Bill Belichick 9/25: "I thought our secondary really competed well"

Bill Belichick (0:00)

All right, Mike, how's it going?

SPEAKER_2 (0:02)

Doing well.

Vadarian Lowe steps in at right tackle. After you had the chance to watch the film, what did you see from what he was able to give you? And what does he have going for him that has put him in position to fill that role?

Bill Belichick (0:19)

Yeah, well, you know, V's picked up things pretty quickly here. You know, I had a lot of experience at tackle, both at college at Illinois and Minnesota with the Vikings, so. You know, things coming along.

Tough matchup, you know, both the Jets, and last week against Miami, but he's hung in there pretty well, and playing on the left side this week, on the right side, so we'll see how it goes moving forward here, but I'm glad we have him. Good guy to work with, and he works hard. You know, he's getting better. You know, we get better each week as we get more familiarity and, you know, more fundamental work with the techniques.

SPEAKER_2 (1:05)

It seemed like pass protection-wise, you know, that's like you've mentioned, that's a very good front that they have. It seemed like you guys checked out pretty well in the pass protection area yesterday. What do you think contributed to that?

Bill Belichick (1:20)

Well, one thing is not playing from behind and not having to throw the ball 50 times. It starts there.

SPEAKER_3 (1:35)

What a bill, how are you?

Just wondered about the running game, what you saw yesterday from Zeke and Ramadre on tape, and kind of generally, when you're assessing how successful and productive a back is, then how do you evaluate that? Is it yards after initial hit, you know, what they're doing in terms of finding space? What's your kind of metrics of evaluation when it comes to a back?

Bill Belichick (2:04)

Yeah, well, I think the big thing for running backs is the amount of yards they can gain. You know, let's call it on their own.

And that includes setting up blocks and using our blockers. So, you know, any of us can run in there and get what the play is blocked for. You know, the good backs get more than that, whether that's, again, setting up blocks to, you know, create more space for themselves to run or breaking tackles and, you know, get, you know, getting extra yards when, you know, the defense has a chance to get them down.

Look, there can be great two- and three-yard runs. You know, sometimes there's nothing there. There's not even a yard there, and, you know, a back can get two or three yards out of it, and those are good runs. So, you know, I think you just have to evaluate the plays and evaluate the way that, you know, the player's carrying the ball, and, you know, is he getting the most out of what's, the way it's blocked? I mean, he can't do anything about the blocking other than use what's there and make the most of it. And, of course, obviously, ball security is a big part of this.

SPEAKER_3 (3:06)

Is Ramondre right now identifying the holes the way that you would like him to identify them, or is he just not, you know, rolling off as many, maybe, five or 10-yard runs as he had in the past in terms of his yards per carry?

Bill Belichick (3:22)

Yeah, I think Ramondre reads blocks really well, and probably as good as anybody we've had here. You know, he's got really good vision.

Yeah, he can find space in the defense, and he's very good at, you know, lateral cuts and getting downhill and running with power. So, yeah, I think his vision's really good.

SPEAKER_4 (3:51)

And Bill?

Bill Belichick (3:54)

Morning.

SPEAKER_4 (3:55)

Just curious, you know, after a win, after yesterday's win, what's the relief level for you? And how long does it take for you to, you know, turn the relief or whatever celebration you do off and turn over into the next game?

Bill Belichick (4:13)

Yeah, well, we're done with the game that we play by late Monday afternoon. I'd say it's a Sunday game, late Monday afternoon. And we've already done some preliminary work on our future opponent, but, you know, not in the kind of detail that we'll dive into, but enough just to kind of get organized and, you know, what we're dealing with.

For the people who are working, the guys on our staff that are working on those teams over the weekend, trying to get ahead. And then we'll, by the end of the, by the end of this afternoon, we'll be, you know, all in on Dallas, and the previous game will be, you know, in the books. And we've, you know, done all the corrections, analysis, and so forth.