Bill Belichick on WEEI 10/9: "We just have to work our way out of it"

Greg Hill (0:00)

Morning Bill.

Bill Belichick (0:01)

Morning, how are we doing?

Greg Hill (0:02)

How are you doing?

Bill Belichick (0:03)

Uh, a little better, but...

Greg Hill (0:04)

Yeah?

Bill Belichick (0:06)

We're gonna fight through it.

Greg Hill (0:07)

When it rains, it pours, is the expression, I guess.

You're, I guess, somewhat in unchartered territory. You did say yesterday that you're gonna start over, and I know there was a follow up, but I kind of wanted to see if I could get from you what that means, starting over.

Bill Belichick (0:29)

Yeah, let's take a look at everything. I mean, obviously, we didn't do anything well enough yesterday, so.

Greg Hill (0:37)

How is the mood of the team?

Bill Belichick (0:44)

Well, obviously frustrated, but, you know, we just have to work our way out, but that's all there is to it.

SPEAKER_3 (0:50)

Bill, when you say starting over, is it more about getting back to the basics, getting back to the little things that made you successful, makes teams successful?

Bill Belichick (1:02)

Yeah, I'd say it's definitely part of it, Wiggy.

Greg Hill (1:05)

Is your mic on, Wiggy? I can't hear you. Sorry about that.

Bill Belichick (1:09)

Yeah, no, fundamentals is definitely a part of any successful play or game. So, yeah, that's part of it. I mean, there's obviously other things that work. We'll look at everything.

SPEAKER_4 (1:21)

Bill, David Andrews, after the game, said that it's difficult to put all the effort in during practice, feel prepared during practice, and I'm paraphrasing, but then on Sunday doesn't really show on the field. Do you feel that way during practice that these guys are ready to go come Sunday, that you guys are as prepared as possible, and then it's a confusing feeling on Sunday when the product isn't out there?

Bill Belichick (1:44)

Yeah, certainly I can agree with David on that. Yeah, I think there's definitely a level of frustration on that.

Yeah, I mean, not everything is all bad, but it certainly looked bad. There were some good things on some plays, but not enough to make them all good plays. So we got to do the things that we did well and fix the things that we're not doing well. But it's not like there's 11 breakdowns on every play, but there doesn't have to be. There only needs to be one or two, and that's enough. So we have to do a better job of that.

SPEAKER_4 (2:15)

So if it's not a preparedness issue, would you say that it's more of an effort issue on Sundays?

SPEAKER_3 (2:23)

Bill, when you look at your career as a coach, you've been doing this for a long period of time. But players evolve over the years, and whether it's players from the generations in the 80s to the 90s now, we're at another generation of players.

What are some of the challenges, maybe, that you have to deal with as far as your coaching style, from how it used to be to maybe today, or do you feel like there are no challenges?

Bill Belichick (2:53)

I mean, football is still football, so teaching is teaching. So yeah, there's things have changed over the years, like they have in every part of society and football and rules and everything else. But it's still about teaching. Football is still football.

SPEAKER_3 (3:06)

Do you feel like the players still buy in to that of like, I want to learn the game, I'm willing to do whatever it takes. And mentally, I understand that I'm willing to be tough when situations are going bad, or maybe some of the players are a little bit different now because of the whole social media, or there's still those guys that are mentally tough that can get themselves through certain situations.

Bill Belichick (3:30)

Yeah, well, I mean, the people are people and all of us are different. So, you know, we're all wired a little bit differently. But I mean, in the end, football players are football players.

Greg Hill (3:40)

There's always a lot of speculation about the relationship between you and Mac.

And there was a report this week in The Athletic that you guys met during the summer to kind of put everything, quote unquote, everything behind you. How is that relationship between you and Mac Jones?

Bill Belichick (3:58)

Yeah, I've had a good relationship with Mac since he's been here.

We met with him on a regular basis, and we have a good line of communication.

He works hard. I have a lot of respect for what he does.

Greg Hill (4:09)

That report also said that he has some input into the offense. Is that accurate?