Bill Belichick on Bailey Zappe, NFL officiating, and being on ESPN for Army-Navy
Belichick also provided a characteristic response to a question about Taylor Swift.
After coaching the Patriots to a win over the Steelers on Thursday followed by a weekend in which he relished the Army-Navy game being played at Gillette Stadium, Bill Belichick returned to his regular weekday schedule for a Monday morning interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
Belichick, an Annapolis native, was credited with making an entertaining appearance on ESPN College GameDay on Saturday ahead of the annual rivalry game’s kickoff.
“Yeah it was an interesting experience,” Belichick told WEEI of stopping by the broadcast. “The best part of it was reuniting with coach [Lee] Corso. It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to spend some time with him. So that was really a treat.”
Corso, a longtime co-host of the GameDay show, was once an assistant coach at Navy (alongside Belichick’s father).
Citing a connection that’s spanned more than half a century, Belichick credited Corso as a “friend” and “great mentor.”
In a variation of a Corso tradition on GameDay, Belichick — as a “guest picker” on the show — predicted Navy would win by putting on a vintage Midshipmen helmet.
Was it actually Belichick’s helmet, or did he borrow one?
“Yeah I have that,” the Patriots’ coach explained. Regarding exactly how many he has in his personal collection, Belichick offered that the total was “probably 10,” including some lacrosse helmets he also has in his possession.
On the topic of his team, Belichick had a simple summary of how New England overcame Pittsburgh on Thursday.
“We made a few more plays than the Steelers did.”
Bailey Zappe threw three touchdowns in the first half of the win over the Steelers, the most by a Patriots quarterback in a first half since Tom Brady in 2018.
Will Zappe get another start against the Chiefs on Sunday?
“I’m not announcing who’s doing what,” Belichick said in response when asked about the starting quarterback situation. “I’m just not announcing that.”
On the subject of Zappe’s performance in the starting role, Belichick discussed what he’s liked from the second-year player.
“Bailey’s been pretty consistent. For the most part he’s done a good job of taking care of the ball at the quarterback position,” Belichick noted. “We haven’t had a lot of negative plays [or] turnovers.”
“He’s done a good job managing the team and taking care of the ball,” the Patriots’ coach added. “There are always plays that players and coaches can do a little better when you look back over the game, but again everybody who plays in the game feels that way. Bailey works hard, tries to correct his mistakes and learn each day. So I’m sure he’ll continue to do that, but that good preparation and attention to detail certainly puts him on the right path to better performance in the games.”
An inevitable question following Zappe’s reasonably effective performance in a Patriots win was what exactly took the coaching staff so long to make the switch from Mac Jones?
“Bailey played earlier in the year. Played in preseason, played a lot in preseason,” replied Belichick. “We made the decision when we thought it was the right time to make it.”
Now 3-10, the Patriots were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend despite winning in Week 14.
Even amid a difficult season, player support for Belichick remains. Safety Jabrill Peppers told reporters after the win over the Steelers that the team fought for the victory in part because of “all the flak [Belichick’s] been getting.”
“Well, it goes both ways,” Belichick said when asked about Peppers and other players showing support for the coaching. “I have a lot of respect for what the team has done, coming in everyday and preparing, working hard. We’ve lost some close games, and we won Thursday night which was great. So hopefully we can stay on that track and keep finding ways to win those close games.”
An important but controversial moment from the Patriots’ win over the Steelers came in the form of an officiating decision. After it appeared New England linebacker Jahlani Tavai had jumped offsides on a crucial play in the fourth quarter — a move that would’ve handed the ball back to the Steelers — officials instead called Steelers long snapper Christian Kuntz for a false start (meaning the ball went back to New England).
Belichick was asked if he had pointed out Kuntz’s habits to officials beforehand in an attempt to potentially win a call.
“Those are points of emphasis from the officials each week,” Belichick said in response. “There are certain things that they emphasize. Honestly that’s one of them, but there are many others that they kind of tell you that they’re going to call tightly. And certainly that’s happened to us before too. We’ve had a couple of situations where we’ve been called for a similar infraction. But that being said, we need to cut down on the pre-snap penalties all around.”
After a potential go-ahead touchdown in Sunday’s Bills-Chiefs game was called back due to a Kansas City pre-snap penalty — a decision that was criticized heavily by the Chiefs, including head coach Andy Reid — the question was put to Belichick: Do officials usually point out pre-snap penalties, like offsides?
“I think that probably varies from crew to crew,” Belichick explained. “Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it probably depends on what the officials sees, but really you’d have to talk to the officials about that. I’m not going to get into how the game should be officiated. That’s their job.”
The Patriots now turn to a Week 15 game against the Chiefs, led by Patrick Mahomes. Belichick, given his experience facing Mahomes in big games, outlined that his team will need to play collective defense to have any success.
“As always with a great player like that, it’s team defense,” he said. “There’s no one guy out there that’s going to stop Mahomes. It’s just impossible, so the team has to play well defensively.”
And as has become one of the inevitable talking points surrounding Chiefs games in 2023, Belichick was asked the all-important question: Will he get a chance to meet Taylor Swift?
“Yeah, I’m really focused on trying to get our ready to play Kansas City.”
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