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November 30, 2007

Transcript: Bill Belichick's Friday press conference

Ron Jaworski this week had comments about Randy Moss and a perceived, on his part, lack of effort against Philadelphia running complimentary routes. How would you characterize his effort against Philadelphia, specifically in that category?
I think, like all of us, Ron’s a football guy. He’s entitled to his opinion and so is everybody else. [I] just think that Randy’s done a good job for us. He’s been a good leader, been a good player, been very productive, and I’d say the same thing I’d say about Randy as I’d say about myself and every other player. He’s not perfect. There are things he could do better. I make plenty of mistakes; so does everybody else. Is every play perfect for any of us? No. There’s room for improvement by all of us. I put everybody in that category.

Is that category - effort on complimentary routes -- a particular area that --
No, I’m just saying I think there’s plays in every game that any player could improve on. There’s plays that could be better coached or better called or better officiated or better anything. It’s a competitive game, so there’s always room for improvement for everybody, and that includes every player and every coach on our team. I can’t speak for any other ones.

So in some way you agree with his assessment?
I never said that. I said Ron’s entitled to his opinion. So is everybody else.

Want to talk more about Ed Reed?
Bring him on.

Tom [Brady] said you wanted to adopt him earlier this week.
That might be stretching [it] a little bit. Ed’s a great player. He’s a great player. [A] former Player of the Year, and deservedly so. He does a lot of things that very few other players at his position can do. He’s got a big impact on the game and there’s not a lot of defensive players you can say that about, but he’s one of the elite.

You’ve often talked about how you’re always going to prepare for every player and every team’s best game. Do you prepare for that bull’s-eye as your profile increases each week?
That’s the way it’s been all year. That’s the way it’s been every year. I mean, did you think the Jets were pointing for us? Did you think San Diego was pointing for us? Buffalo? Right down the line. Those were big games for us, they’re big games for them. Everybody’s putting out their best preparation and best game.

Can you see an increase as the season goes on?
It’s there every week. That’s what we try to do every week [and] I think that’s what our opponents try to do every week. That’s the National Football League. We have 16 games, not 162. Once a week, we play. If you can’t play once a week your best game, then…Every two weeks? Every three weeks? I don’t know. Believe it or not, we try to play [well] every week. I know it doesn’t look like it, but we do try to play [well] every week. I’m sure our opponents do, too. There are a lot of other great players and coaches in this league doing the same thing as we are, working just as hard, putting in just as much time, that have just as much experience. It’s a very competitive league and there isn’t much sometimes that decides winning and losing a game, so you’d better be able to do all of the little things, do them at the right time and any play can make the difference.

Junior Seau is in his 18th year and when you look at his career you’d say he’s a run-stopper, but here he’s kind of a third-down guy.
I wouldn’t say that. I think Junior has played on all three downs his entire career, and been productive on all three downs his entire career. In San Diego, I can’t remember him ever coming off the field and at Miami, Zach [Thomas] was really their every-down linebacker, but I don’t think it was because Junior couldn’t do it. I think that was just the role that they had him in down there for a couple of years. He’s played on every down for us.

Of those two aspects, is he better at one?
I think he’s [a] pretty well-rounded player. He’s big, he’s fast, he’s physical, he can tackle, he can run, he can cover, he can blitz. He’s [a] pretty versatile player. He plays up in the line, plays back off the line. I don’t see him as a one-dimensional player at all. I think he has a lot of versatility, more than probably most middle linebackers that have played in this league. I’d certainly put him in the top 10 percent of that group.

Is his productivity sort of surprising to you at this point in his career?
I think it is, if you look at the numbers. If you just look at how many 30 - whatever it is, [38, 39], however old he is, the number of those linebackers and what their production [is] - But, I mean, you look at Junior [and] just look at the man, there he is. He doesn’t look old, he doesn’t play old. He looks just like everybody else does that’s a veteran player. He’s got a lot of energy, he can run, he’s quick, he’s explosive, he’s got a high energy-level, he’s smart, he’s on top of it. I don’t want to say he doesn’t look his age, but [when] you watch him on the football field, you don’t look at him and say, wow, there’s an old man. It looks like he’s getting ready to retire. I don’t think anybody thinks that. You just don’t see it. You don’t see it on the practice field, you don’t see it on the game field. I think he has as much energy out there as anybody. I wish we had more that had the same kind of energy he does, to be honest with you, that are half his age or not much more than that.

Knowing how important football obviously is to you and talking about still getting butterflies on game day, can you talk about what the kids are going to feel on Saturday at the MIAA Emass Super Bowls at Gillette Stadium?
I’m sure it will be an exciting day for them and their families. When you look at high school athletes, so many of them, that’s their last game. And then there’s a fraction of them that go on and play in college and then there’s a fraction of them that go on and play professionally. But in a lot of cases, the kids that play in high school, that’s going to be their last competitive football game. And for some it isn’t, but for probably the majority, it is. I’m sure it’s an exciting experience for both them and their families and their school. It’s something that I’m sure that they’ll always remember. You remember the rivalry games and the big games that that they play within their conference or their rivals or whoever it was, but to play in a championship game, I think probably any athlete or coach, no matter how old you get you always remember the championship games you were in. There’s only so many of them, and that I’m sure will be, I think, a memory that all of those kids bring with them. It’ll probably always tie them together. I know a number of my friends that were involved in championship teams, even at the high school level, they have their reunions, they come back or an undefeated team or whatever. I had that in high school at Andover. We were undefeated in ’71 - or, I’m sorry, it was the fall of ’70. We still have those reunions every once in awhile for an undefeated team or that kind of thing. So, it is, you’ll always be connected to those - to your teammates and to that group of people, whoever they all encompassed - the coaches and everybody else that’s associated with the team. It’s a life-long memory. I think it’s great that we have the facilities to handle it and I’m sure it will be a memorable experience for all of those teams involved.

Have you had a chance to scout Dartmouth-Everett?
I haven’t seen them yet. Maybe we’ll see them Saturday.

You’ve had nine turnovers on offense, which is the fewest in the league. Where does that start, in terms of ball security? Does it start in practice or with the quarterback…?
It’s every player’s responsibility who handles the ball. When you handle the ball, you carry the entire fortunes of the team with you. No matter who it is - center, punter, quarterback, running back, defensive player on a turnover, returner - whoever it is, there’s nothing more important than possession of the ball, so it’s a tremendous amount of responsibility and anybody that has it needs to understand what the importance of it [is], and the importance of doing all that they can to secure it. It could cover a lot of different areas, from decision-making to technique and so forth, but yeah, it’s critical and everybody that touches it is part of it. It’s something that we emphasis. I know every team does. It’s important to us, and it’s an accountability that the players have to - whoever handles it has to accept. Hopefully we can keep those to a minimum. That’s important, especially this week against a turnover-driven team like the Ravens who’s record is so closely tied to the turnover ratio, like most games in this league are, but the Ravens in particular, they’re pretty heavily tilted towards their advantage in turnovers and their winning percentage.

Posted by Art Martone  at 2:11 PM | Permalink