FOXBORO, Mass. — Wednesday was an interesting day for Bill Belichick, to say the least.
The New England Patriots coach adopted a serious tone at his mid-week press conference when asked about wide receiver Michael Floyd, whose DUI arrest was made very public in a video of the incident released Tuesday.
Yet Belichick’s press conference also featured a light-hearted — if bizarre — moment, when a reporter played him an edited video of himself singing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Belichick watched the clip with an amused grin for a good five seconds before responding, “Yeah, I’d say that has been edited.”
The 64-year-old coach then expressed his “love” for Christmas caroling.
Who doesn’t, Bill. Who doesn’t.
A few other notes from Wednesday:
— The Patriots have good reason not to take Saturday’s matchup with the 4-10 New York Jets lightly. After all, they were 12-2 at this point last year before losing to the Jets and Miami Dolphins to miss out on the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
Safety Devin McCourty, who was named to his second Pro Bowl on Tuesday, admitted last season’s disappointing end has served as a motivator for New England entering Week 16.
“Huge sense of urgency,” McCourty told reporters. “It’s kind of like we were in the same position last year, same opponents last two weeks of the season. Obviously, the same goals. Last year, whatever we thought of how good a position we were in and blah, blah, blah, the season didn’t end the way we wanted to.”
— Special teamer Matthew Slater also earned his sixth Pro Bowl nod, putting him one shy of his father, Jackie Slater, who won seven as an offensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams. The younger Slater isn’t ready to put himself on his Hall of Fame dad’s level, though.
“In my mind, my dad will always be superior, for not only what he did on the football field, but the type of man he was and the way he tried to raise my brother and I,” Slater told reporters.
— The Jets confirmed Wednesday that Bryce Petty will start Saturday over Ryan Fitzpatrick, who faced the Patriots in the teams’ Week 13 matchup.
Petty hasn’t been particularly effective this season — he has three touchdown passes and six interceptions — but he has developed a solid rapport with wide receiver Robby Anderson, who’s tallied 14 receptions and 240 yards over his last three weeks to outproduce Brandon Marshall and Quincy Enunwa.
“He’s got great leaping ability and good timing,” Belichick said of Anderson. “I mean, he’s not as big as (Marshall and Enunwa), but he has the ability to go up and time his jump and take the ball away from defenders like he did in the San Francisco (49ers) game.
“He’s obviously got great speed like we saw in the (Los Angeles) Rams game, the Miami (Dolphins) game. He’s made big plays every week.”
— Rob Ninkovich really doesn’t want to be late to things.
The Patriots defensive end’s alarm on his phone went off in the middle of his discussion with reporters and continued for a good 30 seconds before he finally shut it off.
“This is my emergency (alarm), just in case I was not ready to be ready,” Ninkovich explained. “So, now I’m ready.”
Here’s a relevant Christmas movie quote for every NFL team >>
Thumbnail photo via Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports Images
