New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick won his 300th game Sunday against the Cleveland Browns and clearly has forgotten more about football than 99.9 percent of the population will ever know.
Belichick’s defense is playing at historic levels so far this season and is on pace to set the record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game season. So, Belichick must have a lengthy explanation for why his defense is playing so great.
“Good players,” Belichick said Monday in a conference call.
Fair enough. He’s not wrong. That pretty much sums it up.
The Patriots largely have the same players as last season, however, and they weren’t playing this well until their Super Bowl LIII win over the Los Angeles Rams. Belichick had a longer explanation for why this team’s defense is performing better than last year’s.
“I think a lot of players are playing well. They’re good players. They’re playing well,” Belichick said. “Having experience in the system with guys like Jason (McCourty) and John Simon, (Ja’Whaun) Bentley, guys like that that are — Danny Shelton — guys that are starting to have seen this stuff for a couple of years instead of a few weeks or half a season. I think that’s certainly making a difference. JC (Jackson)’s certainly another guy who falls into that category. (Terrence) Brooks and (Shilique) Calhoun, (Chase) Winovich, those guys, (Jamie) Collins, obviously, guys that weren’t on the team last year. They’ve all been productive. It’s really a confluence of factors that have all come together and we have a lot of good players playing well in difference combinations that work well with each other. It’s a good place to be.”
McCourty, Simon, Bentley, Shelton and Jackson all are in their second seasons with the Patriots. Brooks, Calhoun, Winovich and Collins are either new or back with the team this season.
The Patriots beat the Browns 27-13 on Sunday. At one point in the first quarter, they forced turnovers on three consecutive Browns snaps.
