Steve Belichick 10/24: "Thought those guys played well"

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Hey, Steve, how's it going?

Steve Belichick (0:01)

Good, how are you?

SPEAKER_1 (0:03)

Good. I want to ask first off about cornerbacks on Sunday, getting Jack back on the field and getting another game with JC in the mix, getting a heavy dose against some talented receivers from Buffalo.

What did you see from Jack in his first game back?

Steve Belichick (0:18)

Yeah, it was good to have Jack back, have a little bit more depth. Yeah, I thought those guys played well, held up well outside, and there's always stuff to fix coming out of the games, but those guys go out there and compete it just like they always do. It was good.

SPEAKER_1 (0:36)

And especially with the secondary, it seemed like Sunday's game was pretty tightly called in terms of illegal contact and holding. How does that affect a defense when you know, like, you probably like second quarter and go, all right, they're calling this pretty tight today?

Steve Belichick (0:53)

Yeah, I think that's a good point. Yeah, you kind of see how they're calling it.

You're not really watching the other side of the ball that much, but, you know, when you see a flag or something and you look up at the screen, you're like, oh man, you know, not sure about that one, or, oh, that was pretty obvious. I could see why they call that based on, you know, grabbing up by the collar, grabbing the shirt, or, you know, pushing late, illegal contact and stuff like that. You try and educate yourself and the players going into the game, but you kind of never know how it's going to go. So, yeah, you see those calls early in the game. Talk about what happened to the other DBs if it was on our side of the ball, or talk about it with the full group if you see it on the other side.

SPEAKER_1 (1:36)

And I want to ask about a late personnel decision we saw. Saw Brendan Schooler, Matthew Slater, in at the very end of the game. Can you talk about how that particular decision to get those guys on the field and how that sort of line up came to be?

Steve Belichick (1:56)

Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, in football, it's obviously the ultimate team sport, and you got to evaluate different guys' skillsets and strengths and weaknesses, and we felt like those are two good players based on what they can do to have on the field at that time.

SPEAKER_1 (2:14)

Is it sort of their experience with special teams and sort of that more chaotic open field situation that will make some valuable there?

Steve Belichick (2:24)

Maybe, but I mean, pretty much all our linebackers and safeties play special teams also, so I wouldn't say that they're the only two guys on the field that do stuff like that. But, yeah, like I said, we just felt like they gave us a good opportunity to play the call, how we designed it. Thank you. Thank you. I don't see any other hands raised. Please raise your hand if you got a question for Steve.

One once.

SPEAKER_1 (3:00)

I will ask Steve, Rutgers is looking strong this year with a solid defense. What do you think of how they're looking so far?

Steve Belichick (3:06)

The bowl eligible Scarlett Knights, is that who you're referring to?

SPEAKER_1 (3:09)

Yeah, yes.

Steve Belichick (3:11)

Yes. Yeah, happy for those guys. Not surprised that they have a good defense down there with Coach Yonah and Fraze.

Yeah, I mean, those guys, they work hard, but it's obviously about results. You can work as hard as you want, but if you don't get good results, it's not what you're looking for. So yeah, really happy for those guys. I know they're doing a good job down there. And wish them the best going forward. Always pulling for those two and the Knights.

Thank you. Again, going once, twice.