New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick spoke to the media on Saturady as the Patriots prepare for the Thursday night NFL season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.
I watched Belichick’s media presser - watch it here! - and plucked out a few quotes on what he had to say.
Opening statement
Belichick: Chiefs week here. It really starts at the top with Andy (Reid). He’s done a tremendous job there. Four straight winning seasons. Put together a really good football team. 12-4 last year. A lot of players back. They’re good at everything. Good on offense, can run the ball, can throw it, mobile quarterback, tight end, perimeter, experienced offensive line, you name it.
Defensively, don’t give up many points and turn the ball over. Two of the most important things in football. They’re explosive in the return game, good specialists, real good punter. Obviously two great returners, two of the top guys in the league on the same team. They’re well-coached. They present a lot of problems in their offensive and defensive schemes and the kicking game.
This is a tough team to get ready for and they put a lot of pressure on you in a lot of different ways. We’ll really have to have a good week and be ready for a lot of different things on Thursday night. I’m sure we’ll get some surprises. They’re extremely well-coached and very fundamentally sound and they create a lot of problems which is why they’re so successful.
Andy Reid as a coach
Belichick: Andy’s a disciple of the west coast program. They do everything well ... it’s all a problem.
How the Chiefs use Tyreek Hill
Belichick: Looks like he may be more of a receiver this year but I’m sure they can use him for specialty plays or put him back there ... Andy’s a very creative coach, I’m sure they have a lot of different ways to use him.
How the Chiefs use misdirection and screens
Belichick: They get the ball to the backs a lot in the passing game and they have multiple guys, (CJ) Spiller for example. The misdirection is a key component of the west coast offense whether those are bootlegs, misdirection passes with over routes and things like that or misdirection running plays or reverses or misdirection receivers crossing into the backfield or misdirection screens and things like that. They do a good job and that offense is built around making you play honest on defense ... they make you defend everything.
Bob Sutton and the Chiefs defense
Belichick: They turn the ball over a lot. That comes from their pass rush. They have very good edge rushers, (Dee) Ford, (Justin) Houston, (Frank) Zombo. Good inside players as well. Picked up (Bennie) Logan this year, (Chris) Jones is a disruptive player, (Rakeem) Nunez-Roches, they blitz their inside linebackers occasionally. They do a fair amount of five man pressure, fair amount of blitzing, certainly enough to keep you honest and they’re a very opportunistic secondary. Those guys have great ball skills led by (Marcus) Peters and of course (Eric) Berry, (Ron) Parker, (Steven) Nelson, they all play the ball well, they attack the ball well. They have a coverage schemes where they have a lot of free players, a guy reading the quarterback and everyone else playing man to man, that sort of thing. Rovers back there you have to be careful.