Bill Belichick credited Patriots’ mental toughness in division-clinching win
"Good to see the fruits of a lot of labor, lot of hard work."
Greeted by a podium festooned with holiday elves (placed by Patriots defensive lineman Lawrence Guy), Bill Belichick answered questions following his team’s division-clinching win while wearing an AFC East champions hat.
“Love wearing this hat,” Belichick said, going so far as to offer a rare press conference smile.
The Patriots’ 24-17 win over the Bills officially locked up yet another division title. The game was decided by a late scoring drive from New England’s offense, followed by a fourth-down stop from its defense.
“Really proud of our guys,” said Belichick. “Just competed for 60 minutes, ended up making enough plays, and it [was] a great fourth-quarter drive offensively. And defensively a big stop there at the end.”
“Good to see the fruits of a lot of labor, lot of hard work,” Belichick added.
Bill Belichick is in the holiday spirit thanks to @thatLGUY 🎄😂 pic.twitter.com/h9CPDxPmH2
— NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots Coverage (@NBCSPatriots) December 22, 2019
“Give the players credit,” Belichick explained. “There are a lot of guys with a lot of mental toughness in that locker room. And they showed it today.”
One of the Patriots’ toughest players on the day was wide receiver Julian Edelman, who returned from the locker room after being examined for a head injury. The 33-year-old Edelman then played an instrumental role in the game-winning drive.
“Julian’s a tough guy,” said Belichick. “I think they had him checked. I don’t think we had anything. But we had to go through the protocol, so that’s what we did.”
“He’s obviously one of our best players,” Belichick said of Edelman. “He’s one of our top competitors. He always has been. He was a great competitor his rookie year. It’s transcended through his entire career, whether it was offense, defense — at times we’ve played him on defense, special teams, blocking — I thought he set the tone a little bit early in the game with a couple of big blocks. Our receivers competed hard, blocked well. But yeah, that’s Julian’s playing style. That’s what makes him a good player.”
As for Tom Brady, who threw for 271 yards and a touchdown in the win, Belichick praised his work ethic, and ability to deliver in clutch situations.
“I think we’ve all seen Tom play his best football in the most critical games of the year, and those critical situations in those games,” Belichick noted. “Nobody prepares harder than Tom does. He was ready to go. [He] got a lot of help from the running game, the offensive line, the receivers. But as you said, he was on the money. He was sharp.”
The Patriots’ coach knows that Brady and the rest of the team will need to maintain that level of focus for the rest of the season.
“Again that’s what we need from everybody, that’s this time of year,” said Belichick. “We have to play like this every week, or our season’s going to end quickly. We all know that. Nobody knows it better than he does. And he prepares and works as hard or harder than anybody to make sure that he’s at his best, and certainly was today. He had a good day today.”
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