Sports Radio Interviews

Bill Belichick Points to Breakdowns in the Defense as the Reason for Getting Blasted Against the Saints

Talk about a guy who really does not have too much to say.  Bill Belichick is always short and vague with his answers and this interview was no exception.  In fact, that’s actually how he looked on Monday night playing against the explosive Saints as well…without any answers.  I remember watching the game and thinking that the Hoodie just looks lost, he looks like he doesn’t have an answer on how to stop the New Orleans Saints.  Join the club though Bill because nobody has figured out how to stop Drew Brees and the high-powered Saints as of yet.  There is a reason why they are undefeated after all.  However, I was shocked at how New Orleans completely dismantled a Bill Belichick defense.  He is not known for coaching the offense.  He had Charlie Weis do that for him a couple of years ago and then Josh McDaniels after Weis went to Notre Dame.  He is known as a defensive minded coach, even a defensive minded guru at times.  However, his defense really has not been very good this year and it has gotten blasted in two of the last three games by Indianapolis and New Orleans.  As good as the offense in New England is, if New England doesn’t find their defensive identity and start showing the form that they showed earlier in the season, its going to be very difficult for them to make the kind of run that they want to make.

Bill Belichick joined WEEI in Boston to talk about the game against the Saints, what has happened to his defense, how his team will have to bounce back after a loss like Monday night, and whether or not he will think about bringing Charlie Weis next year.

On how he gets over a loss like the one on Monday night:

“I don’t think it’s any different than any other game.  You look at each play, try to reinforce the positive things and the mistakes that we made, we try to correct them.  (Host: Were there some positive things?)  Yeah, yeah.  Not enough of them, but yeah, individually there were some good things.  There were times that we were competitive defensively and offensively, but not often enough.”

On the complications of the Saints offense: 

“I think they do a good job with their scheme, as I said, they keep things moving, they give you a lot of different formations, personnel groups, they shuffle people around, they don’t make it easy for you, but we shouldn’t have had the breakdowns that we had.  Give them credit for being a good offense and having a good scheme, but we need to do a better job than that.  It was our responsibility and my responsibility.  We all gotta do a better job and it starts with me.”

On the play of Drew Brees and his efficiency within the offense:

“Well again I think a lot of the yardage they got was on a few plays.  Some of those we didn’t play well or weren’t even competitive on.  Then on the long one we just cut a guy loose.  Again they took advantage of it so give them credit for that, but I don’t know if that was great execution or great offense as much as it was breakdowns on our end.”

On whether or not this loss can affect his team this week against Miami:

“Any game can affect your team the following week, win or lose in however it plays out.  That’s what the NFL is.  This is a league where you have big wins, big losses, you have tough games every week, but each week you have to turn the page and move on to the next opponent.  That’s our challenge every week, certainly our challenge this week with Miami.  We face that every week.  We’ve had big wins, we’ve had tough losses but we’ve gotta, win or lose, put those games behind us and get on to the next one and that’ll be the plan this week.”

On the team’s struggles on the road:

“There’s no denying those statistics.  I think it still comes back to there are good plays in those games and there were some that weren’t so good.  We just gotta have more good ones and as many that aren’t so good.”

On potentially bringing back Charlie Weis:

“Well Charlie and I are good friends.  We speak on a pretty regular basis.  Of course I’m disappointed for Charlie, his family, and all the people that he took out there with him, so I feel badly about that.  Right now our focus is on the Miami Dolphins and that’s what it’s going to be.  There certainly is not anything that’s going to happen now and I’m not thinking about anything after the season.  We’re thinking about Miami.  I feel badly for Charlie in that situation.”

Listen to Bill Belichick with the Big Show on WEEI in Boston here

Tags: Bill Belichick, Charlie Weis, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, NFL