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Situations in focus
Bill Belichick opened his Thursday press conference (10:45 a.m. EDT) at Gillette Stadium by speaking on the importance of situational football.
“We’re moving along here in our preparations, getting into some situational football -- red area, goal-line, and things like that which are always important and, of course, Denver does extremely well. They’re pretty good at everything really. They’re a solid football team, strong in every area. Situationally, we need to play a little bit better than we’ve been playing. Of course, you never know what situations are going to come up, or how they’re going to form or build, but it’s an area of our game we can have some improvement in. It starts with me. We’ll work on that. We got the basic stuff in yesterday and we’ll start working on [situational stuff] today.”
Belichick also touched on a number of other topics. A sampling.
On signing free-agent safety Arturo Freeman on Wednesday
“He’s got some experience playing in the league, started a couple years down there in Miami. Joel Collier, who works with our secondary, was with him down there. So we have a little bit of a background. We’ll see if we can get him ready and maybe what role he might play. We’ll make some kind of determination by the end of the week when we see how the week of practice goes. He’s got some experience, done some different things. He’s played safety, he’s played in their sub defense, down in a linebacker-type role. So he has some flexibility. He’s played in the kicking game. We’ll see how that all comes together, or how quickly it comes together.”
On how rookie offensive linemen Nick Kaczur (tackle) and Logan Mankins (guard) are playing on the left side
“It’s coming along. Each week is a learning experience for them –- they’ve gone up against different styles of player. Quick guys, fast guys, powerful guys, technique guys. Different schemes –- we’ve seen a lot of different pressure-type defenses in the last few weeks, so you end up blocking linemen or linebackers, or stunts. That’s both in the running game and passing game. So it gives them a lot of different looks. I think they’ve had a lot thrown at them. They’ve absorbed a lot. There’s still a long way to go, and a lot of room for improvement. But I think they’ve gotten better each week. They’re working hard, preparing well. So we’ll keep going.”
On running back Corey Dillon eclipsing the 10,000-yard mark for his career in the win over the Falcons
“Obviously, it says a lot for the player, what he’s been able to accomplish. One, the skill of the player. No. 2, his durability. I think any time you have a player that has a lot of longevity and a lot of production, you’re looking at two factors. One is durability and the other is skill to keep producing. I think Corey definitely fits into both of those categories. He’s been durable. He’s carried the ball a lot and carried it effectively. He’s got a running style that can work in a lot of different ways –- speed, power, quickness, run vision. It’s a very significant individual accomplishment. In a team aspect, we’re a lot more concerned about winning the game than how many yards an individual gains. But when you look at historically –- relative to other players that have played his position –- what he’s accomplished is a pretty significant step.
On the injury report and listing players as probable after many were questionable in weeks past
There is a policy in place and we’re trying to comply with it. … We just do what the league tells us to do in the guidelines set forth.
On Richard Seymour being probable –- which by NFL verbiage means he’s a virtual certainty to play
He’s probable. He’s getting better. I just talked to him. He’s feeling better. Looking better. He’s a lot better than what he was last week. So he’s upgraded from where he was last week.
QUICK HIT: Outside linebacker Tully Banta-Cain has switched from No. 48 to No. 95, which is Roman Phifer’s old number.
Looking ahead, we’ll plan on filing an update later in the day from the locker room.
--Mike
