MCDANIELS TALKS ABOUT JETS AND RAMS

Q:  What were you most encouraged about and most discouraged about concerning yesterday’s game?

JM: I think there are a number of situational things that we talk about each week that are obviously critical to winning football games in the NFL. The turnovers are certainly a big part of that. I know we had a ball out and an opportunity for one of their defenders to catch an interception and it didn’t happen. The fact that you can come out of a game that was obviously a tight game, a division game against a team that knows us pretty well and we didn’t have any turnovers offensively. We did a decent job on third down. We converted our few opportunities down there in the red zone and we scored in the two minute to give ourselves an opportunity to win in overtime. I thought those situation things we talk about each week were positives for our team. We can do better and we have to do better offensively in terms of our overall consistency. We didn’t have a lot of negative plays. I think we had one negative run, one sack and a few penalties in there. We had some missed opportunities that were, whether we’re close on them or not, it doesn’t really matter until you make them. And we had some missed opportunities. We had some errors that we can correct and fix and that we need to, so we can continue to keep drives alive and be more productive during the entire course of the game. I think that’s a good thing for our team to see and we did enough things situationally right to be there and to have an opportunity to win it in overtime. At the same time, there’s plenty of room for us to get better and that’s all of us – coaches, players – and I think our guys will respond to that.

Q: What has been the struggle in slowing down the pace of the offense late in games?

JM: It’s never really one thing. I think yesterday we had the offensive pass interference call there, I believe on our first play when we got the ball back with maybe five and a half minutes to go. That put us in a situation where – anytime it’s first-and-20, those aren’t easy situations to overcome against a defense that plays the way the Jets do, and I would say most defenses. I think no matter what we choose to do, what mode we’re in, whether we’re using our up-tempo, whether we’re huddling, whether we’re trying to run the football, throw it, I think it really comes down to trying to make the best call we can and hopefully putting the players in the right situation to be successful and going out and executing in those pressure situations, which is really what it is. I thought we had a good two-minute drive there in the fourth quarter to put it into overtime and we have to be able to execute in the fourth quarter regardless of the mode that we’re in.

Q: We saw that Shane Vereen got the start in the backfield yesterday. When you are preparing for the first offensive series of each game, how do you decide which running back will start?

JM: I think a lot of things could determine what the actual play of the game actually is. I don’t think we ever spend too much time talking about the very first play of the game. The guys know it’s going to come from a certain grouping of things, but like all the rest of our skill positions – there are one tight end sets that have [Rob] Gronkowski, there are one tight end sets that have [Aaron] Hernandez, there are three tight end sets that have three of the four guys in there and then we have some other ones, and the same is true for the backs. Yesterday, the way we started the game, we kind of had a rotation based on the grouping that was on the field and it just so happened we started the game with that grouping and Shane was in there. Any one of our backs could start the game. We have confidence in all of them. I believe even in Seattle, Aaron started in the backfield as the single back. There are a lot of different things that go into that. Hopefully we’re trying to make a good call to begin the game and have a positive play and get our first drive of the game going. It could be field position, did we start after a turnover on defense? Are we backed up? Did we have a kickoff return that gave us good field position? There are a lot of different things that could go into that – whether we’re going to go no-huddle, whether we’re not going to go no-huddle. What the defense is when you put the grouping out there could essentially be another factor. Shane is one of those guys and did some productive things for us yesterday.

Q: Brandon Lloyd was limited yesterday with only one catch and a couple of drops. Why did he struggle and have you seen struggles like this from him in the past?

JM: No, I mean each game is different, but we gave him the chore of really having an opportunity to go down the field on some of those different play-action type plays and you’re right, a couple of those catches would have been great catches. The funny thing is we always anticipate that he’s going to do it because he has so many times previously and I think he will going forward. I think it was one of those days where we were close on some deep throws. There were some missed opportunities there. I’m sure Brandon would like to make some of those plays and we have to work hard in practice. I think that’s where the timing and chemistry and those deep throws that obviously have a lower percentage chance of working. You really have to try to work hard in practice as much as you can in those couple days you have each week to try to master some of those things and get them to improve as best we can. I don’t think that has been a normal thing for Brandon to go like that and have one catch out of so many different targets, but it’s not just him. There are some other things we can do better to help some of those plays and situations. We have to do a good job of trying to make sure that everybody’s targeted inside the numbers, outside the numbers, down field and try to reduce as much offensive stress as we can and Brandon is definitely going to be a part of that.

Q: Are you still trying to figure out what plays will work with each offensive group? Is it hard to simplify the offense down to the few things you do really well?

JM:  I think that you always try to evaluate what the team does well and hopefully we’re making as many good decisions about what to do with our players and our offense as we can all the time. I think you’ll also learn as you go through this portion of the season, you learn each week if you, as you go, some of the things that, there are always some things you learn from each game, whether it be a new package that may have a chance to be productive for you or less of something else and more of this. I also think that there are so many factors that go into each week that it’s a different defense, like the way we attacked Seattle, it would have been hard to say that’s exactly the way to attack the Jets because they’re so different in terms of the way they play and the schemes they use and the player strengths they have on defense. You try to take the things that you do best that make sense to use against the team you’re playing and then try to do them the best you can that week. I think there’s always another factor that goes into it, which would be an in-game adjustment because I know there are certain games we go into expecting to be pressured a lot and maybe we don’t get blitzed. Or there’s a certain game we expect a lot of coverage and we get pressured a lot. In those situations, you may have to change what you anticipated would be a strength for your team as you go into it and try to do something else. It’s Week 7 of the season, going into Week 8. There are always things you can learn about your team so that hopefully you’re playing your best football as you head into the last half to last quarter of the season. So hopefully you’re really peaking at the right time. I hope I answered that.

Q: How much is Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez’s health affecting the efficiency of the offense at this point?
JM: Well every player that we’re playing with we anticipate them and expect them to be able to carry out their responsibilities on the plays they are out there on. There is no team in the National Football League at this point that is healthy anymore. There are a lot of guys that deal and play with injuries and I have a lot of respect and appreciation for every guy that does it. We just have to do a great job of executing whatever scheme or whatever assignment we’re asked to do. Those two are guys who have done a nice job of trying to do their assignments and showing a lot of toughness and all the rest of it. They’re two of many and at this point, like I said, whether a guy is a little bit limited, whether he’s out there all the time, whether he’s not out there, whatever it may be, if they’re capable of playing in the game to a certain point, maybe it’s a limited number of snaps, maybe it’s not. I think you have to put them out there and expect them to do their assignments well.

Q: With the Patriots set to face the team you previously coached, what do you take away from your experience with the St. Louis Rams?

JM: It’s always interesting to see someone else, and when I say someone, I mean that there are a lot of people in charge in every organization in different aspects of it. I think it was a learning experience to see how other people view trying to run their organization and do it successfully. Coach [Steve] Spagnuolo, Billy Devaney and Kevin Demoff, they had a certain way to do things and it was different than what I had experienced before and I’d say that’s pretty much in every area. But I would say that’s probably common among most teams in the NFL, that it’s very different. Whether it was the way they ran practice, how they carried out their walkthrough, the structure of their day during the course of the season, how we did the draft, what we did in terms of our preparation for the offseason although we had the lockout last year, just so many different ways to approach it and to try to be successful and certainly the people that I worked for last year, they have had a history of being successful in a number of different organizations and I have a great deal of respect for the way they worked. It was, it was a valuable experience for me to learn and see how other people do things and see how dramatically different it could be, how many different ways there to try to be successful doing this thing, which is obviously a very hard thing to do in this league because it’s so competitive. But, a lot of good players there… This defense is going to present a lot of different challenges than we’ve faced in certain weeks here, a little bit of a different style. Coach [Jeff] Fisher is a great coach. I obviously didn’t have the chance to coach with him there, but I’ve coached against him before. He does a great job with his team, his defense is aggressive. There are a lot of players on the defense that I’m familiar with and we expect it to be a great challenge there in London.

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BELICHICK CONCENTRATING ON DENVER

PATRIOTS vs DENVER

BB: We’re into the middle of the Denver stuff here. They’ve looked good in all three phases of the game, as I said yesterday. Really active on defense, especially with the front. Those guys are very disruptive, they’ve added [Derek] Wolfe, who has done a good job for them. He’s stepped in there and gotten a lot of playing time, along with some of the regular guys they have in there and of course [Elvis] Dumervil and Von Miller, two very active guys. Still some strong guys in the secondary, they’ve added [Tracy] Porter and Mike Adams, of course to go with Champ [Bailey]. That’s a good group as well. Offensively it’s a good group of playmakers, headed with of course, Peyton [Manning]. They’ve got [Eric] Decker, [Demaryius] Thomas, [Brandon] Stokley as the third receiver, good backs, [Joel] Dreessen and [Jacob] Tamme, guys that can make plays at tight end and solid on the offensive line. So, good football team, Coach [John] Fox on defense does his usual good job of mixing things up, giving you a lot of pressure, mixing coverages, making it harder to read the defense. They’re very well coached and have a good group of players. They’re a good football team.

Q: You talked a little bit yesterday about what makes a good runner, particularly getting yards beyond what he should based on the blocking. Of the 247 yards on Sunday, do you know what the total was after contact or after the ‘should have been tackled’ mark?

BB: No, I don’t have a specific number on that. No, sorry.

Q: Is that something you gauge?

BB: We track the actual numbers, absolutely. We track it in each game and at the end of the year when we evaluate the players and all that. That’s something we definitely keep track of. Wide receivers, well anybody really, anybody that has the ball – running backs, receivers, tight ends, whoever it is, yup. Yards after contact is definitely something that we keep tabs on and really emphasize to the players every week. I just don’t have the exact number though.

Q: Does it seem like through four games, with Stevan Ridley being the one who has carried the ball most, does it seem like he and the rest of the runners have done a good job of that so far?

BB: All of our skill players have been productive doing that. I would certainly put the backs in that category; we’ve had plays really from all of them. Again, those are the extra yards they get on their own. Whatever the play is executed for it is, but being able to break or avoid or make defenders miss tackles, then that’s kind of extra bonus yardage that the players make on their own individually.

Q: Daniel Fells seemed to have a positive impact in the game on Sunday. Revisiting the decision to sign him – what drew you to him?

BB: Dan’s had good experience and production in the league. We’ve seen him do a lot of different things: block, catch, play in the kicking game, pass protect, you know, all the things you see a tight end do. I wouldn’t really classify him as a one dimensional guy or ‘this is just what he does.’ I think he has a good set of skills and can do a number of things at the tight end position. He has good size, runs well, smart guy. He’s versatile and adjustable mentally to different assignments, formations, adjustments, things like that. He has a good combination of skills and is a versatile player for us at that position.

Q: Your team is usually very good at creating takeaways. What do you advise your players to do in calculating the risk in getting those turnovers?

BB: First of all, we want to make the tackle and make sure that we get the guy with the ball in our grasp and get him down. Sometimes that contact comes with pressure on the ball, sometimes it doesn’t. We try to be aware of when it is, when we’re tackling a player and we’re able to make contact with the ball then part of the tackle can be to dislodge the ball. But we don’t want to just be grabbing at the ball all the time and then we don’t get it and the runner breaks the tackle. So a lot of times, those plays are caused by the second or third guy in. Sometimes the first guy, if he’s able to make contact with the ball as well as make the tackle, like on [Rob] Ninkovich’s strip-sack for example, which those are usually pretty common in coming in from behind where you can secure the tackle with one arm and try to get the ball out with the other arm. That’s kind of straight forward but that’s an easy play to coach from. Sometimes there are tackles where the tackler get his shoulder or helmet or arm on the ball and is able as part of the tackle to get the ball out as well. So, I’d say that’s how we try to coach the players.

Q: In the first month of the season, it seems like this team has established itself as a balanced team in the two wins you have had. To what extent do you think that is a function of your success in those wins? How important is that? I know it is important for every team, but yours in particular with your personnel groupings and dictating what you want to do by establishing balance.

BB: I think it’s a great way to play because it just forces the defense to have to react and cover everything. Defensively, I think that’s where you want them – you want them to have to think about all their responsibilities, outside runs, inside runs, deep passes, short passes, screen passes, misdirection plays, point of attack plays, inside routes, outside routes, inside receivers, outside receivers, I mean just to have good balance kind of keeps them from ganging up on one thing. If you can do that, then it opens up a lot of other things. I think, as an example, like on the touchdown pass to [Rob] Gronkowski, it’s so hard to get a player like that open on a drop back pass. The defenders see the pass, they go to match their coverage and take their guy, but when you can have a run action that draws the defenders up and then you get a guy behind them like Rob did on that play. That’s a big part of that play was the play action and the run threat that we had presented in the game that caused the linebackers to displace a little bit and we were able to get behind them. The running game helps the passing game; the passing game helps the running game. Throwing it to the receivers helps the tight ends, throwing to the tight ends helps the receivers, throwing to the receivers helps the backs. It just all creates spacing and forces the defense to handle the whole field. I think that just gives the offense good opportunities. I think it’s a good way to be able to attack offensively. It’s not always where you are, sometimes the defense will be intent on taking a certain aspect of your game away and say, ‘OK, we’re not going to give you this, we’re going to make you beat us with that.’ Sometimes you have to be able to do that.

Q: You put a defense on the field right away when you establish that.

BB: Right, I think the more balanced that you can be, then the less they can say, ‘Well, we’re just going to concentrate on this one thing’, because you’ve shown them too many other things that they have to defend.

Q: Will it be as strange for you to see Dan Koppen in a Broncos uniform as it is to see Peyton Manning in one?

BB: We kind of go through this every week, players on other teams – James Ihedigbo, Mark Anderson, whoever it is. There are players on other teams that have played for us. Yeah, it’s a little bit unusual, it is but it isn’t. We haven’t seen Dan Koppen in another uniform but we’ve seen plenty of other players in similar situations and that happens. That’s the way it is in the NFL, you can find that on every team throughout the league.

Q: Can you assess Ryan Wendell‘s performance through four games and how he’s done as the full-time starter?

BB: I think Ryan has done well. As with any player, there are definitely things that he can improve on, but Ryan works hard, he’s a smart guy and he definitely is very attentive to details and coaching and when you ask him to do something, he really tries to do it the way you ask him to. He came to camp in good shape, he’s been out there every day, he’s worked hard and he’s continued to get better. I think he’s played a good, solid, including preseason, he’s had a good, solid stretch here of playing good footbal

BELICHICK POST GAME: BUFFALO

General Comments:
“It was good to come in here and win today. The players did a real good job. Buffalo answered our lead with 21 straight points; our guys responded with a bunch of turnovers, a bunch of points. Overall, a pretty solid football game. “

“There’s certainly a lot of room for improvement, but it’s good to come in here and do enough things well. We made a lot of plays; we missed some opportunities, but we made a lot of plays. That’s a good feeling to be able to come in here and do that. We’ve got a long way to go; hopefully we can continue to work hard and improve. I think our team’s got a good attitude—they work hard, they’re tough, and hopefully we can keep getting better.”

Were there adjustments in the 2nd half?
“We felt like we missed a lot of good opportunities in the first half. We had the ball down there and didn’t take advantage of it; we got some turnovers and weren’t able to put points on the board. Fortunately in the second half, we were able to capitalize on it. I think we just played and executed a little bit better.”

On offensive line play:
“Our line, our tight ends, our backs; they all did a good job. We were a little disappointed in our running production the last couple games, and we really made a big emphasis this game. We worked hard on it in practice and we were able to have some good results today. You can’t say enough about the offensive line, though. These guys have a good front and we were able to block them.”

On Brandon Bolden:
“He did a good job. Our backs played well; we got a lot of production. But yeah, Brandon ran well. No doubt about it.”

On coming back from 21-7 deficit:
“We just needed to come back and make it a one score game. That was a big drive for us. A bad drive there and we could have gotten knocked out at that point. I thought we had a couple chances to knock them down in the first half, and we missed them. Fortunately we were able to convert those turnovers into points in the second half, and the game kind of got out of hand there in the end. But the game was a lot more competitive than the final score would indicate.”

On fumble recovery at end of first half:
“That was a huge play. It was a big momentum play. We were getting the ball to start the third quarter, so we felt like we would have a chance to cut into it a little. We thought if we could just get out of there with a field goal, but the turnover was huge.”

On Gronkowski and Welker fumbles:
“There’s nothing we have to say other than ‘ball security’. We’ve said that since day one. Everybody knows how important it is to take care of the ball. It always has been the number one priority and it always will be. Whoever handles it; we’ve just got to do a better job taking care of it. That’s not a good way to win football games.”

WELKER ON ANY REASON HIS PLAYING TIME BEING CUT: “NO. NO, I FEEL GREAT…”

It seemed so disjointed for a while but you found a rhythm at the end of the game. Do you have any idea why?

WW: We just didn’t come out firing. We didn’t have a great week of practice and Coach made a point of that, that we needed to almost play some catch up. We really didn’t do things necessary to come away with a win, especially early. We have to start faster than that and come out and play from ahead and do things the way we need to.

Q: Did it seem like the week of practice just lagged right into it? What did you see in practice?

WW: Just a lot of mental errors and things like that, guys not doing their assignments and not doing their job. We talked about the different things that they did defensively and the type of players they have, the people we had to control, and we just didn’t do a good job of that.

Q: You finally broke Troy Brown‘s franchise receptions record. Does it lose a little sweetness because of how the game ended?

WW: Yeah, of course. You want to win the game. It is what it is.

Q: Does the game plan get altered drastically when you lose a player like Aaron Hernandez?

WW: Yeah, absolutely. Aaron is in there almost every play, so it changes quite a bit. You have to go to a different attack and go out there and play the way we need to and execute the way we need to and today just wasn’t enough.

Q: Did you know you weren’t going to be quite as involved in the game plan in the first half as in the second half?

WW: I never know. I always just prepare myself to be ready and when my number is called, I just try to go out there and make plays whenever I get an opportunity.

Q: Is that at all surprising to you to not be involved?

WW: You know, you want to be out there, I think as a competitor and everything else, especially on Sundays, it’s what we play for and what we work for and you want to be out there. At the same time, Coach felt like whatever was best for the team and I’m for that and I totally understand that and I’m just there to help out however I can.

Q: Are there any injury reasons why your playing time would be cut?

WW: No. No, I feel great.

Q: How much of a loss would it be to be without Aaron Hernandez for a long period of time?

WW: He’s a great player. He makes so many plays for us and he’s really come into this training camp and really done really well. He’s a really tough guy to match up against and I think everybody across the board has got to pick up the slack and make some plays out there in his place.

Q: Did Tom seem to be in a better rhythm toward the end of the game? What was different?

WW: I think our no-huddle. We work on that a lot, we practice it and it was effective for us, especially late in the game. It was crunch time and we were able to make some plays and get down the field and score. We just have to finish a lot of those drives on touchdowns instead of field goals

BELICHICK OFFERS LITTLE IN PRESS CONFERENCE

BB: Well unfortunately that wasn’t our best effort out there today. But give Arizona credit. They’re a good football team. They made the plays they had to make to win. We had our chances and in the end we just couldn’t make enough of them, we just couldn’t do enough. Hopefully we can play better, coach better next week; do a better job. Just didn’t do well enough today, it’s as simple as that – in any phase of the game. Plenty of mistakes out there. We need to correct them. We need to coach better, we need to play better, we need to do better than that.

Q: Any questions about playing it as safely as you did to set up that field goal at the end?

BB: We scored a touchdown; got it called back. We had a touchdown called back.

Q: You have to be disappointed to see Rob Gronkowski have back-to-back penalties in that situation.

BB: There are a lot of things we could have done better today all the way around, all of us. I’m sure everybody on the team feels the same way – every player and every coach.

Q: Can you point to the things that Arizona did defensively?

BB: They did a good job. They have good players, good coaches – they did a good job.

Q: How much effect did losing Aaron Hernandez have?

BB: I don’t know.

Q: Did that throw the game plan off significantly?

BB: Well you can’t go into the game just counting on one guy, any guy. Everybody has to be ready to adjust. It’s not the first time a player has been injured in a game.

Q: Do you have an update on Aaron Hernandez?

BB: No, we’ll check it out like we usually do and see what the story is.

Q: You talked a lot about keeping everybody focused this week for an opponent you didn’t know as much about. Did you see signs during the course of the week during practice that they weren’t as prepared as you may have liked?

BB: I don’t know. That’s what practice is for. Practice is never perfect. There are all these things to correct in practice; that’s why we practice

GRONK: “IT’S GREAT GOING OUT, COMPETING…….”

Gronk media quotes

PATRIOTS TE ROB GRONKOWSKI

(On if he feels he is getting back to normal following his ankle injury)

“Everyday you’re going out there and you want to improve. From the beginning of the camp, to this day I feel like I’ve improved a lot from where I started at. It’s just great going out, competing against everyone. Going out there every single day you get the speed of the game down more, you get the chemistry down with the quarterbacks more and just overall you get better just being out there facing competition every day.”

(On whether missing practices makes it difficult to get right back into the swing of things)

“Yeah you definitely never want to miss any practices and obviously there’s always a setback when you miss a couple. You never want to and that’s the number one thing, to always get out there and practice and get your conditioning right and always have the chemistry with the offense.”

(On what he has seen from fellow Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez)

“Aaron? You always see a lot from him, he’s very versatile. He’s a great athlete who can play basically anywhere they ask him to. It’s great playing with him, you learn so much from his quickness, from his bursts, how he gets open and just seeing the same old Aaron you have the last two years – just a very good player.