James Brown: Welcome back live to The NFL Today on CBS, America's most watched network. Later today, the Dolphins put that one-game win streak on the line against the Patriots, who are looking to become the first NFL team ever to go 15-0 in the regular season. Our colleague and CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent Armen Keteyian, who long-covered the NFL at CBS Sports, sat down with New England head coach Bill Belichick this week as the head coach pursues NFL history.
Armen Keteyian: The last couple weeks, particularly last week, you showed a series of emotions after the game that were unusual – a big smile and then a couple of…
Bill Belichick: Oh, that's not that unusual.
Keteyian: No? Really? Come on.
Belichick: [Laughter] It's good to win in this league, it really is. It's good to win.
Keteyian: But the double fist-pump after the game, was that sort of some unspoken message?
Belichick: No. It was a tight game. It was a game that came down to the wire. It was great to finish the game on a good, strong note and beat the Jets. [Chuckling] I'm not apologizing for being happy. It's hard to win in this league, so we're happy to do it.
Keteyian: I want to read you a quote. 'He doesn't do the things that people want… he almost deliberately doesn't do the things that would make his life easier… he doesn't know how to play to popularity it's alien to him… he doesn't care how things turn out… he does what he thinks is right… That was David Halberstam, in your [sic] book, The Education of a Coach, writing about you. A fair assessment?
Belichick: No, I can't say that. I do care. I do care. I wouldn't say that. As far as outside perception and opinion and all that kind of thing, that's going to vary regardless, no matter what you do.
Keteyian: Do you care… in some minds you're viewed as a cheater in this game.
Belichick: Well… I think that's a discussion for another day.
Keteyian: You have steadfastly refused to deal with what I would call like 'the big three' – so-called Spy-Gate, the perfect season, your relationship with Eric Mangini. Why is that?
Belichick: Well I think that will be a conversation for another day, Armen.
Keteyian: Another day.
Belichick: I think right now… I think the best thing for myself and the best thing for our team is to be focused on the job at hand and what we're doing. I think all the rest of that, we can deal with that some other time.
Keteyian: But you've been dealing with a lot of things, from essentially the beginning of the season, from the beginning of training camp.
Belichick: Yeah, well, there's been like a story of the week, or a flavor of the week. We talk sometimes about the circus being in town for this game. It seems like the circus has come to town every week. It's a real credit to our players to be able to push [aside] those issues that don't really matter and affect the outcome of the game and focus on their job and the task at hand, which is our next opponent.
Keteyian: Bill, what's it like to coach a team like this? I mean, you're full of stars, from Brady to Bruschi to Seau to Harrison, you have a lot of personalities here. How do you get them to talk in one voice?
Belichick: I think we all look at things kind of in a similar way – what's important, how do we win? It's not about personal stats and that kind of thing. Nobody even talks about that. They just talk about 'What can I do to help the team win?' And it's great to be a part of that type of a group. It's a privilege for me to do it.
Keteyian: Is there a fear factor involved… of disappointing you or angering you? That if they step out-of-line, that you're going to come down hard on them?
Belichick: [Smiling] You'd have to talk to them about that, Armen. I'm a pretty easy-going guy; I can't imagine they'd feel that way.
Keteyian: [Laughter]
Keteyian: Randy Moss, the headlines on him before he came to you would have been 'Troublemaker.' 'Coach-killer.' What's the headline on Randy Moss now for you?
Belichick: Oh, I love Randy Moss. He's the best receiver I've coached. He has the presence and the intelligence and experience to come to the quarterback or come to the coaches and say, 'Hey, what do you think about this? I think this might be a little better way to do this,' or 'I think this could help us if we did it this way.' And 90% of the time, he's right.
Keteyian: Bill, obviously you idolized your dad, a coach for 30-plus years. He was on the sideline with you in '05 at the Super Bowl when you won. He's not here now, obviously, to watch you lead your team to perhaps the greatest season in NFL history. Do you think about that?
Belichick: I sure do. I do. On a regular basis. I do. I think he's got a good seat up there watching it somewhere. Probably on the 50-yard line.
Keteyian: I've seen the books in your home – Amos Alonzo Stagg… Paul Brown, a hero of yours… Bill Walsh. Do you feel like you deserve a spot on that shelf yet?
Belichick: Not really. Some of the people you mentioned founded the game; they made the game. Right now all I'm thinking about is where we're at at this point. And maybe at some point there'll be a time to, someday, look back and reflect on things that have happened over a career or a season or whatever, but right now is not the time to do it for me.
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