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Replay: Patriots Unfiltered Tue Oct 08 - 02:00 PM | Wed Oct 09 - 11:55 AM

Bill Belichick Post-Game Press Conference

To listen to the press conference, click on the play button to the right. To read a transcript, click on Full Article below.

BB:I was pretty pleased with the overall effort of the team tonight. I thought that we came out with a lot more enthusiasm and effort than we had last week. We started off the game better and sustained it through the game other than the little lapse there on defense at the end of the half. It took a little while to get going in the first quarter. We missed some good opportunities, but overall I was pleased with the way the team responded on a short week. We played some people in some different combinations tonight. We wanted to try to get a look at some things we haven't seen for one reason or another. Some guys played different spots or the rotations were a little different. I wouldn't read too much into that. We're just trying to see what kind of depth we can create on the team and take a look at some guys doing some different things. Overall, I thought that several guys stepped up and did a pretty good job, especially some of the guys that were out there for the first time, like McGinest, Light, Shaw, Klemm. Without seeing all the plays, but from what I did see, it looked like it was decent and it was good to have them back out there. The quarterback rotation went about the way we thought it would. The score was a little out of hand there at the end, so I didn't see a point in putting Damon in there just to hand off. I thought Tom did a pretty good job with the team in the second half. Drew put some points on the board in the second quarter. Those things were good,

Q: Was the red zone the most pleasing area of improvement?

BB: No, I think I was most pleased with just the way the team approached the game. We played with a lot more energy and I think that's the way we need to play. We can't just go out there and go through the motions. We need to bring a little bit more than that and I thought we had a good week of practice and I thought it carried over into the game.

Q: Coach, what did you think of the offensive line with Kenyatta at left guard?

BB: Well, we weren't planning on playing him as much as we did at left guard, but Sale got banged up a little bit there, so Kenyatta got a lot of snaps. Again, we just wanted to see what kind of depth we could create there and we wanted to see Klemm and Light at left tackle, so we'll take a good look at the film and see how all that looks, but I think that Kenyatta did a decent job of hanging in there and played a lot of plays and looked like he did a pretty good job.

Q: After four preseason games and training camp, what is your comfort level at now?

BB: Well, I don't think you really have a comfort level at this time of year. I think every team I've ever been with, no matter what happens in preseason, right now the slate's clean and everybody's got to go out there and establish it in the regular season. The game plans, our best people against their best people, being able to play a lot of situational football, so I think that's still something everybody's got to determine with each team and I like some of the things that our team's doing. I think that we've made some improvement from last year in some of the areas that we targeted. But we'll have to go out there and establish it next week, just like the other 30 teams will. I'm not really comfortable with anything until we get some regular season production under our belt. But at the same time, I'm not uncomfortable with the way the team's responded to what we've asked them to do this year.

Q: Phifer and Seymour seemed to give you good work tonight. Talk about them a little bit.

BB: Richard had a good camp for us. There were some people who thought he couldn't pass rush. I wouldn't be one of those. I think he's a powerful guy, and he's got a good future in front of him if he keeps working hard and stays focused. Roman gave us some depth at outside linebacker when we signed him and I think that he's been a good player in this league for quite a while. He's a solid person and works very hard at the game. He's in good condition and prepares well, so it doesn't surprise me too much to see him be successful on the field, because he brings all the qualities to the game as well as being a good athlete and a good competitor, so he's got some quickness off the edge and Seymour's got some power up inside.

Q: Is Tedy Bruschi injured?

BB: Yeah, before the game, in pregame, he tightened up a little bit, so we didn't play him.

Q: Seymour at the nose, is that something you've been looking at all along?

BB: No, this is the first time he's played there.

Q: Did it surprise you how well he played?

BB: Well, I don't know how well he played, I'll have to watch the tape. I know he made a couple of good plays, but I'm not sure how good the overall performance was. We need to create a little bit of depth on our defensive line Brandon played end, Seymour played nose, we swung our ends a little bit, so we want to have some depth when we cut down to a 45-man roster in the regular season, We just don't have enough people to have a backup at every position, some people are going to have to be able to play more than one spot if we get into a pinch. This is really our last chance to look at some people in some different positions, so that was really the purpose of that.

Q: Will Richard Seymour start at the beginning of the season?

BB: I don't know, I don't know. Maybe he can. If he's good enough, he'll play for us.

Q: Ty didn't play. What's his status?

BB: I think he's getting better. He didn't practice this week, but I think that's coming along and I think he'll be all right.

Q: Talk about the pass protection.

BB: I thought our pass protection was okay. We had a couple of problems, but overall it seemed like it was okay. We had a little pressure up the middle on a couple of blitzes, but I think overall, the interior guys give the quarterbacks a decent opportunity to step up and the tackles did okay on some of the edge stuff. We had a few breakdowns, but for the most part, it looked like we had time to throw the ball.

Q: Third down efficiency was much better today.

BB: Right, and that was a target for us this week. We were 1-15 or whatever it was last week and we spent a little extra time on third down trying to get our execution better and I think everybody was pleased to see that. We also wanted to get the ball in the end zone in the red zone and we were able to get a few touchdowns in the first half, so those things were some improvements.

Q: Are you going to keep two kickers?

BB: Well, I thought Adam had a pretty good night other than the kickoff before the half. It looked like one of my seven irons. Owen still is a good kicker. He has a future. He's another guy who got a little banged up in pregame warmups. We had a tough time in pregame.

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