New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick found he was repeating himself on the conference call on Monday after his team’s 37-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in Week 9.
Regardless of the question — whether he was asked about Tom Brady’s interception, the offensive line’s struggles or the defense’s inability to stop the run — he tended to diffuse responsibility from the top of the organization to the bottom.
“We have to do better all the way around,” he said. “It’s not any one thing. It’s not any one player or scheme or anything. We just have to play better and coach better.”
More questions followed. So did more reiterations of Belichick’s comments.
“I think I covered this but all the way across the board in the three phases of the game — offense, defense, special teams, certainly the coaching and the playing and the fundamentals — all could be and need to be better,” Belichick said. “That goes for every position, every player, every coach. We’ve just got to do a better job. I don’t know how else to put that, but that’s the truth.”
Let’s get into some specifics, even if Belichick won’t.
The Patriots offensive line allowed 10 quarterback hits and two sacks on Brady, who threw a particularly costly fourth-quarter interception that essentially sealed New England’s loss. He was 30 of 46 for 285 yards with a touchdown and the interception, but couldn’t get the offense firing efficiently — even with heavy work from Mo Sanu and Julian Edelman, who combined for 20 receptions for 170 yards and a touchdown. Edelman’s strong performance, however, got undermined by a third-quarter fumble, which the Ravens scooped and scored. But Brady and Edelman’s mistakes were nothing compared to the Patriots defense, which couldn’t stop the run. Baltimore had 41 carries for 210 yards and three touchdowns. That was their most obvious reason for victory.
A reporter asked Belichick why he felt he could go in-depth on one particular group.
“That’s the way it is,” Belichick said Monday. “It’s not about what rating what did and didn’t happen. It’s about correcting the mistakes and improving on them, and there’s a lot of room to do that.”
That’s what they’ll do during the bye week, which may be timed perfectly for the Patriots to recollect themselves after a sobering loss.
