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TR: Patriots Radio Network on the call. The 5-0 New England Patriots will travel to play the Dallas Cowboys this week. The Cowboys also 5-0. Here to talk about it, the head coach of the Patriots, Bill Belichick joining us on the program. How are you doing, Coach?
BB: Good. Tim, Pat, it's always a pleasure. It's great to be on with two of the best football guys out there.
TR: Yeah, baby! Talkin' ball…
PK: Coming from you, that means a lot, Bill.
TR: Go ahead, Patty.
PK: …I know it's the time of year with PUP coming to an end here guys can actually start to practice. I would suspect that the Seymours and the Browns of the world are starting to take on a little more extra work as you try to decide when they can come back on the field.
BB: Right. Well they are, Pat. They're starting to increase their activity levels and we'll have the first opportunity to make a decision on those guys next week. Part of that, of course, will be where they're at and part of it will be where our team's at. We'll marry those together and try to figure out what's best for the team. But they're definitely, they've picked up the pace here about the last week-and-a-half, so we want to see where they're at in terms of being ready to go when the PUP window opens.
TR: Coach, your team has been fun to watch, no question. All the points, all the high-flyers. Tommy Brady's numbers are ridiculous. Randy Moss, it's incredible. Wes Welker, Benjamin [Watson], you've got so many things you can go to. I've appreciated Sammy Morris, to be honest with you. But I want to talk about the group nobody's talking about. Tell us about the big fellas up front, because I think they're underrated, and as much glamour and all the glitz that the fellas get, this is where games are won and lost, at the line of scrimmage. Talk about the O-line.
BB: They've done a good job for us. We've had several players take part up there, but our tackles Nick [Kaczur] and Matt Light have done a good job for us, so they've been pretty consistent. Logan Mankins at guard has had a real good season. Dan [Koppen] missed last week's game but he's been really solid for us inside. And Steve [Neal] and Russ [Hochstein] and Billy Yates have all worked over there at the right guard position. It doesn't really seem to…you don't seem to notice who's in there and who isn't, it's just a pretty efficient group, along with Kyle Brady at tight end who's really part of that offensive line group in terms of pass protection and the running game and so forth. So they've been very consistent. We haven't had a lot of negative plays, we haven't had a lot of sacks and guys where the runner gets hit in the backfield and stuff like that. So hopefully we can continue to avoid those plays, and the offensive line penalties, and play consistently and keep moving the ball forward on offense.
PK: When you look at what you got, the classic conflicts in your passing game, Welker in the slot next to Randy [Moss] tells me there's no way they're going to jump the safety on top of Randy otherwise Welker's going to beat you. Your quarterback sees it all the time. Now last week I see Watson explode. It tells me that maybe they are trying to tilt the defense a little bit—on occasion—that way, and boy the backside is starting to look like what the Colts get from Dallas Clark in the backside seam stuff.
BB: I think that happened a couple times in the Cleveland game, in particular on Watson's touchdown pass down the seam there, that the safety rotated over kind of on top of Moss and Ben was able to beat Sean Jones off the line of scrimmage and Tom laid it out there for him. So it was a good read by the quarterback and a good throw, and obviously a good route and a good catch. I think that's kind of the way it is though every time we call a pass play, that the quarterback needs to identify the coverage and go to the spot, depending on the pattern, where the coverage is the lightest and we have the best chance for a positive play, and make a good throw, make a good catch and run a good route, and that helps the passing game. Some of those are longer, some of them are shorter, but it basically comes down to executing the play and recognizing what the defense is doing. We've seen people rotate to Watson, rotate to Moss, rotate to Welker, play two-deep and just protect the flanks. Regardless of what it is, we just have to be ready each week for what we've seen and also what they might throw at us that's new.
TR: Bill Belichick joining us on the program. Moving The Chains here on SIRIUS NFL Radio. They'll travel to Dallas this week. And Coach, defensively you guys have played very good—Adalius Thomas, with the addition. And this is without your best player, I think, in Richard Seymour. Ty Warren, a lot of guys playing good. Asante Samuel on the back end. Hands full against the Dallas Cowboys, Coach, and what they present and bring to the table. They're solid. I think they're the number one group offensively. Talk about the challenge of Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys on the road this week.
BB: Well, Tim, the Cowboys are an outstanding offensive football team, and that's all the way across the board. Up front they've got a very physical offensive line, probably as physical as any line in the league. They're big, they're athletic, and they can really pound you. And they've got a couple of outstanding tight ends with, of course, [Jason] Witten and [Anthony] Fasano. So the front group is very good. Two real good runners, [Julius] Jones and [Marion] Barber, pretty much split the duties back there at running back, both in the running game and in the passing game. And of course they have an outstanding group of receivers. [Sam] Hurd as a third receiver has been productive for them, and of course we know about [Patrick] Crayton and T.O. And the quarterback is…he's a good thrower, he's a good runner, he throws accurately out of the pocket; he can hurt you a lot of different ways and his scrambling ability kind of makes him almost like a sixth receiver. I think that Witten is the most complete tight end that we've faced. He's an outstanding blocker as well as a receiver. I think the most important stat—which I'm not a huge stat guy—but the most important stat that Dallas has is their second half scoring, where they've outscored their opponents by almost 80 points. They're a team that kind of wears their opponent down, and they can really turn it on there on both sides of the ball but particularly offensively, as the game goes along, and they are able to just beat people down up front and then make plays on long runs and big passes and things like that. So, they're very good.
PK: And if we asked Wade Phillips the same question he'd say, 'You know what stat? I don't follow stats but here's one that I'll tell you about the Patriots: they start fast.' You guys come out of the blocks aggressively on offense, and it must be because your minds are wide open to, 'Let's take what they give us.' And I think you're getting opportunities. You've got 44 first quarter points while Dallas only has six.
BB: Well, we have had some good drives early in the game and I think that's a credit to the offensive coaching staff and the players being ready to go and being able to execute it. We've had some lulls at times in the third quarter, and even in the second half, so then it just comes back to consistency. But certainly from a defensive standpoint Dallas is a huge challenge for us. We really haven't seen a defense quite like the Cowboys, with their skill and playmakers at all three levels—linebackers, defensive line and the secondary. And we all know Wade's talent as a defensive coordinator. He's been at the top of the league defensively every place he's ever coached, and that's true again this year. So we know we'll have our hands full trying to block that front and throw against guys like [Terence] Newman and Roy Williams and handling guys like that.
TR: Coach, how much do you go back and watch San Diego on film and how Wade tried to attack you guys and how he tried to defend your offensive football team?
BB: We definitely look at the San Diego playoff game when Wade was the [defensive] coordinator there. Of course, he has a different group of players and guys with different skills than what he had in San Diego, but we want to be aware of how he handled us and how he looked at us last year. But then again, we're a little different offensively, too, so I'm not sure that he would do it quite the same way. But I think it is important to at least have a reference and know what potentially are some of the things you have to be ready for. So we'll just have to see on Sunday how well-prepared we are and how much we have to adjust once we see how the game's unfolding. But I'm sure there will be elements of both.
PK: Bill, how many, if any—and you can help me because I haven't studied every tape here, I watched a lot of you though—who's come to the game against the Patriots this year and said 'I gotta use pressure. I can't play rope-a-dope because it's just going to kill us. And I'm going to come after…'? Because I think Wade instinctively might say, 'I've got to bring the outside backers a little more than I would against someone else, because if I don't get to Brady we're going to just die a slow death.'
BB: Well I think both the Jets and San Diego had a significant element of that. They tried to pressure us in different ways: some man pressure, some zone blitz pressure. And then Buffalo played much more of a coverage game. And we've seen a combination of both the last couple weeks from Cincinnati and Cleveland. So in the end I think it comes a lot more down to our execution. We're going to have to play against coverage, we're going to have to play against pressure, we're going to have to play against teams that play straight, we're going to have to play against teams that stunt. So it just comes down to being able to execute our plays efficiently and making sure that we don't have any, or too many, negative ones where we're losing yardage and getting into second- and third-and-longs and turning the ball over and things like that. As long as we can move forward and not be in negative yardage and long-yardage situations then that certainly increases our chances of moving the ball effectively.
TR: Coach, great get this offseason getting Sammy Morris. He's played really well. How about Laurence Maroney, your number one tailback, and his injury issues? Talk about that for a second if you would.
BB: Well, I think Laurence is working hard and he's coming along well. We'll just take him day-to-day. But he's certainly making progress. He did a great job for us in the Buffalo game, and he's been productive all year, really, but especially played well in the Buffalo game. We're looking forward to getting him back out there soon.
TR: A lot of people have talked about the timeout rule in freezing kickers. We know that you can't do it more than twice—that's been a rule in the league for the last couple of years—you can't freeze a kicker but only once or you get a 15-yard penalty. The timeout right before the kick, do you have any problems with it? As soon as, I guess, it goes the other way, teams will stop doing it. What are your thoughts on the timeout right before the snap on a potential game-winning field goal?
BB: Well right now, Tim, I'm not really going to get too involved in any of the rules. I'm trying to conform with all of them, so whatever they are we'll comply with them.
[Roaring laughter]
PK: That was a great line…
TR: Bill, you're beautiful. [Laughter]
PK: [Laughter] I love it.
TR: You're awesome, Coach. Thanks for a couple minutes. Best of luck at Dallas this weekend.
BB: OK. It's always good to talk to you guys. Thanks, Tim. Thanks, Pat.
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