Bill Belichick says Shaquille Leonard was ‘for sure’ calling out Patriots plays
The Colts linebacker had a few plays where it seemed like he knew what the Patriots were doing ahead of time.
After Sunday’s game, several Patriots players pointed out that Colts linebacker Shaquille Leonard was calling out some of New England’s offensive plays before the snap.
On Tuesday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick confirmed that it happened and said it’s something the Patriots need to fix.
“Yeah we definitely want to prevent that,” Belichick said. “I thought there were 2-3 plays for sure that Leonard really got a big jump on and stopped us basically on those plays. [Jets linebacker CJ] Mosley got a couple of those a couple weeks ago in the Jets game where it almost looked like he heard the play in the huddle. He was on it so fast.”
Belichick was asked if he thought the Patriots were tipping their plays.
“Whether it was something we were giving away or something he anticipated based on whatever the keys were that he went and picked up, we certainly want to prevent that,” said Belichick.
The Colts held New England to 203 yards of total offense, which is the least amount of production the Patriots have had this season.
New England’s lone offensive touchdown was set up by a punt block from Jonathan Jones that put the Patriots on Indianapolis’ 3 yard line.
The Patriots, who only made it to the red zone twice, scored the rest of the points in Sunday’s 26-3 win on an interception return for touchdown and four field goals from kicker Nick Folk.
Some of those well-anticipated plays from Indianapolis’ defense helped keep the game from becoming even more lopsided.
“That’s what good defensive players do. They anticipate things that they get a read on what they think is going to happen,” Belichick said. “They’re not always right. Sometimes they are and they can certainly make you look bad offensively. As an offense we try not to give things away to the point where you don’t have something complementary that goes with it. That’s kind of the game within the game.”
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