Head Coach Bill Belichick 12/7: "Our guys really stepped up"

Bill Belichick (0:02)

Well, I thought we did a really great job by the players and the coaches this week. Obviously, short week, tough, disappointing game last week, but they came in a really good week preparation.

I thought the guys played with a lot of effort, energy, toughness, resiliency. I mean, the Steelers are what they are. They battle you, they find a way to hang around and make it tough at the end, which they did. But our guys really stepped up and had a lot of guys really come through with some big plays in the game that we needed. And so, happy for our team, happy for the coaches.

Like I said, it was a short week, not much sleep this week, but they put a lot into it. And it's very satisfying to see the results that we had today.

SPEAKER_2 (0:53)

How nice was it to see the offense come out of that first drive, kind of set the tone for the night with their touchdown?

Bill Belichick (0:59)

It's always great to see. Yeah, it's always great to see the offense put it in the end zone. It's great, yep.

SPEAKER_2 (1:03)

What did you see from that unit tonight starting with Bailey all the way through?

Bill Belichick (1:11)

We had our moments. We hit some plays. The third down conversion was a big play by Juju.

Hunter, two big red area catches, and I thought we ran the ball competitively. It's obviously a very good defense. So I thought Zeke ran hard. I mean, Zeke made a big play on the interception, keep him out of the end zone. Ended up getting a defensive stop on that. That was a huge play.

But yeah, the offensive line, I mean, look, they're a good defense. Try to neutralize, two guys are trying to neutralize are Watt and Pickens. And both those guys are obviously a big problem, but they played competitively against them. Has it been like working with Zeke this year? Good, yeah, Zeke comes to work every day. We need him to step up and carry the mail today, and he did. So carried the ball, took a lot of plays, took a lot of snaps. Short week, he got banged up last week.

But he was a pro performance today.

SPEAKER_2 (2:12)

What maybe have you learned about him that you couldn't have known from having not coached him on a daily basis since you had him?

Bill Belichick (2:23)

Obviously, I didn't know him at all. So everything has been a new experience.

I try not to judge people until I get to work with them.

SPEAKER_2 (2:32)

What does that say about him on the football field? Like you mentioned, that second effort play on the interception where he kind of saves them, you guys want to hold them on field goal, and he's, you know.

Bill Belichick (2:44)

Yeah, it's a big play. It's a huge play. Yeah, it was a great effort play. Yeah, obviously he's played really competitively.

SPEAKER_3 (2:54)

How did you see the initial explosive, the juju on the opening drive kind of went full, really did that?

Bill Belichick (3:02)

Well, he caught the slant on a, you know, on a bullet zone, you know, split it, made a good run, you know, made a couple, you know, tough catches in there, third down conversions. Blocked well and blocked hard, you know, were sending them in there on Fitzpatrick most of the day.

Took advantage of his opportunities, did a good job.

SPEAKER_3 (3:24)

The second quarter, you get the complimentary football.

SPEAKER_2 (3:29)

What does Jabril mean? He seems like he's made a lot of big plays when you guys needed it.

And then, you know, you have the complimentary, the pick and then the touchdown.

Bill Belichick (3:36)

Yeah, it was a huge play. You know, JC made a good play earlier that, you know, got nullified.

But, yeah, I mean, I thought those guys played well in the secondary, mixed up the looks on, tried to mix up the looks on. You know, Churbisky thought they did a good job of that with the disguise and, you know, some late rotations and all that. Linebackers had a lot of production, you know, Tabai, Wilson. Seemed like they were in on a lot of plays. And again, all the plays that don't go to pickings are, you know, it's a credit to somebody in the secondary.

SPEAKER_4 (4:11)

You know, one of your players said it was more simplified playbook for this week. It's a short week, obviously. You think that helped Bailey to some degree of not overthinking and just play 4-3?

Bill Belichick (4:22)

Yeah, I don't know. It's been about the same as a, I mean, obviously a short week's a little bit less, but it's been about the same. I don't think it was that significant, but, yeah, it's probably a little less because we had a little less time.