Pete Sheppard: Let's check in now with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Coffee With the Coach is brought to you by Dunkin' Donuts. America runs on Dunkin'. Alright, Bill, I can't take it!
Fred Smerlas: Hi Coach.
PS: I mean, that was…I'm emotionally drained! I can't even imagine how you feel. But what a hell of a win tonight. What a gutsy win. You had to claw and scratch and scrape all the way to the end.
Bill Belichick: Well, it was all that. It was a heck of a football game. The Ravens are a veteran team that knows [inaudible] 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.
FS: Did you say anything to the refs? Because it looked like the whole game, early on, they were holding receivers and jamming and grabbing them, and then finally down the stretch they started calling that. Did you notice or see that they were doing that during the game?
BB: They played a lot of tight man-to-man coverage. I thought the officials…you know, it was a very emotional game. It started right off the bat with a little bit of competitiveness – things going on right at the whistle at the end of the play and that kind of thing. I thought that [referee] Walt [Anderson] and his crew did a good job of trying to keep things under control, but I'm sure those are the kind of plays [that] are tough to call. We got some of them, we didn't get some of them. I don't know, I'd have to really take a close look at the film. But they played us a lot of tight man-to-man coverage, so we were dealing with trying to get away from it.
Steve DeOssie: You've participated in and probably seen a lot of very crazy games, but that last drive for the touchdown was about as wild finish as you could possibly get. Can you recall anything with that kind of back-and-forth?
PS: I was thinking of the Houston game in '03.
BB: Yeah, it was like probably about the Houston game times three.
PS: [Laughter]
BB: There were a lot of plays there that, the game just kind of hinged on one play, and we were able to make most of them. We got a break there on a couple of, you know, the timeout and whatever. No question, we false started on the fourth down play. That was a penalty all the way; the play never got started. We made some mistakes there in critical situations but were able to, one way or another, either withstand them or get out of them. And then we made some key plays in those situations, too. But it was certainly a game that you can look back on and say, well, a play here or a play there. It was just that kind of game.
SD: You've also got a team that's been through a lot of wild situations, too. What was the mood like in the locker room afterwards?
BB: Uh, we're a tired team right now. We're a tired team. We've played three consecutive night games and three of our last four games we've come from [inaudible] in the fourth quarter to win. I think that we need to try to find a way to get some energy back. It's just hard playing night games, hard playing them on the road, but that's the way it is. We just have to battle back and get ready to go this week against Pittsburgh. We all know what kind of football team they have, how tough and physical they are. They're a team that plays extremely well every week. We have our work cut out for us again this week. We'll just have to suck it up and just keep moving. Try to keep putting one foot in front of the other and have a good day on Wednesday and follow it up with a good week of practice.
FS: Coach, you talked two weeks in a row about a humongous offensive line. This offensive line was huge. The D-line looked tired; guys were catching a little bit. And they were moving on you but when it came not [inaudible] time, the defense rose up and shut them down. Were you surprised at all that they didn't try to go play-action pass on one of those two last series?
BB: Well, you know, they did run the play-action there on third down, on third-and-one…
FS: Yeah.
BB: We tackled them out in the flat and that's when we took the timeout to try to save a few seconds there. So that gave us a little bit of extra time on that left side. But the conditions throwing into the wind after they threw the interception, I thought they might be a little bit less inclined to put the ball up unless they really had to. And obviously their defense was playing pretty well. So I think [inaudible] percentage play was to run the clock, make us use our timeouts and try to make us beat them against their defense. And in the end it was, I mean, it came pretty close.
FS: Like you said, you have two weeks in a row with a giant offensive line, and playing night games, that wears teams down. The legs looked a little weary.
BB: A lot of those yards came over there on that left side behind [Jonathan] Ogden, our right side, who's obviously one of the best tackles in the league. Probably one of the best tackles that ever played the game. So they did a good job running behind him – [Willis] McGahee ran hard like he always does, and they were able to gain more yards on the ground certainly than what we would like to be giving up. So I think we have to do a better job of coaching it and playing it and get them into some longer yardage situations. They ran the ball on a couple drives where just about the whole drive was running plays, and some double-digit runs, and that's just not the way our run defense has played most of the year. So you have to give Baltimore credit, but at the same time we just have to work harder and do a better job than that.
SD: You had two very high intensity, very emotional games. Often times that can be draining on a team. How do you prepare your team for what is another big game coming up this week?
FS: Physical.
BB: Well, I think that's the National Football League. Every game's tough and every opponent's got good players and good coaches, and whatever scheme they run is built to challenge whatever it is that we're doing. That's just the way it is in this league. There's no homecoming games, there's no…you know, you can't schedule [inaudible] like sometimes happens in college and that kind of thing. Everybody's tough, everybody's got good players, and that's our job, that's what we're getting paid for, so we just have to find a way to do it.
SD: But do you worry about your team being emotionally drained in a situation like this?
BB: Well, yeah. You've got to take these games and put them behind you as quickly as you can and come back ready to go on Wednesday and work to get back to that high level by the next Sunday. Every team in the league's going through the same thing. It's the 13th week of the season, we've played 12 games and everybody else is in the same boat as we are. It's not a question of anybody having an advantage or a disadvantage over anybody else, it's just how you deal with it. We're fighting through it, but so is everybody else.
PS: Coach, I want to go back to the third quarter of this game as Baltimore scored on that 17-yard run by McGahee to go up 17-10. But then, as usual, Kevin Faulk comes in and provides what I thought was a real necessary spark at that particular juncture of the game and it ended up leading to a touchdown to tie the game at 17.
BB: I thought we got real good production out of both our backs tonight. Laurence [Maroney] and Kevin both gave us some runs, some catches and some big plays – some good blitz pickup plays, as well. So those guys did a good job. A lot of times the Ravens rolled [inaudible] and they really tried to take our receivers away and double-cover our receivers, and that's where the tight end, Ben [Watson], came through on a big catch down the middle there in the fourth quarter…Kevin and Laurence and the running game. So we felt like there were some opportunities in some other areas and those guys came through for us.
FS: I was talking to Steve during the game while he was smoking a cigar, and he talked about the Giants when you guys started out 10-0 and then went 3-3 down the stretch, and that fatigue sets in, and normally that's why the bumps. That's why there's only been one team in the history of the league to go undefeated, because you're going to have those physical…
SD: And emotional.
FS: …and emotional bumps, you talked to the team. How difficult is it to talk to the team to try to get them back on track when you've been through 12 wars and you're fatigued at this level?
BB: Yeah, I mean there's no question that that's a factor. But again, like I said, all the teams are going through it. Everybody's got tough games – teams that are fighting for playoff spots and playing for the division and Wild Card and all that, so that's just the way it is.
FS: That last two series, did you more commit to the run and bring the safeties up a little bit? Because it looked like you knew they were going to run the ball and you came up with a little more pressure.
BB: Yeah, we did. We brought the safety down a little bit to the tight end side over there, to our right, their left, where most of those runs were coming behind Ogden. We just tried to get a little stronger matchup there…and just play better. Look, everybody gets blocked. There's no running plays were they don't block guys and then cut them lose. So everybody's got to defeat a blocker, and then we have to tackle McGahee, but we did a better job there fourth quarter just playing better team defense. But getting the safety down into some of those tight inside runs, I think that helped us a little from there, too, yeah.
PS: How much of a factor was the wind tonight, and how much did it change your game plan?
BB: You know, Pete, it wasn't as much of a factor as I thought it was going to be, to be honest with you. I think it was definitely a factor in the kicking game, although not to the degree that I thought it would be. It wasn't like every kickoff with the wind was a touchback, or every kick against it was coming down on the 30. Same thing with the punting game: there were some good punts into the wind and there were a couple not-so-good ones with the wind. So I think it affected the kicking game a little bit but overall, I don't think it affected the ball in the passing game too much. You can't hang the ball up in a wind like that, but as long as you drive it and it's a tight spiral that kind of cuts through it, I didn't think it was that bad.
FS: Have you ever in your life kicked off on their 35-yard line?
BB: No, I don't think I have.
[Laughter]
PS: You know what Fred wanted to do…
BB: It was so tempting to onside kick it there…
[Laughter]
BB: …and just say…but you just don't want something unusual to happen. It's not really something you really practice a lot. So we just felt like [we'd] play defense, they've got one timeout – play good defense, keep the ball inbounds and [inaudible] the tackle on the screen pass there. It was close there at the end, but not really.
SD: So the idea of kicking it out of the end zone was that just not to put the ball in play and not let anything crazy happen?
BB: Yeah, I mean, we talked about pop kicking it down there, or squib kicking it or something, but he had taken the last one all the way back across the field on us and we just didn't feel like it was worth trying to get one or two more yards out of – you know, tackling him on the 15 instead of the 20. We felt like putting him on the 20 on a long field with one timeout and 40-some seconds that we should be able to play good defense in that situation.
SD: It would have been a field goal into the wind, is that correct?
BB: Oh yes. Uh-huh. No, we had the choice there at halftime. They took the ball to start the third quarter, so we gave them the wind in the third quarter so we could have it in the fourth. That helped us on the long field goal, there. I'm not sure we would have kicked a field goal had we been going the other direction. We might have, but it would have been right there on the edge. It would have been close.
FS: Generally this team has a lot of chippiness – there was some pushing out there – but I've never seen a player throw a flag into the stands and then yap into a ref's face like that and not get thrown out. I thought that was a little unusual. Have you ever seen someone throw a flag into the stands?
BB: I've seen a player throw a flag before, but I didn't see exactly what happened. It was down there at the other end of the field; there were a lot of guys in the way. But I did see the flag get kind of rifled up into the stands. It was a little unusual to get the two 15-yard penalties and then another five for the offsides, so it was…
PS: [Laughter]
BB: Again, it was a situation on the kickoff that we, in all honesty, we haven't practiced kicking off from that kind of field position. We've worked on…
PS: [Interrupting] I can't believe it!
SD: So we've thought of one thing that Bill Belichick was not prepared for…
FS: I was yelling so loud.
SD: …In 38 years of coaching.
BB: I haven't seen…hey, wait a minute, it's only been 34.
PS: [Laughter]
FS: He said you aged four years tonight.
PS: I only saw one attempt on the screen pass tonight and [Tom] Brady had to throw it away. He had an eligible man downfield. Was that part of the game plan, was not because of the way Baltimore plays defense?
BB: Baltimore's a hard team to screen. I think Ray Lewis reads those probably as good as anybody, any linebacker in football. What we tried on that play was we tried to fake the screen to the halfback and come back and screen to the tight end. They were in man coverage and [Jamaine] Winborne kind of got underneath the screen; he was standing right there and we didn't have anything. They played a lot of tight man coverage. It's hard to screen in that situation unless you can definitely get the guy who's got the back in man coverage. And again, with Lewis and, just as good as he reads them, we just didn't feel like that was…we had a couple, but I didn't think this was the kind of game you want to go and run a lot of screens on Ray Lewis. I don't think that's a high-percentage call with him.
SD: I have to imagine you still have a lot of high praise for that Baltimore defense, and even Ed Reed, in that situation.
BB: I thought Ed made a couple great plays. You know, Randy [Moss] got behind him down the sideline and Ed recovered and made a play on the ball. Of course, he got the interception there before the half. Luckily Kevin stripped – I think it was Kevin…somebody – stripped it out of him. But Ed kind of patrols that deep part of the field, and you really have to think about it back there when he's there. He's got so much range and is just a ball hawk. He reads the ball very well. It's tough to get it over him.
FS: Are you alright? You sound a little fatigued there, Coach.
BB: A little what?
FS: A little fatigued. Do you have a cold?
BB: It was a very emotional and draining game, no question about that. I wouldn't be surprised if 90% of our team falls asleep on the plane trip on the way back. It was a very draining game. You're just in on every play. Every play you feel like the game is in the balance, even when you're in the first or second quarter. It's just one of those kinds of games like every down's a big down and every play's a big play. When you're done you're kind of emotionally shot.
SD: …drained, I'm hoping these two guys fall asleep. [Inaudible]
BB: [Laughter]
PS: Normally I'd have sympathy for you, Coach, but we had to listen to Tony Kornheiser for three and a half hours gush over the Baltimore Ravens. It was really tough to take, I'll be honest with you. [Laughter] But we got through it.
BB: [Laughter] OK, well I'm sure it was a long night and an emotional night for the fans, too. I'm sure that they were riding and falling with every snap just like we were. But the good thing is we were able to, as I said, make some plays we needed to make in the fourth quarter, and hopefully we can get started here next week and regain an energy level and a little burst and be ready for the Steelers. It'll be good to be back home. I hope we can play our best football here at the end of the last quarter of the season when it counts the most.
SD: Well, we won't dwell too much on the Steelers – I know you're just getting over this win here – but are the Steelers as good as some of the teams we've seen in the past?
BB: I think the Steelers are pretty well-balanced; that's the impressive thing about them. They're good on defense – I think they lead the league on defense. And offensively, they can run it with [Willie] Parker and the offensive line, and they can throw with [Ben] Roethlisberger and [Hines] Ward and [Santonio] Holmes and those guys. [Heath] Miller's a real good tight end. They're always good in the kicking game. So it's a well-balanced team. They don't give up a lot of points and they can move the ball and they can score. So that makes them tough to beat.
PS: Ben Roethlisberger certainly has been outstanding at many times this year. How has he developed in the last couple years that you've seen? What is he most improved on?
BB: I think he's been pretty good since his rookie year. He's won a lot of games. I think the big thing with Roethlisberger is, where he's so dangerous is when he's scrambling. Not necessarily running, although he can run, but he's so big and he's a hard guy to bring down. He shrugs guys off in the pocket. Their receivers do a real good job on scramble plays of uncovering. Against the Ravens he had four or five of his touchdown passes were on scramble plays, and I think that's kind of indicative of what he's capable of doing. He's big, he's strong, he's got a great arm. He does a great job of looking downfield when he gets out of the pocket in those situations and a lot of times they turn into big plays. So stopping them on third down will be important as it always is, but especially this week, they're a good third down [team]. When we get a chance to get them off the field we have to do a good job and knock them out of there and not let them stay on the field and keep grinding it out.
PS: Alright, Coach, a final thing: it's now time for the MVP Volkswagen Dealer's Coach's Question of the Week. Right now your seven MVP VW dealers can slide you into a new '08 VW with no money down, no down payment, no first month, no security and zero due at signing. Just sign and drive. Coach, Karen from Chestnut Hill asks, 'What do you do to handle the grind and burnout factor of running your team for both the players and yourself?'
BB: Well, I think you just have to have a feel for where your team is on a week-to-week basis. Sometimes on a daily basis. When everybody's going to work hard but there's just, for whatever reason, the energy level isn't there, then you have to find a way to regain it, to rest up and maybe cut back a little bit. But it's a feel thing, it's a week-to-week thing, or even a day-to-day thing. It's not necessarily something you can really plan out at this time of year, you just kind of have to see where you're at. Sometimes injuries and that kind of thing affects it as well, and I rely a lot on our assistant coaches and our trainer and training staff, and our strength and conditioning staff, to kind of keep me abreast of where our team's at physically, and try to make those decisions in conjunction with them.
PS: Coach, congratulations. Twelve-and-0 – only the sixth team in NFL history to accomplish that feat, among your many other accomplishments you've had. Go catch a plane, go get a nap, because you sound exhausted. And enjoy this one.
BB: Sounds good. Alright, thanks Pete. Fred, Steve, always good talk to you.
FS: Congratulations.
BB: Thank you and I'll talk to you next week.
PS: OK. Thank you. Head coach Bill Belichick. If you'd like to ask the coach a question, swing by your local MVP Volkswagen dealers, like Wellesley VW in Wellesley or Patrick VW in Auburn. Be sure to ask about the nothing down, sign and drive. See mvpvw.com for more details.
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