Bill Belichick on the ‘biggest problem’ in loss vs. Bills, thoughts on David Andrews’s penalty
"There's still a lot of football left to play."
For the second week in a row, the Patriots got off to a slow start and fell to eventual defeat. It was the case first against the Colts on Dec. 18 and again on Sunday in the 33-21 loss to the Bills.
During his weekly interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” Bill Belichick was asked if there was something he could attribute as a reason for the back-to-back first quarter sluggishness.
“No, we just need to coach and play better, obviously,” Belichick said simply.
New England is now 9-6, trailing Buffalo (also 9-6) on the divisional record tiebreaker.
Belichick offered some thoughts on the game, as well as what he sees for the rest of the regular season during the Monday morning interview. Here are some takeaways:
The “biggest problem” in the game
Amid the plethora of problems he saw with his team’s performance on Sunday, Belichick was also asked if there were any positives he could draw from watching the game back on film.
“I think there were a lot of things we did well,” Belichick said. “We just didn’t do them well enough, often enough.”
The Patriots’ coach then launched into analysis of a specific issue New England continually encountered against the Bills.
“Obviously the biggest problem in the game was third down,” Belichick said. “Had we done a better job on third down, then things probably would’ve looked differently. Third and fourth down on defense, combination of it. We were 1 for 10 on third down on offense and [Buffalo was] 6 for 12, and then they were 3 for 4 on fourth down. That would’ve been a big factor in the game had we done that better.
“Overall our third down offensive and defensive execution just wasn’t good enough against a team like Buffalo.”
Belichick’s thoughts on the penalties
Several penalties called by the game’s officiating crew received scrutiny following the game.
One was a sequence in which Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes was initially flagged for a late hit on Patriots quarterback Mac Jones as he was running out of bounds. After review, the flag was picked up, but not before New England offensive tackle Trent Brown was himself flagged for taunting.
The result was a 30-yard swing: Instead of picking up yardage on a Buffalo penalty, the Patriots were set back by one of their own. And given that the drive came right before the half, it might have cost New England a chance to score at an important point in the game.
Belichick, who was seen talking with officials after the sequence, didn’t want to add anything more about the pair of calls.
“I think the officials gave a report after the game on that call so that’s really, I mean wouldn’t have anything to add more than that,” he said.
Regarding a fourth quarter taunting call on New England center David Andrews—who was flagged for his response to an unnecessary roughness penalty by Buffalo linebacker Matt Milano—Belichick cited the fine line players have to walk.
“That’s what we want to do and try to do is support our teammates and not get penalized,” he explained.
“Not really sure about that call, but they made it,” Belichick added.
Looking at the rest of the regular season
The Patriots will face the Jaguars in Week 17 and the Dolphins in the Week 18 regular season finale. While prospects for a division title dimmed with Sunday’s loss, a postseason berth remains a possibility that’s in New England’s hands if Belichick’s team can take care of its own business.
“There’s still a lot of football left to play,” Belichick said. “We’ll see how things go here. Hopefully we can play our best football in January and that’s what we’ll need to do, and that’s what we’re planning to do. We’re going to work hard and try to do that.”
“The last couple weeks have been disappointing, but we’ll turn the page here and move on to Jacksonville this week and then the last game and see where things are at that point, but there’s still a lot in our control. And I think before we write the finale to the season that we see how we finish playing. These are the important games of the year.”
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