Skip to main content
Advertising

Official website of the New England Patriots

replay
Replay: Patriots Postgame Show Mon Oct 07 - 06:00 PM | Tue Oct 08 - 11:55 AM

Bill Belichick Press Conf.

Giants Stadium - East Rutheford, NJBill Belichick speaks to the press.

            [
listennowicon.gif

]()

            **B:** Well, obviously that was a tough loss tonight. We had a lot of opportunities tonight, and we weren't able to capitalize on them. The Jets did a good job of capitalizing on the opportunities they had. Vinny [Testaverde], as always, was an outstanding quarterback. He made some great throws at the end, as I've seen him do many times. Wayne [Chrebet] made some great catches, as I've seen him make many times too. I just give them credit. I thought that the Jets had a good game plan. They were a very tough team to play against tonight. We battled with them, and it was a hard fought game. But in the end they just came up with more plays than we did. A couple of the opportunities we had, we couldn't quite capitalize on when we needed to. Obviously everyone is very disappointed in the result.  

Q: For three quarters your defense seemed to have the Jets number, then all of a sudden in the fourth quarter New York moved the ball. What was the difference?

B: Vinny made some great throws and Wayne made a couple great catches. [Dedric] Ward had a great catch. I give them credit. I mean, there wasn't much space, but they got the ball in there. We have to get on them tighter.

Q: Why is this team having so much trouble scoring in the red zone?

B: I think if I knew the answer to that, maybe we'd have a couple more [touchdowns]. It's something we need to work on. We need to get the ball in. We were down there plenty of times, but we need to come away with more points.

Q: Was it as emotional as it seemed on both sidelines?

B: It was a division game. Sure it's a big game. Any division game is a big game. There are no exceptions. The Jets are a good football team and this is a tough place to play. You want to win all of your division games. They are important, no doubt about it.

Q: On the second-to-last drive, they completed a number of passes to [Richie] Anderson. Was that because of a mismatch they saw in the defense you had on the field?

B: They had five open receivers going out. We mixed things up, and it wasn't as if we didn't have him covered. We just didn't have him covered well enough. Vinny made some good throws and they did a good job of mixing up their patterns. Sometimes they went deep, and sometimes they went short. We were on them a couple times and we batted a couple away. But we couldn't come up with the ball, and we probably had our hands on three, maybe four, balls there in the last half of the fourth quarter one way or another. We couldn't quite rope it in.

Q: Before [Greg] Robinson-Randall's injury, you had [Bruce] Armstrong out when you made some changes on the offensive line. Was that going to be a permanent change?

B: No.

Q: The line seemed to play better until it got a little banged up late in the game. What did you think?

B: Well, it was a competitive game. They have a good front seven, and they have a group of linebackers that is probably as good as any group of linebackers in the league. They are a big challenge to play against. I thought offensively we moved the ball well. We just have to get it in the end zone. The name of the game is points.

Q: Can you talk about the performance of Chrebet?

B: Hey, Wayne is a great player. I've competed against him, and I saw it first-hand here for three years. I saw it everyday in practice, and I've seen it in a lot of games. Wayne Chrebet is a great football player. He comes up with balls and he gets open. We had him covered at times, but again, I give Vinny and Wayne credit. That is a deadly combination. Close is not good enough with them. You have to deny them the ball.

Q: Was tonight what you expected for your return to New York?

B: It was a division game. All the division games are going to be important. Everyone puts a lot into them, and they are worth a lot, as they should be. That's the bottom line.

Q: Can you talk about the hill you have to climb now that the team is 0-2?

B: We put ourselves into a hole. We've had some opportunities, and we haven't capitalized on the opportunities they way we need to in order to win. We are going to have to learn how to do that, or we are going to continue to be in this same position. This is the way the games are every week. Probably two-thirds of the games around the league this week came down to less than a touchdown. Half of the games probably came down to a field goal or less. That's the way it's going to be every week in this league. If you are going to make plays, you have to make them at the right times, and you have to make them when they are there to be made.

Q: When you were up 12 with about seven minutes to go, were you thinking you needed to stop them just one more time?

B: No. With six or seven minutes to go, there was still plenty of time. They had time to score, get an onside kick and get the ball back. With a quarterback like Vinny, the game is never over until the final gun goes off. Nobody was thinking that it was over.

Q: Did they show anything different at that point, or did they go with the same plan all game?

B: Well look, the Jets have a good offensive attack. They change up on you. They keep you off balance. That's just the way they do it. They continued to do that at the end of the game, just like they did in the first and second quarter, and still in the third quarter. They have good coaches. Al [Groh] had a good game plan. They kept us off balance by doing some things. It was pretty evenly matched, but in the end they made a couple more plays than we did. That's it.

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.
Advertising

Latest News

Presented by
Advertising

Trending Videos

Advertising

In Case You Missed It

Presented by
Advertising