Multiple times during the New England Patriots’ 33-0 demolition of the New York Jets, ESPN cameras showed an animated Bill Belichick gathering his defense on the sideline for in-game coaching sessions.
Thanks to the latest installment in the Patriots’ weekly “Sights and Sounds” series, we now know what Belichick’s message was during two of those bench meetings.
One came after the Patriots committed three penalties (defensive holding and defensive pass interference on cornerback J.C. Jackson and roughing the passer on defensive tackle Danny Shelton) during a Jets drive that ended in a Duron Harmon interception.
“OK, look,” Belichick, whose team led 24-0 at the time, barked at his troops. “We talked about this, them calling the game tight. They’re calling it tight. They’re calling the DPIs tight. They called it tight on the Jets down there on the goal line on them, too. And they call roughing the passer tight. We’ve got to do a better job on that.”
Later, Belichick was shown complimenting Shelton for generating interior pressure against Jets quarterback Sam Darnold.
“Look, the pressure up the middle is killing this guy now,” Belichick told Shelton and the rest of the D-line. “Interceptions, strip-sacks and all that. We’ve got to keep pressure on this guy up the middle.”
Bamboozled by New England’s steady stream zero-blitzes, Darnold turned in a dreadful performance with four interceptions, one lost fumble, one safety and a passer rating of 3.6.
