FOXBORO, Mass. — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick hasn’t been anywhere near a jovial mood — even for him — the last couple of weeks.
How could he be, though? The Patriots suffered back-to-back gut-wrenching losses to the Oakland Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals to put themselves on the outside of the NFL playoff picture.
But Belichick struck a much different tone when speaking with reporters following Sunday’s season-saving 23-21 victory over the Miami Dolphins at Gillette Stadium.
“We’ll start with, you know, really proud of the team, the staff,” Belichick said. “Obviously, we’ve had a couple of tough weeks.”
The Patriots didn’t just have to shake off the nightmare that was the last two weeks when they faced the Dolphins. New England also played severely undermanned in the win.
The Patriots were without three of their top four corners with Jack Jones, Jalen Mills and Marcus Jones all unavailable due to injuries. Shaun Wade was a healthy scratch, as well, leading to New England calling up practice squadders Quandre Mosely and Tae Hayes to help defend one of the top wide receiver duos in the league. Hayes has been with the team for less than a week.
With the Patriots shorthanded, Belichick praised his team for persevering to keep their playoff hopes alive.
“I thought those guys really competed well all week in terms of preparation and studying,” Belichick said. “Obviously had some moving parts that we were dealing with, new guys coming on the team, not sure about the availability of some other players, some played, some didn’t.
“The overall resiliency and determination that the team, as a group and the staff showed I thought was really, really good this week. So battled all the way through it.”
Belichick was relieved to finally see some of the game’s most crucial plays go in the Patriots’ favor. New England recorded two interceptions, one of which Kyle Dugger returned 39 yards for a go-ahead touchdown with 2:51 left in the third quarter.
The Patriots also had a key 11-play, 89-yard touchdown drive in the final frame that gave it a two-possession advantage. The win snapped a four-game losing streak to the Dolphins and leaves open the possibility of New England returning to the playoffs if it can beat the Buffalo Bills on the road next Sunday.
“We’ll see what happens next week,” Belichick said. “But Miami is kind of what we thought they were: explosive team. They certainly caused some problems. We were just able to make enough plays to win, so it’s good. It’s a good feeling. It’s been a while since we beat them, so it’s definitely good to finally get on the right side of that ledger.”
