Postgame Transcript – WK15 – Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick
Opening Statement: “Unfortunately here today we collectively made too many mistakes and gave up some big plays that were obviously the difference in the game. So, we just can’t do that in this league, and it cost us. We will work to eliminate those and continue to play the good football that we play, but we just had too many mistakes and too many bad plays to win. So, that was obvious.”
Q: On that final play, was it instinctive on Rhamondre Stevenson to pitch it, or did he have the green light to lateral?
Coach Belichick: “I would say we made a mistake on that play. The play didn’t work. We made a mistake on the play.”
Q: On the block punt, how did the ball get snapped? What did you see on that play?
Coach Belichick: “It’s another mistake on the play.”
Q: Jakobi Meyers took some accountability for that mistake, saying he knows better than throwing the football back across the field. Was there any coaching point after you called the draw, to say the play is over, just go down or go out of bounds?
Coach Belichick: “Obviously, that would have been better than that result.”
Q: Was that said to Jakobi Meyers?
Coach Belichick: “Yes, look, we’ve talked about situational football. We talk about it every week. Obviously, we got to do a better job playing situational football and not making critical mistakes in the game.”
Q: On the Raiders WR Keelan Cole touchdown, what did the refs tell you? And did you agree with the decision?
Coach Belichick: “Was there a pool report? There you go.”
Q: 14 games into the season and you are still having delay of game penalties. It seems like guys are having trouble getting plays in. How disappointing is it this late in the season, you are still having operational issues with the offense?
Coach Belichick: “We need to try to eliminate all the mistakes we made. All of us.”
Q: On the red zone play, where you ran down the sideline to call a timeout. What did you see that you didn’t like that lead you to call the timeout?
Coach Belichick: “Yeah, we really didn’t have the play right.”
Q: Is that a situation where the result didn’t match necessarily the play?
Coach Belichick: “No. The whistle blew before the play was run. We didn’t have the play right, so I took a timeout so that we did it right.”
Q: On the QB sneak soon after that, there’s a false start. Is Mac Jones supposed to wait for everybody to get to the line? Was Jonnu Smith a little bit late? How did that happen?
Coach Belichick: “It was obviously a mistake on that play too.”
Q: On the final play, how do you weigh what was called as opposed to taking a shot at the endzone?
Coach Belichick: “Taking a shot at the endzone? We couldn’t throw it that far.”
Q: What’s the message to the team after a loss like this? And that was a challenge for you and keep things moving with three games left?
Coach Belichick: “We have to eliminate those mistakes and we just gave up some big critical plays. We need to eliminate those and keep making the good ones and stop making the critical bad ones.”
Download Word Doc Here: 12.18_LV vs. NE – Postgame Transcripts