Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick Transcript

PRESS CONFERENCE

September 7, 2022

BB: Welcome to Florida, how are we doing? We had a start yesterday on Miami, but this will really be kind of the regular Wednesday, Thursday, Friday week now, so we’ll get rolling today. We hope to have a good week and get ready to go on Sunday.

Q: How was the trip down?

BB: Good. Smooth.

Q: How are these facilities, are they suffice to get what you need to get done?

BB: Should be good.

Q: You’ve faced Tyreek Hill a number of times in Kansas City, can you explain the difficulty of dealing the unknown of how they [Miami] will use him?

BB: I think that’s the big thing. We’ll see how they play him, how they use him. Might be different than Kansas City, might not, we’ll see.

Q: Is he unique in terms of his speed?

BB: It’s rare speed.

Q: Mike McDaniel has a body of work as a coordinator, do you look at what Mike’s tendencies were as a coordinator or is it different here, in this role?

BB: I think it’s always different on opening day no matter if the coordinator has been there for ten years, it’s still opening day of a new season, so we’ll see what that brings. Certainly looks like from preseason, that the kicking game is similar to what Danny [Crossman] did in the past and the defense is similar to what Josh has done, so we’ll see. But that’s what it looks like and then Mike’s influence on the offense is definitely 49ers flavor. What he did at the 49ers and also obviously similar to what it was in Washington, (Kyle) Shanahan system.

Q: Can you talk on why specifically this location instead of something closer to Miami?

BB: It just worked out. We looked at several options. This is the best one.

Q: Can you tell us about Bailey Zappe and his progression in the preseason?

BB: Sure. Young player, took a lot of snaps, a lot of new things for him, but he’s a hard working kid. Very diligent, improved. Like every rookie, has a lot to learn, but he’s learning quickly and making progress.

Q: What impresses you about Tua Tagovailoa?

BB: Productive player, knows how to use his weapons, receivers, backs. Makes a lot of good critical plays, goal line, third-and -one, fourth-and-one. Couple plays that formatted against us last year. Smart football player.

Q: What do you think about Deatrich Wise and his growth with you since 2017 as a player and an individual?

BB: Wise has always been a pretty mature kid. Very hardworking. One of the most diligent workers we have. Great attitude, always puts the team first, always looking to do extra. Whatever you tell him to do, he works really hard to do it. It’s kind of always been that way. Like any player, he’s physically developed, improved his techniques, just become a more experienced player. But, all the traits were there. I don’t think they’ve really changed.

Q: Is the acclamation a part of every week or is it unique to this week, coming down to this heat?

BB: We’ve been away for a week during the season multiple times in the last few years. If it works out, it can be a good experience. I think this will.

Q: Did you know as soon as the schedule came out that you wanted to get down here to get used to this heat?

BB: We looked things over to see what are options are. This wasn’t as obvious a stay as the Arizona-Vegas situation will be. Monday night game to Sunday, but we’re here. It’s good.

Q: Considering your offense was one of the most pressed in the league last year, do you think seeing a press heavy team in Miami is a good test of the improvements you might have made in that area over the off season?

BB: I think every game is a good test for your team, regular season. Every game is a good test. All the teams are good, all the teams will attack your weaknesses and try to make it hard on you. We’ll try to do the same thing to them, see how it goes.

Q: How have you seen Christian Barmore develop defending the runs and what you’re asking those guys to do?

BB: I think he’s improved like all of our second-year players have. Better fundamentals, better techniques, better understanding of the blocking schemes. He’s played a lot of different positions from three to two to one to zero, little bit of five technique. Just the volume of that, it’s not the easiest thing, especially from a young player. I think he’s gotten more comfortable with that. Guys he has, he’s playing with them, DG [Davon Godchaux], [Lawrence] Guy, Carl [Davis Jr.], Dan [Ekuale] when he was here. Those guys are pretty good. I think they’ve all worked well with him. He’s worked well with them. So I think it’s good to have that same continuity to have those same guys back.

Q: What have you seen on film from Jevon Holland?

BB: Versatile player. Plays a lot in the deep part of the field but then they bring him around the line of scrimmage. Blitz, good tackler, pretty instinctive player. He makes some good, safe decisions in the middle of the field on over routes and seam routes. He reads the quarterback well. He’s a good, young player.

Q: Being familiar with Mike McDaniel’s style of play, what are you going to do in these days of practice to get ready?

BB: Whatever we think we need.

Q: What stands out to you about DeVante Parker?

BB: Good player, real good hands, very competitive. There’s a lot to like about him. He’s big, he runs well, catches well, he’s tough. I’m excited to see him play in a regular season game for us.

Q: Is there a way to get Barmore to the point of someone like Vince Wilfork?

BB: I think there’s some players that play in those percentages. Yeah, but we’ll see, I don’t know. We’re just trying to win a game, we’re not trying to hit a percentage. We want our best players out there. We want to cause problems for the other team. There’s a management level that goes into that, especially early in the year. We’ll see how it all plays out. I don’t know.

Q: Any similarities between Barmore and Wilfork?

BB: They both play defensive tackle.

Q: You mentioned all the uncertainty that comes with a season opener, does that mean the game takes longer to declare or do you typically know how things are developing about the same time as games later in the year?

BB: I don’t think it takes longer to declare. Games are the same length. I think it’s just you have to decide once you see how the game’s going, what you want to keep in, what you want to throw out or maybe what you might need to add based on the way it’s going. It’s hard to get everything ready for everything. Put your chips on a few numbers and if those numbers come up, you’re good, and if some other numbers come up, probably need to do something. I can’t think of too many opening days that there wasn’t in-game adjustments that were an important part of the game. I’m sure it’s true both ways. It’s opening day, nobody’s really shown anything. We’ll see what happens first game. That’ll declare a lot more going into the second game, that’ll declare a lot more going into the third game and then there’ll be a point that we get a pretty good feel for what the other team’s going to do and probably what you’re going to do, too.

Just announce our captains for this year. Matt Slater on special teams, Devin [McCourty], Ja’Whaun Bentley and [Deatrich] Wise [Jr.] on defense and David Andrews and Mac [Jones] on offense. There’s six captains.

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