game, short
routes, trying to get the ball to their receivers – Rod Smith and Javon Walker and their tight ends underneath. And then they'll toss
it down the field, too. So I think they have a good, well-balanced attack.
They can run it, they can throw it short, they can throw it
long, the quarterback's mobile. And [Mike] Shanahan's a good coach.
He
gives you a lot of difficult formations and things that challenge your
scheme on defense, no matter what you play, because he understands how
to attack defenses. So
they're solid all the way through. They're a good offensive football team.
GO: I'll tell you where they've been
great so far, though: red zone defense. Opponents are 0 for 7 in the
red zone against them in the first two games. So they've been a killer down
there.
BB: Alright, well that covers up a lot
of [inaudible]. If you can keep them out of the end zone then that's a
good way to keep the points down. And of course if you don't give up big plays, then
you're always making them go through the end zone. That's what hurt
us yesterday. We had one stop in the red zone, but the other two times they went right
through it, or over it, however you want to look at it.
FS: Denver runs more of an upfield
defense. They penetrate and play one-gap a lot in their defense.
BB: They do, and they pressure a
lot. Yes, they do. They're more of a one-gap, penetrating defense and they
like to bring the blitz. [John] Lynch is one of the big
secondary blitzers for them, and their linebackers are fast. [Al] Wilson and [Ian] Gold and those guys can run well and
they like to put them all over on one side and overload-blitz you and
things like that. And they've got good corners. Obviously [Champ] Bailey, they feel comfortable with him out there on anybody. It's a
good defensive football team.
FS: They did pass the ball a lot the
past couple weeks, they just hadn't connected. They missed it by a hand or
a couple inches, just like a lot of the Patriot...you know, Brady last week with
[Ben] Watson wide open at corner – he missed that by what, six
inches [inaudible] throwing over the back?
BB: Yeah, Rhodes just got his fingers on it.
Yeah, that was close. That was close.
GO: Alright, it's time for the Eastern Mass. Volkswagen Dealers' Coach's Question of The Week...
[Laughter and crosstalk]
GO: Craig of Tolland, Connecticut wants
to know, 'Coach, what is your daily routine? When do you arrive at the
stadium, are there certain things you do each morning upon getting there,
and when do you leave?' Like, when do you brush your teeth? Tell us the
truth.
[Laughter]
BB: Right after I shave.
[Laughter]
BB: 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.
FS: Do you have an air-mattress in your
office...
BB: No, I don't.
[Laughter and crosstalk among the hosts]
GO: There's your Eastern Mass. Volkswagen Dealers' Coach's Question of The Week.
Craig's now registered to win a trip for two to the
pro football championship in Miami. Stop by your local Eastern Mass.
Volkswagen dealer or logon to WEEI.com,
submit a question for the coach and register for a trip to the big game.
Congratulations on the win, Coach. Sunday night football here at Gillette.
We'll see you back here on Monday.
[Thank-yous and good-byes]
Download the full audio in one MP3 file |
