Bill Belichick usually doesn’t offer much when he meets with the media. He’s usually quiet, disinterested and snarky — and that’s when the Patriots win a game.
So you could imagine the New England head coach wasn’t in the mood to talk much Sunday night following the Pats’ 41-34 loss to NFC power San Francisco in front of a national TV audience.
After the Patriots’ comeback bid fell short — they came back from down 31-3 to tie the game in the fourth quarter before allowing the Niners to pull ahead for good — Belichick was even more reserved than usual.
He took the podium on what had become the wee hours of Monday morning at Gillette Stadium, and he gave just about nothing.
Check out the full transcript of his news conference below.
Belichick: Obviously we just didn’t do anything well enough tonight to win. It starts with me – didn’t do a good job of coaching, didn’t coach well, we didn’t play well, we weren’t good on offense, weren’t good on defense, weren’t good enough on special teams. They just did a better job than we did. We just have to perform better than that. We didn’t so that’s the result. We just didn’t do a good job tonight, it’s as simple as that.
Q: How much debate did you have on that fourth down play with two timeouts, whether to punt or go for it?
Belichick: None.
Q: What was your strategic thinking in that situation?
Belichick: It was fourth-and-two.
Q: You have been pretty good on turnovers all year long. Was it just lack of concentration?
Belichick: We just didn’t do a good job; didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball.
Q: What was your thinking on the all-out blitz when they had the ball on the 38-yard line? Were you trying to challenge Colin Kaepernick a little there?
Belichick: No, we run that call several times during the game. We just obviously didn’t play it well.
Q: What were your thoughts on Colin Kaepernick?
Belichick: They won, give them credit. I’m more worried about our team. Talk to Jim [Harbaugh] about his team. We just didn’t do a good enough job.
Q: Coming back and erasing a 28-point deficit, you created the 28-point deficit, so I guess it doesn’t have any redeeming qualities to it. Is that where your thinking comes from?
Belichick: We did some things that were all right tonight but not enough of them. We made too many mistakes. We just did too many things that weren’t good.
Q: They seemed to do a good job in the running game against you guys early in the game.
Belichick: No, I don’t think so.
Q: The confusion in the first half on the punt where they called it a hold. Did they explain the play to you adequately after you made the challenge?
Belichick: Yeah, Ed [Hochuli] absolutely did.
Q: Were you comfortable with how it was explained?
Belichick: Yeah, absolutely, without question.
Q: Were you happy with the explanation? Because you did not look happy at the time.
Belichick: There was some confusion on the play, but Ed explained exactly what happened. I totally understand his explanation and I have no problem with the play.
Q: They were going to mark it back and make you kick it again. You challenged and lost the timeout, even though what you are technically challenging is correct, it seems like you should not have to lose the timeout when they have to figure out where the ball is supposed to go.
Belichick: That isn’t the explanation that he gave me. I don’t think you’re accurate on that. I think you should talk to Ed about it and let him explain it to you. That would probably be a lot easier than me trying to do it.
Q: But you were satisfied with the outcome?
Belichick: Yeah absolutely. I have no issue with that. It was an unusual play. There was some confusion on it, and I didn’t really understand totally until after the challenge, after he came out and explained it. But really when it all washed out, it was what it was and I think they finally got it right. They explained the whole situation to me. I think they did a good job.
Q: The hold was not on you guys, right?
Belichick: No, it wasn’t on us.
Q: When a team plays like this after playing at such a high level for a long period of mind, is there ever any mercy in your mind that you might be due for a little flatness or maybe the edge is taken off it by the comeback?
Belichick: We just keep playing.
Q: There is a fairly strong likelihood that you will have to go on the road in the second round of the playoffs. Are you thinking about that?
Belichick: We’re thinking about Jacksonville right now. That’s the next team on our schedule.
