HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK
Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, August 29, 2021
Opening Statement: It was, I think, another good learning night for us here. Saw a lot of guys competing tonight, competing for playing time, competing for jobs. It was impressive to see on both sides. Kind of like last week, this capped off a really good week for us with the Giants practices and then tonight. It's a good opportunity over the course of that time to really see everybody, give everybody a chance to play and compete against good competition, against another good football team. I look forward to seeing the film and seeing how things turned out, but I feel like we made progress through the preseason. Still, there's more work to do – obviously, that's clear – but (we're) heading in the right direction. We'll just keep grinding and just kind of see where this takes us, but (we'll) start to turn our attention towards regular season games now. I know everybody will be looking forward to those – those will be coming up soon.
Q: With that in mind, moving ahead to regular season games, have you made a decision on who will start at quarterback in the regular season opener?
A: No, we still have a lot of decisions to make.
Q: What are you hoping to see in the next couple of weeks of practice before that first game from the quarterback position to help you make that decision, whenever the time comes?
A: We'll be focused on preparing for Miami, so that's what we'll do.
Q: It seems like (Tight End) Devin Asiasi has had a productive stretch in practice and then more time. Would you say he's turning into (inaudible)…
A: Once he has been able to participate, he's definitely made good progress. There was a period of time there at the beginning that he wasn't able to practice, but he's gaining ground. Still has a long way to go. I'm sure there are some good things tonight and there were some other things that we probably need to work on – that's probably true for everybody – but it was good to see him make a couple big catches and just in general move the ball. In the second half, that was good offensive output running and passing.
Q: What have your impressions of (Defensive Lineman) Chase Winovich been since he's gotten back out there?
A: I think similar to what we just talked about with Devin. It's good to have him back out there, he's been able to get back to work and get his timing and improve his techniques and fundamentals in the game, so it's been good. Again, still has a way to go, but (it's) way better than it was three weeks ago, so that's good.
Q: After last season, was it important to win in the preseason this year?
A: It's important to win in the regular season.
Q: What goes into the decision to determine how much some of the top guys both offensively and defensively would play in a game like this, given you have this long stretch now before the regular season? Did you feel like just a couple of series was enough for them?
A: Again, we look at it as a composite. So not just this game by itself, but we have the practices that went with it and so forth. In the end, we tried to do what we felt was best for the team, best for each individual player. Sometimes, those weren't the same, sometimes they were. Then ultimately, we had to make our choices about playing time, both in practice and in games, to try to let the guys do things they needed to do, but also be able to evaluate things, as well. It's always a balance on that.
Q: How important was that hit by (Cornerback Joejuan) Williams on the goal line to help set up the eventual pass rush by (Linebacker Josh) Uche and then the interception by (Defensive Back D'Angelo) Ross, just getting them stopped there as far as a teaching moment?
A: It was a great teaching moment, definitely. Every yard, every inch is important and if you keep them out, at least you make them run another play and something can happen – we can make a play, they could fumble the snap, they could make a mistake or whatever. The more plays you make the offense run, the better chance you have defensively and you're going to make a play somewhere. So, that was a good teaching lesson and a good opportunity there that we took advantage of. D'Angelo made a good catch on the ball and made a good stop on the play after that on the goal line run. Then, (Giants Quarterback Daniel) Jones gave us an opportunity and D'Angelo made a play. That was great.
Q: There was a moment during the two-minute warning where (Offensive Lineman) James Ferentz kind of pulled everyone in the huddle separately and gave them a hug. Seemed like kind of an appreciation moment – I don't know if you saw it or what you draw from that.
A: I think I missed it. I was probably over there yelling at the officials.
Q: How tough is it to cut players? In the past, have you ever wanted to cut someone and had your assistant coaches talk you into keeping a player and change your mind?
A: Sure. I mean, there are always conversations about the roster. Having been a position coach and a coordinator at other points in my career, I recognize and understand those points of view and I want them to give their opinions and so forth. But as Coach (Bill) Parcells taught me, ultimately that's my decision and I do it with the help of our coaching staff, our personnel department, the people involved there. There are also some other things that are part of the decision-making process, the salary cap, things like that, that there's some relevance – I'm not saying that's the decision, but they're relevant. Then, you deal with injuries that, again, as a position coach or a coordinator you might not be fully aware of, particularly if it's a position outside of what you're coaching and how that could affect the team and so forth. There are always hard decisions and it's always tough no matter who the players are, that each of the teams has to release – we're at 80, (then) 53…(it's) 27 players for every team or put them on some kind of list or whatever. But, every team is going to have to release players and that's always hard when players have come in and have done the best they can and given you everything they have. There are some players that you're going to have to say we don't have a spot for it, but I think we all knew that when we signed up for it. I've been on waivers a few times myself, so I'm familiar with that process. That's part of the competitive nature of pro sports
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August 30, 2021 at 10:34AM
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