Bill Belichick: ‘It’s nice to be 3-0, but big deal’

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick won’t rest easy during his bye week. Bill Wippert/AP

By Henry McKenna @McKennAnalysis

September 29, 2015

2 minutes to read

Bill Belichick is not easily impressed.

“It’s nice to be 3-0, but big deal,’’ Belichick told reporters Monday, a day after the Patriots routed the Jaguars, 51-17. “Three wins isn’t going to get anything in this league, I’ll tell you that. It will probably just get a lot of coaches fired.’’

Belichick was fired from his position as the Cleveland Browns head coach in 1995 after a 5-11 season. The Browns started that season 3-1. In that context, it’s difficult to fault him for not being especially excited about having three early wins.

Presumably, the four-time Super Bowl-winning coach isn’t in danger of losing his job. The Patriots offense has the most yards in the NFL, and has punted the ball five times to Tom Brady’s nine passing touchdowns. Brady hasn’t thrown an interception, and the crafty defensive has helped the team tie for sixth-best turnover-differential.

But Belichick knows he’s got 13 regular-season games left — and hopefully more games after that.

“We have a lot of work to do,’’ he said. “We have a long way to go. I don’t think we’re doing a good enough job coaching or playing really in any area. We need to execute better. We need to be sharper on a lot of things. I think we’re improving and I think we’re making some progress, but we need to move faster and just do everything better. So, we’ll work hard on that.

“I’m sure we’ll be saying the same thing in a couple weeks, because there is still going to be a lot of football left and we need to keep getting better all the time. It’s pretty clear cut. We’ve got 13 regular season games left. Three wins in this league isn’t going to get you anything.’’

He’s not alone in downplaying the Patriots’ early-season success. Brady has already rejected suggestions that the 2015 Patriots can be compared to the undefeated 2007 Patriots.

The Patriots enter a Week 4 bye, and then will play the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5. Until then, it sounds like Belichick and Brady will be hard at work.