How Did The New England Patriots React To Win Over Giants?

Nov 15, 2015; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick during the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Shortly after the New England Patriots beat the New York Giants yesterday, the team met with the media to discuss the win.

Here is the official transcript: (via Patriots.com)

Bill Belichick 

That was quite a game. There were so many elements to it, back and forth, offense, defense, special teams, turnovers, big plays, penalties. There were a lot of things. In the end, guys made the plays that they need to make. We had a big stop down there on the goal line. When the Giants got down there, they tried to run that roll out… that kind of pick play that they like. We got the ball back and barely had enough time to get into field goal range and Stephen [Gostkowski] made a great kick. Give our players the credit, they really stepped up. Obviously the Giants are a good football team… it was good to come down here and win.

Q: Stephen [Gostkowski] said that he hums a song in timeouts before field goals. Do you sing any songs on the sidelines?

A: I am just trying to coach a game.

Q: How emotional was it to play the Giants, given your history against them?

A: I don’t think about it a lot, not before the guys that are here on the team. We put a lot into this game; we played hard, they played hard. It was a good win.

Q: Did you think that the Odell Beckham catch would stand?

A: It looked like a close play. There were a lot of close plays in that game. They certainly reviewed it.

Q: Outside of playoff games, have you been in many better games than this?

A: It’s always good to win. I don’t rank them. It’s good to win.

Q: Could you tell Gostkowski’s game winning kick was good?

A: Looked pretty good. Looked pretty good. Looked like it was going to be inside the left upright. I thought 53 [yards] for Steve, especially kicking that way … there wasn’t a lot of wind but what little wind there was it was tending to blow that direction. I think there was a little more wind earlier in the game – I think it died down – from their bench to our bench. So if anything, I think the wind was kind of blowing it to the kicker’s left. Stephen hits a true ball. I’ve seen him hit so many of those, in practice and in games. The way it came off his foot, it was straight; there was no tumble, it was true. That’s the guy you want out there. You want your best player in that situation – an opportunity to win the game for you – and he did, as he’s done many times before.

Q: On Malcolm Butler‘s play against Odell Beckham Jr.

A: They competed. They’re two good football players. Beckham … can’t say enough about him, how competitive he is. Those two guys probably have a lot in common in terms of their competitiveness, their toughness. They may both be a little undersized but [with] big hearts and big competitors. Beckham is tough, he does everything well. We talked about him all week. He was impressive today.

Q: What made you decide to use your timeouts before the 2-minute warning?

A: We just thought that was the best way to handle it.Read

Q: Were you relieved when Manning threw to Harris for 18 yards to get inside the 10-yard line?

A: No.

Q: Does the game plan change when you lose a guy like Julian Edelman?

A: The game plan is the game plan. We can’t draw up 20 new plays because something happens. Guys practice and we have to backup every position; every player has to be ready to go, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the game. They hit them on their side, we hit them on our side, that’s the NFL, that’s pro football.

Q: Were you surprised by the Giants play calling before the 2-minute warning?

A: You’d have to ask them that. We were just trying to defend what came up.

Q: On Malcolm Butler‘s continued development.

A: It’s been like that all year for Malcolm. He’s played against great receivers every week going back to [Antonio] Brown in Pittsburgh. He competes hard every week. He’s getting better. Beckham is a tremendous player. He competed well. He made some plays, Beckham made some plays. That’s what happens when you put a highly-competitive corner against a good receiver and a good quarterback.

Q: Coach, you’ve seen a lot from Tom Brady. But his competitiveness to come back after the game he’s had – the interception, then to lead that last drive. You have to be proud of how he bounced back.

A: Yes, I’m proud of all the players. But Tom, that’s the way these games are. You can’t worry about what happened in the first 58 minutes or 59 minutes or 56 minutes or whatever it is. The game comes down to a certain point. It’s how these two teams play from there on in. It’s the last minute, the last 30 seconds, the last three minutes…maybe he can see when that time’s gonna come. That’s what it’s all about. Tom did a great job. The receivers and Danny (Amendola) did a great job of getting those few extra yards on that last play and getting out of bounds. Just being able to get the ball down there, we were trying to get to the 35. And Stephen’s kick went a few yards further than that, but that was our target on this particular game and the situation and conditions and so forth. We got it there with six seconds on the clock. It’s not the way we wanted to do it. Of course, you can talk about that situational football all you want. It means nothing if you don’t make the kick. Joe (Cardona), Ryan (Allen) and Steve – I give them all the credit in the world. That was a tough kick in that situation and they hit it.

Q: Bill, you talk about the little things – the sack that Rob (Ninkovich) had, I think it was a 13-yard sack – it saved three points, and the block that sprung Danny for the big punt return. Can you talk about those two plays?

A: Rob’s sack was huge. They were in field goal range there and that pushed them out. They still had a couple of more downs, but we were able to keep them from getting close enough. There were two great kickers on the field today – Brown’s another great kicker – I’m sure his range is 53, 54 or 55. I don’t think anybody has made more than him or not many more anyway, so that was a huge play that saved us three points. And then Danny obviously faked the Peter call. It was a sign that he wasn’t going to handle the ball, and then he did. It looked like he caught them by surprise, got outside and got a couple good blocks there. It’s a shame he didn’t score on the play there, but it was good that we were able to punch it in from the six and get the touchdown. The clock had stopped there and we had that kind of field position. The offense finished it off. Yeah, that was a big play for us when Danny got us going. It put us on the six. We got good hustle and good effort from the guys on the return team after the rush had pealed back around. We got some space. Those were two huge plays in the game. But the 3rd and 5 or whatever it was, when Manning couldn’t throw it, or he slipped or was sacked – that was a big stop in a big situation.

Q: Do you sometimes need a game like this over the course of a long season ?

A: Look, we have to be ready every week with a two-minute offense, a four-minute offense, a two-minute defense, a four-minute defense, whether we are going to be ahead or behind, whether we need to make a kick, block a kick, there’s a million plays; situational plays. So we work on those every week and the ones that come up, we’re prepared, we’re prepared to execute. Could have been the last play of the game, you know, we talk about that play, too. We have to watch the film, but look like we had the throw well-contained. You know, they did a great job of keeping that ball alive. Looked like they were past the front line but [Dwayne] Harris got ahead and they started moving around and got it to their skill players there.. Give our guys credit for finishing the game. That was a final act but it was a tough one.

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