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Bill Belichick Conference Call Transcript

New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick addresses the media during his conference call on Monday, January 9, 2012.

BB: On behalf of the entire organization, we're excited to be playing in the Divisional Playoff round. We have a lot to great ready for with Denver coming in here. That was a great win for them yesterday, a really impressive game. We spent time on all three teams last week and so now we very quickly got zoned in on Denver last night and of course today. We have a lot of work to do today in terms of getting things finalized for the players when we get back on the field tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have a good week here and be ready to go Saturday night. We're trying to push through quickly here to be ready to go.  

Q: What were your thoughts on watching Tim Tebow in overtime yesterday?  

BB: It didn't take long – one play. He made a great throw, [Demaryius] Thomas made a good catch, broke a tackle and then he's a big, strong guy that as we know, he can take the slant or crossing or post patterns and run through tackles. Not many people are going to catch him. Well executed play by the Broncos and it was decisive.  

Q: Can we get some of your thoughts on the re-hiring of Josh McDaniels and what his contributions might be during this week and through the playoffs?  

BB: I think Josh is obviously a very good and experienced coach, both in the league and in our system. He's here to help us any way he can, whether that's with me or the offensive staff or anything else. [We are] Glad to have him. He's ready to help us in any way that he can. I'm sure that he'll be an asset to our coaching staff and our team.  

Q: Is there any situation you can compare this to, with a coach coming in midstream and starting to help?  

BB: Right now we're just really thinking about getting ready for Denver.  

Q: What can Josh McDaniels bring? What went into rehiring him?  

BB: He's a very experienced coach in the league; a good coach that we have a lot of background with. I think he can help us in a lot of different ways. I'm not sure exactly how that will pan out, we'll see how that goes. But he'll help me, he'll help the offensive staff, Billy [O'Brien] or whoever else it is, I don't know. I think he's an asset because of his knowledge, his work ethic and his familiarity with what we're doing. Right now it's just a one game season, so whatever we can do to help ourselves this week we'll do and then we'll worry about next week and next year later.  

Q: Have you formulated yet how you want to employ Josh McDaniels – whether he'll be on the sideline or in the booth watching from above?  

BB: We'll probably talk about those things as we get a little closer to game time. Right now we're really just concentrating on our game plan and our scouting report preparations for Denver. As we get through the week and later in the week, we'll talk about game day logistics. Again, he's been here before. We've all worked together. I don't really anticipate it being a problem.    

Q: What was the working relationship with Bill O'Brien and Josh McDaniels like a few years ago? From what I understand it was pretty good. Did that past relationship help make this happen?  

BB: I don't know really know if that had too much to do with what happened. They have worked together. They're very good friends. They had a good working relationship here and I don't see any reason why that would change. I think they've both very comfortable with the situation, I've talked to both of them and we're all just looking forward to trying to pull together as a staff and do the best job we can for preparing our team for this Saturday's game.  

Q: There was some reportedly interest from the Colts in Nick Caserio and that he turned down an interview. What are your thoughts on that and what conversations did you have with him when that process was going on?  

BB: I don't really have any comment about any other team's situations. Nick has done a great job for us, I'm glad he's here. I know he's focused squarely on the Broncos right now, as we all are. That's the priority.  

Q: How nice is to for you to have Josh McDaniels back in the building?  

BB: He's a person that I spent a lot of time with in a lot of different situations. I have a lot of confidence in him, he's smart, he's got great experience and background and he knows our system. I've enjoyed our conversations the past couple days as we've gotten caught up on some things and moved forward into the playoffs here. I think that he'll be a good asset to our team for the remainder of the season. Like I said, we'll deal with next year next year.  

Q: What impresses you most about the Denver Broncos and what they've done since you last played them?  

BB: I think they're a really solid team that has performed well in every area. They obviously have very good specialists in the kicking game, returners, Eddie Royal had a big play against Buffalo, of course, he's very capable back there. They cover well, they kick well, made some big kicks all year. Defensively, they're fast. They have an excellent pass rush with [Von] Miller and [Elvis] Dumervil outside. They're athletic inside, their linebackers blitz well, [D.J.] Williams and [Wesley] Woodyard and those guys, [Robert] Ayers, those guys make a lot of plays, in pass rush and with their athleticism. They cover well, they're good in the secondary. The corners are good, [Chris] Harris has done a good job for them. Safeties are physical. They have a good defensive team. Offensively, they've run the ball against everybody. They have a lot of different ways to attack you in the running game. That's definitely a problem.  Passing game comes off the running game. Their play-action passes and getting you to commit to the run and being able to get the ball to their receivers – they've got some big receivers, strong receivers that are good down the field. When they've had to throw it, they've done a good job of that. Their two-minute drives and of course, [Tim] Tebow has done a good job of keeping plays alive with his athleticism. He's able to get his eyes downfield and make connections for big plays in the passing game, that are improvised or come off a scramble or come after the play has already started to develop that he and his receivers do a great job of adjusting to, they made several of them yesterday against Pittsburgh and we all know what kind of defense Pittsburgh has and how good they were statistically in so many areas. It just didn't play out that way yesterday because Denver was able to execute very well against them. That will be a big challenge for us in all three areas of the game but offensively they looked very good yesterday.  

Q: With you guys only playing them a few weeks ago, I imagine they probably haven't changed much. Are you guys caught up to speed for a team that you have a short week to prepare for?  

BB: There's a level of familiarity with them from our previous game a few weeks ago but we've also had a lot come through since then with our last couple of regular season games that we prepared very hard for and then last week in practice, the things that we worked on. I think it really starts all over again. It's kind of like playing at team in your division the second time. You know them, they know you but you really need to go back and look at a lot of little details, the keys and see the adjustments that we need to make for the things specifically that they do that are different from what other teams do or things that we worked on before but we'll just have to react to a little quicker this time around because again they've seen us and I'm sure they'll take advantage of some of things that we do better this time just like hopefully we'll be able to do against them. Our preparation starts all over again. We need to be very detailed and get a good handle on everything and carry that execution over onto the practice field and into the game on Saturday.

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