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September 12, 2007

Bill Belichick press conference

Hey all --

The Patriots released the statement from Bill Belichick just before the coach took the podium for his daily press conference, and he didn't add much more to it when he got in front of the microphone.

"First of all, I think everyone has a copy of the statement I made. Really, until there's a ruling from the league, there isn't anything more I have to add to that. So, we're moving on to San Diego...."

The first couple of questions were centered around camera-gate, and Belichick repeated that he had said all he would say about the situation for right now. Asked if he was embarrassed, he replied, "Are there any questions about San Diego?"

After a few moments of silence, a voice came from the back of the room: "How are you going to shut down LT (LaDainian Tomlinson)?"

Belichick actually smiled with the comment, and there was some laughter in the room.

For the next 10 or so minutes, Belichick talked about Tomlinson and the Chargers' running game, Antonio Gates, and whether San Diego looks radically different under new head coach Norv Turner.

Belichick commented that you basically know what you're going to get with a Turner-coached offense, and that overall it's a mixture of ideas from the new coaching staff mixed with ones from Marty Schottenheimer's regime. After all, San Diego was 14-2 last year in the regular season.

In the locker room, most players said they didn't know anything about camera-gate, and that they were simply getting ready to face the Chargers.

The line of the day came from (of course) Ellis Hobbs, when asked if he thought the scandal would be a distraction.

“I just had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some Doritos so I’m not too distracted right now,” Hobbs said. “This is my lunch break. When we go out there and practice, we are not thinking about any of those things. Our main focus is to get out there and to prepare in the best way possible for the San Diego Chargers. That’s all we are worried about. There aren’t any distractions.”

Peanut butter and jelly and Doritos. Yum.

shalise

The media workroom was packed with reporters from every local media outlet, ESPN, USA Today, NBC Sports and others.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:19 PM | Permalink