Coach Bill Belichick on WEEI 12/18: "We played hard but Kansas City made a few more plays"

Greg Hill (0:00)

And Bill, good morning, how are you? All right, Greg, how you doing? How you doing? Oh, we gotta get that microphone. Oh, you just gotta hit that red button right there. Bill, how are you? How you doing?

Bill Belichick (0:07)

Good, good. How's it going, Greg?

Greg Hill (0:08)

Well, yesterday obviously didn't go the way you wanted it to go, but you have a strong first half. In fact, had the lead near the end of that first half, and then second half struggled a little bit, and that seems like it's been kind of maybe the thing of late for this football team.

Bill Belichick (0:26)

Yeah, well, it definitely has to play 60 minutes against Kansas City. I mean, they're a good football team. They, you got to go all the way against them, but the turnovers start the second half, hurt us, and then, you know, I'm home-signing a couple of great plays that, you know, are tough. Third down conversion, pass to Edwards and then ends on, I mean, it's just, yeah, give them credit.

Greg Hill (0:53)

I think you had talked a little bit about this postgame, but you were a little more aggressive first half when it came to going for it, fourth and short. Was that, you made a decision second half, maybe not so much because of injuries?

Bill Belichick (1:06)

No, the field position was totally different.

SPEAKER_3 (1:12)

Bill, when it comes to Bailey in particular, going from the first half to the second, two weeks in a row where we've seen him kind of fall off, do you see anything in particular that leads to that, or is that just a team effort behind him?

Bill Belichick (1:24)

Yeah, I think it's the least I could do there as a team.

SPEAKER_4 (1:29)

Bill, when you look at the struggles that you have third down, you always talk about third down conversions and how important third downs are, as well as first and second down. But what do you think was the biggest issue that you kind of felt yesterday when you looked at just third downs, especially offensively, but even on the defensive side of the football you talked about, they were able to get one. I think they got past late to Rice at the end of the game, which gave them an opportunity to continue to drive. What do you think the biggest issues that'll lead into some of your third down struggles are?

Bill Belichick (2:07)

Well, long yardage is one problem.

Third and sorters are a lot easier to convert than a long yardage, but it's just overall team execution. And defensively, they, you know, I mean, we got them on a few, and they got us on a couple. We had a couple of chance to get off field on third down and couldn't make all the plays. Made some, but couldn't make them all.

SPEAKER_3 (2:33)

Alex Austin said that he found out he was starting when the game started. Could you give us any insight on how that played out and why?

Bill Belichick (2:41)

No, I've said all I can say about that.

SPEAKER_3 (2:42)

Okay.

SPEAKER_4 (2:44)

Bill, when you talk about that fourth down, I think it's like fourth and four, you had it on your own 42 and you guys decided to punt. You said the field position, I think you got them by 10 with, I don't remember what the exact time on the clock was in the fourth quarter.

So when you say the field position, what, you just felt like you would have gave Kansas City a short field? Is that why you elected to punt?

Bill Belichick (3:10)

Yeah, well, when we went for the first half, we were on the 20-something yard line.

SPEAKER_4 (3:15)

Now I'm talking about the one in the second half when you had it on your own.

Bill Belichick (3:17)

Yeah, so we punted them down to the 15-yard line, got the ball back, punted them down there again, intercepted the pass and scored. So, you know, I still felt like there was plenty of time left in the game. And if you don't convert there at fourth and three, it's sort of the fourth quarter. So I mean, kind of a pretty good chance to take yourself out of the game.

SPEAKER_5 (3:37)

The huddling after the, you guys got the ball, the Chiefs downed it at the one yard line. I think there was four minutes left.

Bill Belichick (3:44)

Yeah, we could have handled that a little bit better. Could have handled it a little bit better.

SPEAKER_5 (3:50)

The tempo is what you're talking about, playing a little bit with a higher pace there.