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Gillette Stadium parking lots will open at 8 a.m. Stadium gates open at 11 a.m and kickoff is at 1 p.m.
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How will losing Mike Wright affect your guys?
Obviously we’ll miss Mike, just like Rosie [Colvin]. You’re always going to miss a player. He’s a versatile player for us and has held some different spots for us. He was getting better all the time so obviously we’re going to miss him. It’s kind of like what we’ve always said and how we’ve always kind of been here - and how you’ve really got to be everywhere - it opens up the door for someone else, whether that is Le Kevin [Smith] or whoever it might be. We’ve got to adjust and somebody else has got to step up and take his spot.
How is that going to affect your rotation? Is it fair to say that some of the guys you have been trying to rest a little bit are going to have to play more?
It just depends. It depends, again, on Le Kevin and the versatility because he’s been working hard and he’s got some versatility too, so we’ll just have to see how the rotation goes. I can’t guarantee… I can’t really tell you one way or the other that they’ll play more because Le Kevin won’t or Le Kevin will play more. It just kind of depends on how well he plays and comes along. [That] will give us that flexibility.
Will you be able to play as much 4-3?
Whether we play 4-3 or 3-4, we’ve always kind of traveled with the same number of defensive linemen, so generally that doesn’t make a lot of difference what form we play.
What about Adalius Thomas in the 4-3? He played end in the Colts game. Can you envision more of that, or was that just a specific package?
It really depends on the [opposing] team and what all they do. It really is more of a tactical question that I can answer based on a particular team because you just can’t play the same front, necessarily, against somebody that maybe shifts a lot or doesn’t shift a lot. And [it depends on] how many checks are going to be involved. There are a lot of things that go into it. It would be too hard for me to answer quickly. We could do it in some situations and not in others so there’s always that possibility.
Bobby Petrino was a college coach for a long time and he left the University of Louisville and went to the Atlanta Falcons. He recently left the Falcons after 13 games. Having your background in college football, why do you feel it’s a tough transition for coaches like Bobby Petrino and others we’ve seen come from the college game, and then go back?
I don’t think it is necessarily a tough transition. I think it’s all up to the individual. If it was a tough transition for him, I can’t answer that. He has to make all the decisions based on what he thinks. I didn’t feel it was a tough transition. Maybe that was because of the players I had and because of the organization I’m with [or] whatever. I’ve felt really comfortable from the day that I came from college football to here. I think to blanket all college coaches into one and say they are Bobby Petrinos, or to couple all guys like me that don’t feel like it was a hard transition -- I don’t think you can do that. I think it’s really on an individual basis whether a guy has a hard time with it or doesn’t.
I understand that you probably didn’t have much knowledge of it, but what did you think when you heard about Petrino’s departure?
The only thing I would say because I don’t feel like it’s my position to ever criticize anybody or condone anybody for what they do. My first thought was that it puts the Atlanta Falcons in a very awkward and tough position with three games to go. It’s one thing if you get fired; they made that choice to fire you with three games to go. But when you leave with three games to go, I feel like it puts the players in a tough position and the organization in a tough position. But again, I don’t know all the facts. I don’t know why he did it so that’s his personal decision.
Did it require some soul searching for you when you made the jump?
I can’t state that New England was not a real long discussion in my mind and I don’t mean that negatively toward Kent State. I just felt like having the chance to come this organization was… I felt like it was a great opportunity. There were a lot of things involved in the decision, but that was an easy decision. That took about two seconds to call my wife and say, ‘I’ve already accepted the job.’
So you were leaving?
We were leaving and she knew it. She knew I only had to talk to Bill [Belichick].
Knowing what we know about the linebackers in that room and how they like to give each other hell, I’m guessing that with an Ohio State guy like Mike Vrabel that Kent State has to have come up at some point.
Mike is from Kent. His house, his home where he grew up is in Kent, Ohio. He went to Akron to high school, to a Catholic high school, but he grew up in Kent so we’ve gone around and around with that stuff. I’m from Ohio; my whole family went to Ohio State, except for me. I’m a Buckeye-guy, not by choice, but they didn’t recruit me. I didn’t have any choice.
I want to ask you about Eugene Wilson. Obviously, injuries have limited him a little bit this year, but how much has his decrease in playing time been health-related, or is it something else?
I think it’s quite a bit. I would say that he certainly has not been healthy and he’s been working hard to get back. He’s doing well. He’s had a good week of practice. But I would also say that James Sanders has played himself into a position where it could have been a rotation had there been an injury or not. But I think all three of them were playing well and Eugene was hurt so that made the decision a little bit easier.
We got a little work in the snow yesterday. That was interesting, but [it’s] just part of the preparation for playing at this time of year. You never know what you’re going to get, but most importantly, [we’re] spending as much time as we can here getting ready for the Jets and all the different scenarios and problems that they present. So we’ll kind of wrap it up here today, putting it all together with the situational stuff and review the things we did on Wednesday and Thursday and be ready to go on Sunday afternoon.
What concerns do you have for the fans coming out if there’s really adverse weather conditions, as they’re predicting, on Sunday? Is there any chance this game could get called off?
I have no control over any of that. That’s way, way beyond me. I’m just the coach.
You’d play in front of nobody?
You’d have to talk to somebody else about that. I’m just trying to get the team ready to play. I don’t know between . . . I know that the league handles that, our security people, our . . . I don’t even know who makes those decisions, but certainly not me.
What’s the coldest [game] you’ve ever been in? I know in Cleveland you had some cold ones.
I’d say one of the coldest games was the Giants playoff game against the Bears, ’85. It was cold that day. It’s always cold when you get beat 21-0, I can tell you that, though.
Was that worse than that Tennessee night game?
The score has a lot to do with how cold you are. It’s never really that cold when you’re winning. It’s a lot colder when you’re losing. It could be 20 degrees and feel like 80 below, depending on the score.
The AFC Championship game against the Colts -- it got pretty cold that day.
You’re talking about the Indianapolis game? Again, the score has a lot more to do with how you feel than I think the actual temperature. I’m not sure if that was the coldest game, the Chicago game, but 21-0 - Like I said, it felt like it was 80 below.
What were you able to work on yesterday in practice?
Everything. We had our normal practice, just practice started [with] very light flurries. It was pretty pleasant out there. By the end of practice there was significant accumulation on the field, wet ball, ball-handling, playing in the snow, field-awareness, lack of lines, alignment - The whole depth and…The field, [there] are no markings, so just spatial relationship of the goalpost and the stadium, the field and just landmarks that you have to kind of estimate at when you don’t have those markings there.
Given the possibility that it could snow on Sunday, did that work out nicely for you?
I don’t know how it’s going to be on Sunday. [If] you listen to four forecasts, you get four different versions of it. Sooner or later, maybe we’ll play in it. I don’t know. Maybe we won’t, but we’ve practiced in rain, wind, snow, night, afternoon, morning. There’s things you can learn from every experience and practice [and] game, so there’s some we got yesterday. Whether it will have application on Sunday or not, I don’t know. I’m not really worried about it. If it does, it does. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Maybe it will some other time. I don’t know.
Speaking of ball-handling, since you’ve been here you’ve averaged 25 turnovers per season. This year, you lead the league with 10. To what would you attribute the dramatic drop off and the excellence with which you handle the ball?
I don’t know. Turnovers are really . . .when you look at them at the end of the year, it’s usually not one common thing. It’s usually a combination of things. But I think number one, the credit of that goes to the players. Those are the guys that handle the ball and they take care of it, including the kickers, snappers, all of the specialists, returners. That’s definitely a part of it, of the ball-handling, too, and those guys actually have the tougher ball-handling situations - especially the returners. But in the end, it’s the players’ ability to secure the ball and their dedication to protecting it. There’s some turnovers that are just… When you watch the play, you say, “Well, there wasn’t much we could do to prevent that.” There are other ones that you could do more to prevent, and so you just hope that every player will do everything he can when he has the ball to secure it and take care of it. There’s going to be some plays where a defender comes in and has a perfect hit with his helmet right on the ball and there’s enough pressure on the ball that will probably jar it loose from just about anybody. And then there’s other plays where there’s almost no pressure on the ball and it comes out. The same thing with interceptions. Sometimes the defenders make great plays and you look at it and say, “Boy, that was a tremendous play.” And then there’s other times you look at it and say, “Boy, that could have been prevented with a better route, a better throw, better protection,” whatever happened on that particular play. You try to avoid the ones that are just careless.
Conversely, have you looked a lot of film and seen your players do things -- whether it’s protect the ball, cover it, switch arms, whatever it is -- to prevent turnovers?
Yeah, I think there are times where I think our players have shown good ball-awareness and security. We definitely pointed that out. There’s other times where it hasn’t been so good. Sometimes that’s resulted in a problem; sometimes it hasn’t. Just because there’s careless ball-handling, as you well know, doesn’t always mean the ball’s going to come out, but the more of it you have, the higher percentage it is that sooner or later somebody’s going to hit it or you’re going to mishandle it and it will be a problem, so we’ve tried to cut those down as much as we can. It’s not perfect, but we do have an awareness of it, and I think the players do a good job of - generally speaking - do a good job of taking care of the football. And defensively, we try to capitalize on our opponents when they don’t take as good care of it.
What kind of trickle-down effect does it have on your team, particularly the defense, when your offense takes such good care of the ball?
Defensively, you always like to be on a long field and just play the percentages. It forces the offense - if they don’t get it all on one big play - it forces them to execute more plays throughout the course of the drive and statistically we all know that the further away they are from the goal line, the lower percentages are that they’ll score touchdowns, field goals [and] points. That doesn’t insure anything. Defenses give up long drives and they give up big plays, but statistically speaking, on a percentage basis, that field position works in the defense’s favor and conversely, putting the offense on a short field works on the offense’s favor - over the long haul, statistically. It definitely is important. Field position is always a critical thing. Especially - we had a situation come up the last few weeks at the end of the half where one first down, a few yards makes a difference between a field goal or a scoring opportunity at the end of the half. You can score at the end of the half and then there’s 1:30, 1:40, whatever left, and with good field position you or the other team can be right back in scoring position in a hurry. A few yards makes a difference then between a long field goal attempt and a Hail Mary into the end zone, which is a lower percentage play.
In the offseason, was it a point of emphasis?
It’s always a point of emphasis.
Well, more than usual? Was it something you said, “This has got to come down,” more than other years?
I don’t know. I don’t know, but it’s always a point of emphasis. It’s not anything that was glossed over, we don’t care about or [is] just lip-service. It’s a point of emphasis every year and whether you are good or bad the year before, it’s still important the next year, so we look at all of our turnovers. It’s part of what we do at the end of every season. We look at our turnovers in the previous year [and] analyze them. Defensively, we do the same thing. We always look at the teams who lead the league in those categories - fewest turnovers on offense, most turnovers on defense - [and] try to see if there’s any kind of trend or correlation or any thought or idea that might come up that we could utilize. Maybe it’s just seeing another player, his technique of getting the ball out or situations that he looks to get the ball out, if one player’s causing a number of turnovers - something like that. Like Ed Reed. We took note of him [last] week, playing him. That was more of an offensive thing, but defensively in the offseason that’s the kind of guy that you’d take a look at. He’s involved in a lot of turnovers and [we’ll] try to look at him. Kerry Rhodes is another guy like that. [He] shows up on the ball a lot. Some players are instinctive to do that but there’s also some technique involved in coming up with the ball, verses other guys who make a lot of plays but maybe don’t turn the ball over as much. But that’s part of the offseason study we do on an annual basis. It’s not, we’ll do it this year, we didn’t do it last year - We do it every year.
Last offseason when you were looking to add wide receivers, what were you look for specifically, and when did you realize the receivers were really going to click with Tom Brady?
We go through the same procedure every year in the offseason. We look at our team and look at the options we have to improve our team at every position. We don’t narrow it down to anything; We don’t exclude anything. Every player that’s available, we consider. Some of them we tried to add to our team and were able to, and some of them we’ve tried to add and we weren’t [able to]. And that includes players that are on our team at the end of the season who are not on our team the following year - some are signed to free agent or whatever the classification is. Each year you try to build your team [and] make it as strong as you can. Whoever you think can help do that, you try to work it out with them. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. It wasn’t a conscious effort to go out and do this or do that. It was trying to upgrade our team, which is the same thing we do in every season. Those guys have come in, they’ve worked hard - Randy [Moss], Wes [Welker], Kelley [Washington]. Jabar [Gaffney] was here last year; Chad [Jackson] is coming off an injury - But those guys, they’ve come in, they’ve worked hard, they’ve learned the system, they’ve played different positions and they’ve continued to get better, from all the way back in the spring camps, to training camp to practices and games here during the preseason and regular season. I don’t think there’s any one day where you say, “Oh, wow. This is good or not.” You just try to keep working every day, try to keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep improving. There’s a lot of things in the passing game we still, we always need to work on. You have to work on them every week, so it’s a continuing process.
Can you expand on Chad Jackson and his importance on special teams last week, him coming off the PUP and having an impact in that regard?
He’s done that for us before. He’s returned kicks, punts and kickoffs. He did it in college. He’s a big kid, [he’s] got some size, he’s fast, runs well with the ball in his hands, made some plays in the passing game on run-after-catch plays. We have a number of guys that have done that for us through the years. The past couple of years we’ve had a number of guys return punts [and] kickoffs; We’ve done it this year - Willie [Andrews], Wes, of course Ellis [Hobbs]. Laurence [Maroney] did it some for us last year, Chad. Depending on what the situation is and what everybody’s role is and how some other things on the team are working out, sometimes we try to break those responsibilities up and sometimes we don’t.
How does the injury to Mike Wright affect the defensive line, and how has Le Kevin Smith progressed at nose?
Well, we have right now one less player there, so we hate to lose Mike. Mike’s done a good job for us [in] both the regular and sub-situations. He’s played inside and outside. He’s got some versatility. Le Kevin’s done that, too. [He] just doesn’t have quite as much experience. He’s improved a lot over the last year and half, two years now. He’s played outside, he’s played inside, he’s a smart kid [and] he runs well. He has some size and he’s gaining experience. If he gets an opportunity, I’m sure that he’ll be ready to try to take advantage of it. He’s worked hard here for a couple of years and maybe somewhere along the line here he’ll have an opportunity to take advantage of all of that.
Do you see any similarities between Wes Welker and Troy Brown?
Well, sure. There’s some obvious [things]: Both play in the slot, they’re similar-size kind of guys. I think they each have their own playing style, but they both have been productive in that position, in the slot position. Both return kicks. So, sure.
I saw on TV somewhere they were breaking down your post-game handshakes. They had you in slow-motion and stuff. Why do coaches always shake hands after the games? Is that a league-mandated thing or tradition?
It’s not any rule that I’m aware of. So I would say, yeah, it’s traditional. I mean, not in any formal way, though.
Could you do without that this week?
I think we’ve talked plenty about that. Right now our focus is on the Jets and the game, and not on the high-fives and cartwheels and back flips.
Junior Seau talked about his first game in snow, verses Cleveland. Do you remember the first game you coached in the snow and maybe the outcome?
I remember the ones here pretty well. Buffalo, we played in the snow and the Oakland game. Those are the two, those are really the two snow games. The Miami game, there was snow in the stands but there wasn’t really much on the field. It didn’t snow during the game. And the Colts game.
What about at the Giants?
The Giants, I don’t think we really had too many snow games there that I can remember. I might be forgetting one, but I don’t think so. I mean, there’s an element of moisture like you have with rain, although it’s certainly not rain. And then you have an element of - depending on the accumulation - snow on the field, which is different, but similar to a muddy field. You could have some footing issues, you could have some ball-handling issues. But again, in the end, whatever the conditions are out there, the team you’re playing is the team on the other side of the line of scrimmage. That’s who you have to beat. It’s not like golf, where you’re hitting the ball into the elements. There’s somebody on the other side of the line of scrimmage. You have to block and tackle, cover and defend and all that. It’s certainly a part of the game, I’m not saying that, and it’s a factor, but I don’t think it’s [as] much of a factor as the execution of your team against your opponent. That’s who the real opponent is.
New England has announced that it signed tight end Stephen Spach to take Mike Wright's place on the 53-man roster.
Spach (pronounced "Spock") is in his second season and played 13 games with the Eagles in 2005. The 25-year old is 6-foot-4, 250 pounds and was among the Vikings' final cuts in September after spending 2006 out of football. With Philly two years ago, he had seven catches for 42 yards.
Spach played at Fresno State, which is coached by former Bill Belichick assistant Pat Hill. He becomes the third former Bulldog on the Pats' roster, along with Logan Mankins and James Sanders.
Limited Participation
G Stephen Neal - shoulder
S James Sanders - knee
LB Mike Vrabel - thigh
TE Benjamin Watson - ankle
Full Participation
QB Tom Brady - right shoulder
*This is Sanders' first appearance on the report this season; Neal did not play last week against Pittsburgh, and Yates is one of the players (with Russ Hochstein) responsible for filling in for him.
For the Jets:
Limited Participation
TE Chris Baker - back
WR Laveranues Coles - ankle
WR Jerricho Cotchery - finger
TE James Dearth - foot
WR Justin McCareins - thigh
DL Dewayne Robertson - knee
Full Participation
QB Kellen Clemens - thigh
TE Joe Kowalewski - shoulder
WR Brad Smith - back
At the top of the Patriots' participation/injury report was this item: DL Mike Wright has been placed on season-ending injured reserve with a foot injury.
A former undrafted rookie out of Cincinnati, Wright added versatile depth to the defensive line, as he could play end or nose tackle.
We slid things up a little bit today, but we’ll just still do what we have to do and just get you guys in a little bit earlier. It looks like we might be in the snow today.
Would you go ahead and practice outside today, in the elements?
We’re practicing. Whatever we get, we get. Whatever it is, it is.
Figuring you haven’t really seen much of it this year . . .
No, it’s just . . . well, we’ve seen a little bit of everything. Whatever we get, we get.
You’ve given up a couple hundred yards rushing in the last couple of weeks. Is there a reason for that?
No, I think we’ve played some good running teams and we haven’t played it as well as we’d like to play it. [There’s] certainly room for improvement.
Are there specific reasons why you guys haven’t done as well?
Just haven’t coached well enough, haven’t played well enough.
That’s general. Is there a specific reason?
No, that’s the reason. I just gave it. Each play is different. It’s been a combination of things. It’s not any one play or anyone. It’s just, we have to do a better job - coaching and playing.
When an opponent’s rusher gets - what was it, a 30-yard run by Willie Parker last week? That kind of skews the stats. Is that easier to figure out what’s wrong than if you’re giving up five or six yards?
Yeah, I know what you’re saying. In a way, it is, but in a way it’s still . . . you don’t want to give up a long one, either, so that’s a problem. I guess if you give up all eight-yarders, then it’s good because you’re not giving up any long ones, but it’s not good because you’re giving up all the eight-yarders. [If you] give up some two-yarders and then a 40-yarder, then that’s bad because you gave up a 40-yarder. There’s plays that we defended well and there’s others that we didn’t, and as I said, it just goes back to we need to do a better job of coaching and a better job of playing. And we’ve faced some good runners, so that’s not to take anything away from them, but we just need to do a better job.
I don’t know if there’s any one, but what are some of the keys to avoiding so-called ''negative plays'' as an offense?
Just the usual culprits -- penalties, missed assignments, just in general penetration. If the defense can’t penetrate the line of scrimmage, it’s going to be hard to get a negative play, so if they do penetrate the line of scrimmage and they somehow get to the runner before he can get into the hole, then you’ve got problems. Of course, penalties, that’s the quickest way.
You guys have been on the snap pretty good at avoiding not just negative plays, but turnovers as well.
Well, the less penetration you have, then the fewer opportunities the defense has to have a negative play. If they can’t get on your side of the line of scrimmage then they’re going to have fewer of those. The more they’re on your side of the line of scrimmage, then sooner or later they’re probably going to get some. And sometimes that’s getting to you physically and sometimes it’s some type of mental error or some type of scheme error where you allow the defense to penetrate. It’s more a function of you making a mistake than them making a great physical play. But, you know, sometimes that happens, too. We play against a lot of good defensive players. Sometimes they make good plays. Sometimes we make them.
What do you remember about the Miami game in 2003? Did you have as much fun as the fans and players seemed to?
What was it, 12-0? That was a good win for our team. It was a big win. It was good to see the fans get into it - that was good. It was a win against a division team. It was an important game for us and that gave us the division, right, if I remember correctly. So that was great. Believe me, that was great. Anytime you can win a game in the division - especially against Miami, [with] the way that was going with them. We didn’t beat them very often - and win the divisions, it’s great.
I know preparing for the Jets and winning is obviously important, but how much have you talked to the team about the importance of this game and clinching home field advantage?
We’re just talking about beating the Jets. That’s it. Everything else will just take care of itself. We just have to do what we can do, do our job and just let everybody else worry about the other stuff. [There’s] nothing we can do about it.
With David Harris playing in the lineup for them as a rookie - I thought he would be the kind of guy that you would be interested in. Did you look at him?
Sure, we looked at a lot of players.
Obviously Eric Mangini runs a similar style defense to what you do here. Do you think he’s a good fit for that system?
I think you’d have to ask him that question. Obviously they did, based on the fact that they traded up to take him. He’s had some production for them. He’s done a good job. They started off playing him at the weak side spot when [Jonathan] Vilma got hurt, and he actually played there during preseason. And then they shifted him over to what we call the Mike, to the strong side spot and bumped [Eric] Barton back to the weak side, where Vilma had played. So I don’t really know what - You’d have to talk to them about that move, why they did it and all that, but that’s kind of what happened. Harris played on the weak side in through preseason and in the early part of the regular season, and then they switched and moved him over to Mike and moved Barton back to the weak side. He’s had a productive year.
Where does Leon Washington rank in terms of the returners you’ve faced this year? I know you’ve faced some good ones, but . . .
Yeah, he’s right up. Leon, he’s good. He does both punts and kickoffs. There’s some guys that haven’t done that - [Josh] Cribbs did, but we’ve seen guys like [Willis] McGahee and even Justin Miller in the opener that are kind of one guy does one thing and another guy does something else. Leon’s quick, he’s fast, he’s had the long runs, which shows you that he’s got enough long speed. He’s a hard guy to tackle. He’ll reverse his field [and] change directions. [He’s] maybe a little quicker than Cribbs, probably not as strong, maybe a little bit faster. But we’ve seen some real good ones. McGahee is another, probably more of a straight-line guy - although he’ll change directions, too, but I think Washington is a pretty nifty guy, sort of like Roscoe Parrish from Buffalo, in terms of his quickness. [Ted] Ginn - we’ve seen a lot of good ones.
Is bad weather more disruptive to defensive players than offensive players? They’re the ones what have to react to what they see. It seems like that might cause them more difficulty.
I think there’s some truth to that, yeah. When you’re reacting to somebody else on a wet or slippery surface, then it’s easier if you know where you’re going. So I think from that standpoint [it is], and it’s harder to make a sharp move. Sometimes the pass-rushers have trouble on a slick field, being able to really change directions, if that’s the kind of pass-rusher you are, you’re trying to move quickly on that type of surface.
Is there any way to mitigate that through cleat-selection and things like that?
You do everything you can to put yourself in the best position. Absolutely. Yeah, in terms of equipment or body position leverage, there’s a lot of things you can do to try to maximize it, regardless of what the conditions are. You can try to find the best way to attack or defend whatever side of it you’re on, on any play. Part of that’s the conditions, part of that’s what you’re doing and how it matches up against the opponent and what they’re doing on that particular play.
Are there any other receivers you’ve seen that have the package that Randy Moss brings to the table, in terms of leaping ability, patterns, hands, speed - the whole package?
I think each player has their own skill-set. There’s a lot of good players. Each guy is unique. Each guy has his own individual skill-set. We’re all like that. We’re all a little bit different, so I think that’s true of football players, too. There’s certain categories - there’s some big receivers and fast receivers and quick receivers - but each guy has his own - And some of that is within the offensive system. You can’t really run every route that everybody runs. You just don’t have enough time to work on all of them and be good at them, so you pick out the ones that are a core to your system and maybe you have a couple of others that you use situationally, based on certain looks or coverages or techniques that you’ve faced that you might use in those situations, and the next team has theirs, and the next has theirs. Sometimes a player, what he does is somewhat related to what the team does in the passing game.
You spread out defenses a lot with 4-5 wide receiver sets. Other than having the tight end in sometimes, what’s the difference between now and the run-and-shoot you used to run back in the day?
Well, the run-and-shoot was an offense into its own entity. What they did was… It was the run-and-shoot. I don’t think the run-and-shoot had a lot of carry-over to any other offense. The quarterback was always under center. [In] the true run-and-shoot, there wasn’t any shotgun. Now, again, like the west coast offense and other offenses, certain things evolved and, depending on the coach that was running it, he may have added or subtracted to it, but [in] the original run-and-shoot, the quarterback was always under center, the back was always behind the quarterback. Backs were always big backs, fullback-types, because they were big protectors. They were sometimes borderline guards, in terms of protection. [It] only ran two formations. It was its own offense, kind of like running the triple option or that type of thing. You do what you do, you have your adjustments to it. They only had a few plays. The plays had multiple, multiple adjustments off each play and off each route. A guy could come out and run any one of maybe five or six routes, or it could be one of three routes, depending on the play. When you have that much flexibility in the passing game, that’s kind of unique. [It would] be hard to put in a lot of plays that have - They did it and they did it full-time. It would be hard to put in two or three plays on a part-time basis and try to get the execution that those teams got on a full-time basis with those plays.
How special is this season for you and your team? Is it special?
Right now we’re really just . . . we’re thinking about the Jets. It’s a one-game season. I’m not going to say it’s been bad. I’m not unhappy with our record, but at the same time, it doesn’t really mean anything for this week. This week’s just about this week, and so that’s where our focus is. We’re not worried too much about what happened in the past and we’re not worried too much about what’s coming up next. We’re just focused on the Jets.
There’s been a lot of talk this year about humble pie. Do you feel you have to counterbalance that at some level with some sort of praise?
I’m not sure I follow you.
The humble pie -- All of the guys talk about humble pie, and obviously it keeps them level. You don’t want their heads to get inflated, but do you have to counter that with some positive reinforcement so guys don’t get beat down over the course of a season?
I think when you put together a team you try to have a way to keep improving your team and get better and that can come from a lot of different ways, be it motivation, technique, practice, meetings, etc. You do what you can to improve your team. I think that’s what a coach does. Whatever all those elements are, I think there are a number of them and I’m sure every coach uses all of them at some point or another. I think you should probably ask the players about that. That’s not . . . I just try to coach the team [and I] try to do the best I can. It’s not perfect, it’s not great, but it’s what I think is the right thing to do.
Yesterday you spoke very highly of Vince Wilfork, for example, and deservedly so. It seems like you’ve done that more this year than maybe in the past.
Have I ever spoken negatively about any of our players?
Not negatively, but they talk about humble pie and you serving it up to them. Not publicly, no.
I don’t know. You’d have to ask them about that. I don’t know.
What’s the harshest reception you’ve ever gotten on the road?
I don’t know, I haven’t ranked them. I don’t think any team is very popular on the road -- or coach, for that matter. It’d be about a 31-way tie.
Is there a place out there that’s more creative than others?
There’s a lot of creative places. Go to the black hole in Oakland. There’s some creation out there. I’m not sure what it is, but there’s plenty of it.
How is Foxboro for visiting teams?
Oh, they get you on Route 1 about four miles before you even get to the stadium. It’s kind of like a parade. They know what the visiting buses are. They get you early and they escort you all the way into the stadium. I’ve been on that one a few times.
As if on cue, it began snowing as soon as the media was let onto the field for the Patriots' practice session. Even though it was freezing, it was actually kind of like being in a snow globe.
There were two absences today -- G Billy Yates and DL Mike Wright.
As for the black jerseys, there were several: Chad Jackson, Chad Brown, Matt Cassel, Ray Ventrone, Ryan O'Callaghan, and Tim Mixon.
Tom Brady has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season after his 32-for-46, 399 yard, four-touchdown performance against Pittsburgh on Sunday. Brady's 399 yards were second-most in his career and most ever in a non-overtime game.
This is the ninth time this season a New England player has won one of the weekly AFC awards -- Randy Moss (twice), Ellis Hobbs (special teams), Mike Vrabel and Asante Samuel have also been honored.
The New England Patriots' Alumni Club has donated $10,000 to help with the travel expenses for eight New England Pop Warner teams to travel to the Pop Warner National Championships in Orlando, Fla. this month.
Two Rhode Island teams -- the Darlington Braves, who play a few blocks from where I lived for 20 years, and the Mount Hope Cowboys -- are among the eight teams who will each receive $1,250 to help defray travel expenses.
The other teams are: the Everett Huskies, Malden Cyclones, Mission Hill Buccaneers, Oakmont Chargers and Worcester Vikings from Massachusetts, and the Fairfield Chargers of Connecticut.
As numerous media members gathered in the parking lot outside the Dana-Farber Fieldhouse for today's practice access, we were told that there had been a scheduling mistake: for the second straight Wednesday, the Pats would not have their usual full-pads practice.
Instead they are having a walkthrough.
Last week's light day - on a short week, as the Pats prepared for a top opponent - was met with a great deal of appreciation from the players and they seemed rejuvenated against the steelers.
According to a report this morning in Newsday by reporters Bob Glauber and Tom Rock, the New York Jets were caught using a videotaping device in a game last season at Foxboro, resulting in the removal of a Jets employee. According to Newsday, the Jets last night admitted to videotaping the game, but said they had permission from the Patriots to film from the location in question.
It's not clear, the newspaper said, whether the incident occurred during the 2006 regular-season game in Foxboro won by the Jets, or during the AFC Wildcard Playoff Game won by the Patriots. A Patriots source said it happened during the Jets' win, while a New York source said it happened during the playoff game.
The Patriots' underachieving, only-semi-durable, second-year running back might want to ponder these comments by Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy regarding the until recently unheralded Ryan Grant, who rushed for 156 yards on 29 carries Sunday against the Raiders: "I really like the way he runs. No wasted steps. One cut. Always moving forward. That's the style in the NFL that works best, I think."
Maroney was drafted 21st overall by New England in 2006. Grant was obtained by the Packers this year from the Giants in exchange for a late-round draft pick, after spending the 2005 season in New York on the practice squad and last season on the Injured Reserve list.
Unlike Grant, Maroney tries to make too many cuts, does too much dancing, too often runs East-West, instead of North-South.
As the weather worsens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to throw the football consistently, the Patriots will need to rely more on Maroney, who thus far in his brief career has not run as well as his former teammate at Minnesota, the Cowboys' Marion Barber.
Shalise Manza Young and Mike McDermott discuss the Patriots' win over Pittsburgh and look ahead to the Jets circus. Click the play button below to see and hear the show.
[There’s] not really too much different from what we talked about yesterday after the game. I’m proud of the players. I thought they executed pretty well against a real good football team. We made some big plays offensively and had a couple drives there when we needed them. Pittsburgh blitzed us a lot. Really, it was almost all blitz. It was a blitz-a-thon the whole day. Defensively we played better in the red area and the goal line, made a couple [of] big stops there. That helped us. Special teams, we had the turnover there that we couldn’t take advantage of, but it was a heads-up play by our punt team - James [Sanders] and Larry [Izzo], and those guys. [We] got a good return there from Chad [Jackson] to answer their first score. [There were] certainly some things we could have done better in that phase of the game, but I thought we had some plays when we needed them. The team played with poise, played hard. It was a physical game. I’m sure we’ve got a lot of sore guys in our locker room today, or tomorrow, whenever they come in, and I’m sure Pittsburgh does, too. It was that type of a game. We’ll try to put that one behind us and move on. We have a couple of games in the division here coming up. Obviously the Jets, who we saw quite a bit of last week in watching them play Pittsburgh, so we know what kind of football team they have and the job they did against the Steelers. That was an impressive win. So that’s where we’re at today.
Randy Moss said he was lobbying to you and the rest of the coaching staff since he got here to let him throw. How did he convince you?
Randy can throw. He made a nice play there where he - after he dropped it - picked it up and slung it back to Tom [Brady]. I think Tom put it well that Randy threw him the ball better than Tom threw it to Randy, but no, he’s got a good arm [and] can throw the ball. It was just a play we’ve had in for a little while and yesterday [we] had a good opportunity to run it. It was well-executed, though. We didn’t really plan on Randy dropping it, but he did enough to kind of help get everybody over there when he threw it back to Tom. There was just nobody left on the back side. And Jabar [Gaffney] did a good job selling it. It was 10 yards behind the defense. Those plays are always great when they work.
You utilized Chad Jackson in the kicking game to field punts. How do you think he did and what was the line of thinking in using him there?
We thought that was the best way to utilize the personnel in the game. I thought he did a good job. There are some other things that could have been better, like the kickoff return. We handled the ball a little bit cleaner, but I thought getting the ball back up to midfield after they scored was good. I thought he made a good catch on the punt that was a short ball. I think if he could have kept his feet there might have been a big play there, but at least it didn’t hit the ground and roll 20 yards like it usually does when you don’t catch it. So there’s some good things; there’s some things he can keep working on.
Obviously the offense made some big plays, but the defense did, too. There’s a couple I’d like you to talk about. One was Vince Wilfork’s sack - he talked about how he had picked up a call that Ben Roethlisberger made and kind of anticipated it. Also, on the fourth down stop that Rodney Harrison made on the goal line, he talked about having remembered seeing that play before and anticipating that.
I think Vince’s comment on his play is a lot more than I can add. That’s the kind of game within a game that goes on out there on the offensive and defensive lines where you’re just lining up that far away from the other guy for 50, 60, 70 plays, whatever it is in the game, and picking up a call or a stance or a weight-distribution or the way a guy kind of looks. That’s stuff you just don’t see on film and it’s hard to - As a coach, from the sideline, you just, that’s the kind of thing - I know Vince is a smart guy. Vince picks up a lot of things. We talk about it when he comes over to the sideline, you know, about, “I can read this, I can read that,” and he’s right. He can read it, and he’s right on those things, so it doesn’t surprise me that that type of thing happens, because he’s very astute and he’s got enough experience to know when to take a chance on it and when not to. I think he [exhibits] very good judgment on that. The fourth down play was - Mike Vrabel did a great job at the point of attack. He kind of pushed the wing back and when [Hines] Ward got the ball he couldn’t really cut up and would have had to give more ground to get outside. Rodney had him in man-to-man coverage, so when he trailed him over and took the hand-off, he kind of was in good position to make the play, as long as the ball got held up a little bit, which it did, but I think that had a lot to do with Vrabel pushing the line of scrimmage back and Ward kind of had to throttle down. Then there wasn’t much space for him to work in. Usually you get a guy, you get the ball guy in a little bit of space and you feel like he can make a yard one way or the other by just squirting through there, and that’s high-percentage football. Mike and Rodney both did a good job on that. Rodney made a good tackle on it. But yeah, after we got past the first series, that first long drive that Pittsburgh had, our third-down defense was better and our red area defense, we were able to make a couple of plays there, too. Those were good situational downs for us on the defensive side of the ball and that helped us, like I said, once we got past that first series.
On your first scoring drive - your second possession - there was a play where Laurence Maroney surged ahead for 10 yards and Moss came out of nowhere and sort of bashed Ike Taylor. Do you think Randy was setting a tone of, “You can be as physical as you guys are. We’re going to be physical, too”?
I think our receivers overall have done a good job blocking - better than we’ve done in some other years in the past. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but I think they do a pretty good job. I thought yesterday in particular they did a good job of blocking - Jabar, Randy, Donte’ [Stallworth], Wes [Welker] - they all, I thought, did a good job of blocking downfield. There were a couple of times when, like Randy peeled Taylor off the pile [and] did another time on a swing pass to Gaffney. Donte’ had a couple good blocks in there. Gaffney had a couple. Welker had a couple too, so they did a good job of blocking for each other and blocking downfield, but I think overall they’ve done a pretty good job of that this year. Like I said, better than probably overall what we’ve had in the past for awhile. It’s a good part of their unselfish play and it helps everybody else out. I thought the offensive line on that particular play, Laurence stayed on his feet and showed the kind of strength that he had. Logan [Mankins] and [Dan] Koppen and those guys were kind of in the pile. They just kind of kept pushing, too, and like you said, before you know it, two yards became 10.
Is there any formula that you use with rotation of you defensive linemen?
No. No, we try to utilize them, but it’s not in any set formula. Sometimes it’s by personnel groups, you know, nickel or dime, kind of like we do on offense when a certain back or a certain tight end will go in with a certain group of wide receivers, where we have a name for that - Group A, Group B, Group C. You go in on your group, and we do that sometimes on our defense, too, as it goes from our base defense to some of our sub-groupings. Then beyond that, there’s just a normal rotation and that’s done very unscientifically, based on what we feel like. It could be a variety of reasons, but what we feel like is the time to make a change or just substitute or roll them in. Sometimes it’s a function of what’s going on in the kicking game as well as on offense or defense. I know the question was about the defensive line, but really it rolls into every grouping on the team.
So you can make those on the fly based on the flow of the game or whatever?
Oh, definitely. Definitely. And sometimes the players make them on their own, although we don’t do a lot of that, but occasionally a player will come out because he has a sore something, something got hit on the play before or whatever and comes out, then he’ll go back in. So sometimes it’s that too, but we’ll substitute based on -- some weeks it’s down-and-distance, some weeks it’s the personnel they put it, sometimes it’s just to kind of give our guys a little bit of a break. Sometimes we know a certain player’s going to be in on one group, so we sub for him in a different group to try to balance out the reps and sometimes we feel like a certain situation is more important than another one, so we want to make sure we have our players in on that situation. Then if we’re going to rotate it would be in a different situation. So to answer your question, there’s no set formula over the course of a season. There may be a set formula for one particular game, but that fluctuates, too.
What is your impression of the Jets? Last year they were a playoff team, this year . . .
My impression of them was in the Pittsburgh game they played very well. And they beat
Pittsburgh. I haven’t seen yesterday’s game, but we watched the Pittsburgh game pretty carefully because we were watching Pittsburgh. We’ll get rolling on the Jets this afternoon and into the week. They did a good job against the Steelers.
Obviously the events of the first week of the season will be rehashed this week leading up to the game. What will be your approach this week and will there be any extra motivation for your team?
We’re going to approach it like every other game.
Which is?
Just the way we’ve done all of them -- come in, look at the film, get together a game plan, try to figure out the best way to attack and defend them. Try to win.
And extra motivation?
We’re going to do the same thing -- we try to win every week, believe it or not. It may not look like it at times, but we do. We try to play our best game out there every week and we try to win every week, so we’re going to try to win this week.
Is there a point where you weigh the bigger picture against individual games?
Well, right now that doesn’t really come into play so I’m not going to worry about it and we’re not going to talk about it. We’re going to try to win the next game.
It appears from the outside the approach has always been to play each game independently.
Absolutely. And that’s exactly right. That’s what it is. I mean, people try to make more out of it than that, but that’s all it is. Just try to play this game for what it is.
Is there a benefit to that approach, even when there isn’t anything tangible at stake?
I don’t know how to approach the game any other way. We’re playing a team this week, so what should we do, talk about some other game? What’s the point in that? Talk about something that happened a month ago or last week or that might happen sometime in the future, which is so unpredictable -- it’s hard enough to predict what’s going to happen a couple of days from now. To think about, well, this is something that might happen a month from now…So, we don’t spend a lot of time on that. In fact, I would say zero.
For instance, Anthony Smith’s comments obviously gave everybody a little extra juice. So what happened with the Jets won’t provide any extra juice?
What happened yesterday was a function of our players executing some plays better than the Steelers and some plays not as well. There’s no points for any quotes that were or weren’t in the paper. [The] plays that we executed well, we gained yards on. The plays that we didn’t, we didn’t gain yards on and there were some of both. The plays that we executed well on defense, they didn’t gain too many yards. There were several plays that we didn’t execute very well - they gained plenty of them.
You don’t feel that the fallout from that Jets game has an impact at all on the rest of your season?
I’m telling you that we’re going to approach this game like we approached the last one and the one before that. That’s all I can tell you.
Did Smith’s aggressive nature towards the run allow you to scheme play-action plays a little better over the top with him?
Those are plays that are part of our offense, so we run them. We’ve run them in the past. I think that’s the decision that the defensive backs have to make, is whether they want to try to come up and help in the running game or whether they want to stay back, create more space in the running game and defend the deeper part of the field. But I think that the offensive line and the ball handling and all, it was good action. It sold the play pretty well and Randy - You’re talking about on his second touchdown? - He came out and put a good move on Taylor, held him outside and beat him to the post. I’m not sure really whether the safety was supposed to be there or not. I mean, I’m not sure exactly how they were keying or playing the play. You’d have to ask them that. Whether Taylor had him all the way or whether he was getting help, I’m not really sure. That’s something that only they could answer.
You talked about the Jets over the Steelers and how impressive it was. Given the nature of that win, are you surprised they haven’t had more performances like that?
I think I have a lot of respect for the Jets [and the] Jets players. They have some outstanding players and they played very well against Pittsburgh. I can’t tell you what happened in all of the other games. The only games I really am familiar with are our first game with them and then this Pittsburgh game because of the amount of time that we spent watching Pittsburgh last week. The rest of it, we’ll catch up on the next couple of days and try to be ready to go when the team comes in on Wednesday.
You’re facing a pretty stiff penalty. Are there any lingering feelings you harbor towards the NFL or . . .
I’m trying to get ready for this game against the Jets. That’s what I’m trying to do.
You have Jackson returning kicks. Is there ever a point where the division of labor can make players better at specific tasks? Is any of the logic to dividing the labor and not having Ellis Hobbs returning as much?
I think that -- sure. When you take your 45 players to the game, you decide how you want to go into the game, how you want to distribute all of the different jobs that have to be done amongst those 45 players. And a lot of times when you make the decision on the final roster that’s taken into consideration, is how you want to break it up. And whichever player you decide is your 43rd, 44th, 45th, whatever it is, then basically what you’re deciding is that that player has a more important role than the 46th, 47th or 48th. And that’s not to say - If we could dress those guys, we would dress them, and we would play them. They wouldn’t just dress, they would play, but you’re limited so you have to decide how you want to do it and it’s hard to take players to the game - the quarterback and back-up linemen fall into a little bit of a different category in terms of the utilization, because of the position that they play. They don’t for the most part play in the kicking game and things like that, so truly they’re insurance players, but you have to balance your depth on offense and defense with the plays that you need guys to do on special teams and all of the different situational plays that come up. That’s how you decide on your roster, on your final 45-man roster - if you have a choice. Now there’s some weeks where you only have 45 healthy guys and those are the ones you take. But if you have more than that, which was the case for us last week, then you have to decide which ones you’re going to take and how you’re going to distribute those jobs.
Can the fact that Jackson returns kicks make Hobbs a more effective defensive back?
Again, I think it’s a question of breaking it up. I’m not sure exactly how to characterize what the benefits are, but there’s some - I agree with what you’re saying, to a point. I’m not sure what the percentages are and how exactly it breaks down, but yeah, I think in theory if you have one guy out there doing everything - returning all the kicks, playing all of the plays on offense or defense, covering all of the kicks - that maybe if he played a few less plays than he might be more effective on the ones that he’s playing. I think that there’s some truth to that. I’m not saying that’s the case in every situation, but I think there’s some truth to that. And again, it just depends on - Sometimes you’d rather have the guy possibly returning kicks and playing less plays on offense or defense. It just depends on your make-up as a team and what you feel is the most advantageous for you as a team, or maybe in one particular game. Maybe it’s not the same for every game.
Now that you’ve had a chance to look at the film, how did Eugene Wilson look? It’s been quite a while since he’s been out there.
I would put Eugene in the same category I probably would put most all of the players in: They did some good things; there’s other things that could have been better. There’s always plays there, but it’s good to have him back.
Did he seem pretty fluid? I know he’d had the ankle for awhile.
He hasn’t been on the injury report for a couple weeks, has he?
Before the game yesterday there was a banner play that offended a lot of Patriots fans. Does it upset you or frustrate you that there’s a perception outside of New England that your wins or tainted or the season is tainted by Week 1?
I try to control the things that I can control, and that’s what I’m going to do -- coach the team, get them ready to play, get them ready to go. That’s what we have control over. [We] can’t control what else is out there.
With the decision Monday to push the starting time for New England's Dec. 23rd game with Miami at Gillette Stadium back to 4:15 from the originally scheduled 1 p.m., the Patriots now will wind up playing just one of their final nine games -- and only 2 of their last 13 -- at what for years has been the traditional starting time for NFL games.
The last time the Patriots had a 1 o'clock kickoff was Oct. 21, at Miami. Three subsequent games were switched from 1 o'clock starts -- Nov. 18 at Buffalo, which was delayed 'til that night; this past weekend's game with the Steelers, switched to 4:15; and now the Dolphins game, leaving the Jets game this Sunday in Foxboro as the only 1 o'clock start for New England in the final 2 1/2 months of the season.
The Pats played the Eagles and Ravens at night, and games with Washington and Indianapolis always were slated to kickoff at 4:15.
The only other 1 o'clock starts for New England this year were the season opener at Giants Stadium against the Jets and home games against Buffalo (9/23) and Cleveland (10/7).
While there is a compelling angle to the New England-Miami matchup because the Patriots are trying to go undefeated while the Dolphins are trying to avoid a winless season, it figures to be a one-sided game for that very reason, which could prompt viewers nationwide to find other diversions on the Sunday before Christmas.
Journal photos
Patriot's Coach Bill Belichick abandoned his customary grunge look (right) for a shiny, puffy jacket (left) in yesterday's game.
Some Patriots' fans might have looked twice before recognizing the guy in the headset directing the Patriots from the sideline during yesteday's game.
Sure, that was the same Bill Belichick who has guided the Pats to an undefeated season so far, but where was the customary -- maybe even lucky -- hooded sweatshirt?
Today's Sports cover highlights the Patriots win over the visiting Steelers as the Pats continue their undefeated run. Also, read how Providence College cruised past Brown in a men's basketball game at the Dunkin' Donuts Center. Download file
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