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The morning after: Belichick appreciates the support

Hey all --

Our very brief day here at Gillette Stadium is already over -- the day's schedule called for a press conference with Bill Belichick and that's it. There's no locker room access today, as the players pretty much only have to lift and then can go home; Tuesdays are an off day for them.

When Belichick walked into the room and saw the shrunken media group, he joked that clearly a bunch of people had slept in.

Belichick opened by saying that after getting a look at the tape of last night's game, his reaction was still pretty much the same as it was right after the completion of the 38-14 pasting of San Diego -- that the players made a lot of plays, the team stepped up and played with a lot of energy and was well-prepared for the Chargers.

He also noted again the fan support the Patriots and he himself received over the previous week and at Gillette Stadium, and that it was time to close the book on San Diego and get ready for the Bills.

Belichick also talked about the support he got from his players, notably Tedy Bruschi, how it felt to get a game ball from owner Bob Kraft ("I appreciated it; it was a nice gesture") and the changes in the Chargers offense from Cam Cameron (the team's previous offensive coordinator) to Norv Turner, which he said were mostly in mixing up formations to try and throw the defense off.

Asked about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's demand that the Patriots hand over all notes and video tapes on other teams in regards to illicit spying, Belichick said "of course" he will comply with the request, but when it came to the question of whether there are more tapes like the one that got him into hot water with the league, the coach replied, "I think we need to spend time watching video of Buffalo."

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Projo PatsTalk with Art Martone: A very, very satisfying win

Click here to listen to today's edition of projo PatsTalk with Art Martone. Today, Shalise Manza Young joins Art to talk about: the Patriots' reaction to last night's win; how the Chargers were left humbled; Bill Belichick's take; and whether this team can be challenged in the AFC.

Here are some excerpts from Shalise's comments:

Patriots' postgame reaction: "Tedy Bruschi called it one of the most satisfying wins of his career ... Ellis Hobbs said that this was the time for them to make their statement, you know, they kept their mouths closed in the face of all the comments that people were making about them ... I think even if it hadn't been for video-gate or whatever you want to call it ... just the way that San Diego had been talking so much trash -- 'We were supposed to win last year,' and 'They shouldn't have won in our house' -- [the Patriots responded] 'Just come back to our house and settle it,' and that's what happened."

LaDainian Tomlinson's reaction: "He was emotional. Whether it was frustration or not, who knows. And if I was him I'd be pretty frustrated, because you're the league MVP and you have 68 total yards in two games."

Belichick's postgame remarks: "His whole demeanor was completely different. I think we might have seen a couple of smiles. He used the word awesome a couple times as it related to the fan support that he received and the crowd in general ... ... he said that they really helped the Patriots out. I've never heard him mention anything like that before. So he did seem like he could kind of exhale, because like most athletes and most coaches, for three hours or four hours he got to be in his sanctuary. Because the football field is where he really can shut out everything else."

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments 1

The final game story

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO – Ponder this: In his New England Patriots lifetime, Tedy Bruschi has been part of nine AFC Championship or Super Bowl games, and has only lost two of those contests.

But according to Bruschi, last night was the most satisfying win of the emotional linebacker’s professional career.

After New England’s dominating 38-14 win over the San Diego Chargers, Bruschi, who had chosen not to speak all week about the cheating charges leveled against his coach and current and former teammates, let it all out.

"We went through a lot this week. Hearing some of the things that were said about our teams, this team, past teams, this victory was for all Patriots, past and present,” Bruschi said. “I’ve got something to say to all the players in the league who wanted to comment on this: if you’re on past teams and you’ve got doubts and all these hypotheticals, I’ve got a hypothetical for you. Let’s get all the players that played with us (in those games) and get them back. Then get all the players you had and bring them back on your team. And let’s play again. We would win again, period.”

Teammate Ellis Hobbs likened the Patriots to a ticking bomb, set to go off at kickoff last night.

“I think we all had to make a statement. Enough of the talking, enough of the cheating thing, (of the Chargers) taking cheap shots at us off the field. Who cares?” Hobbs said. “We were taking shots all week and holding it in, holding it in. (At kickoff) was when we could let it all go – on the field.”

Let it go, let it all hang out, let the NFL know they weren’t going to tuck their collective tail between their legs after Roger Goodell’s punishment and that they are a team to be reckoned with.

Though not to the degree that they did last year against Minnesota’s outstanding run defense, the Patriots were pass-heavy in the first half against San Diego, and the Chargers basically had no answer for what Tom Brady and the rest of the offense threw out there.

New England started the game in a no-huddle offense and from the opening drive it was evident that Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had come up with a solid game plan.

“We got off to a fast start, which we were talking about all week,” Brady said. “This is a physical team that plays with a lot of energy. Coming out there and putting a touchdown on the board on the first drive (was a positive).”

Randy Moss blew by every defender San Diego put in front of him – and almost inexplicably, he faced a lot of single coverage – and Wes Welker and Brady had the short stuff covered.

Not to be outdone, the New England defense was stellar as well. All-world back LaDainian Tomlinson got nowhere, picking up just 43 yards on 18 carries, forcing the Chargers to become one-dimensional.

And that one dimension? Well, it was flat.

Philip Rivers got away with a couple of ill-advised passes in the face of heavy pressure, and at other times, his protection let him down.

Patriots players didn’t say they were playing for the embattled Belichick, and they didn’t really need to: their honor was on the line as well. Accusations that they hadn’t won games – championships – fair and square clearly hit home.

“I don’t care what people think about our hard work,” said Brady, addressing the scandal for the first time. “I know that I count on my teammates to work hard. I know I show up and prepare as hard as I can. There’s no home video that follows us around (chronicling the hours of offseason work the players do). No one would understand anyway.

“We’re just going to go out and try to play the best that we can for the one statement we can make a week, which is when we play.”

And what a statement last night was. With the eyes of football fans across the country trained on them, they invited arguably the most talented team on paper in the NFL into their house – and then proceeded to whup on them like they were trying to steal something.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 2:04 AM | Permalink | Comments 0

Rosevelt Colvin has monster game

BY ROBERT LEE
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO – Rosevelt Colvin is living his dream.

“It’s a great situation to be in . . . Where else are you going to get the opportunity to put, 60, 70, or 80,000 people on their feet making one play?” the Patriots linebacker said. “I cherish the moment.”

Colvin brought the Patriots crowd to its collective feet more than once last night.

On San Diego’s first offensive play in last night’s 38-14 New England victory, Colvin intercepted a Philip Rivers pass intended for Buster Davis.

Don’t call him Nostradamus just yet, but Colvin predicted that he would have an interception in last night’s game last week.

“I didn’t think that it was going to come on the first play, but I knew that I was going to have an opportunity to get back into coverage,” Colvin said. “That’s one of the things that I’ve always liked in my game – being able to be a cover guy. I’ve always been able to rush [the quarterback]. A couple of things clicked over the last week-and-a-half.”

New England couldn’t capitalize on Colvin’s pick though. Stephen Gostkowski missed a 41-yard field goal four plays later.

“He made some plays,” New England coach Bill Belichick said of Colvin. “I saw a couple out there that I think he could’ve done a little better on, but he made some plays. Obviously the first play action pass there, getting out underneath that comeback route was a great play, our first defensive play, he did a nice job on that. He read the play well and made a nice catch, something our linebackers aren’t always noted for, but he made a great catch and that was a big turnover for us.”

The pass interception wasn’t Colvin’s only specialty last night. He flew all over the field, helping New England’s defense stuff the run. He finished with five tackles, two sacks, an interception, and two forced fumbles.

He sacked San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers at the Patriots’ 44-yard line with 42 seconds left in the first quarter, forcing him to fumble on the play.

The sack gave Colvin 49.5 career sacks – the sixth highest total among all active NFL linebackers. Vince Wilfork recovered the loose ball, giving the Patriots possession.

The turnover led to a 24-yard Gostkowski field goal.

Colvin didn’t stop there.

He recorded career sack 50.5 a minute into the fourth quarter, wrapping up Rivers for a 10-yard loss and stripping him of the ball. San Diego’s Kris Dielman recovered the fumble.

Colvin led the Patriots with 8.5 sacks and 26 quarterback hits last season.

Posted by Rob Lee  at 1:25 AM | Permalink | Comments 0

Bruschi speaks out

BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO – Bill Belichick may not be talking much but his players certainly felt the heat from last week’s spying scandal.

When media, fans and especially other players around the NFL started calling into question the legitimacy of the Patriots’ three Super Bowl wins in light of Belichick’s penchant for taping opponent’s sideline signals, a line was crossed. The players says they have too much pride in their accomplishments through the Belichick Era to let others take shots at them.

No one seemed more upset than the prideful linebacker Tedy Bruschi. The 12-year veteran was clearly upset with the developments of the previous week and called last night’s 38-14 win ''one of the biggest of my career,’’ because his reputation and that of previous Patriots players was on the line.

''To come out and win this game after hearing some of the things that were said about our team, hey, this victory was for all Patriots teams past and present,’’ he said.

Asked just what bothered him from comments made by other players, Bruschi sniffed, ''Hey, I’ve got something to say to all the players in the league who wanted to comment on this. If you’re on past teams and you’ve got doubts and all these hypotheticals, I’ve got a hypothetical for you. Let’s get all the players that played with us and get them back. Then get all the players you had and bring them back on your team. And let’s play again. We would win again, period.’’

The Patriots pride themselves on focusing only on the next game on their schedule and those thoughts were crystallized this week. Once the NFL slapped Belichick with a $500,000 fine and the Pats another $250,000 (plus a first round pick), the doubters began to surface.

But after posting identical 38-14 wins over the Jets and Chargers to start the season, the players feel they’ve made a statement that any extra 'help’ from scouting films has little effect on their play.

''This was different. This wasn’t people calling us out or some other type of gamesmanship. This was different,’’ said Bruschi. ''It was a different atmosphere in this locker room because of the way things were going on this week. Did we use that going out there? We didn’t really. We just buckled down in the locker room and focused and just said `we need to win this game. We need to win the game, period.’’

Quarterback Tom Brady clearly heard the rumblings about the legitimacy of his team’s wins as well. Like Bruschi, he thinks the team's record should stand for itself.

''We’ve won quite a few big games around here,’’ said Brady. ''If you were to listen to everything that everybody says and respond, there’s just too many battles to fight. There’s only one battle that I care about and that’s playing football and performing well. We control that. You just can’t go out and respond to what everybody says about you. There’s not enough hours in the day. Especially after you’ve been winning for the last six or seven years.’’

Posted by Kevin  at 1:13 AM | Permalink

Brady makes statement, on and off the field

BY JIM DONALDSON
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO – Tom Brady was Tom Terrific last night.

Not only the field, where he completed 25 of 31 passes for 279 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Patriots’ 38-14 rout of the defending AFC West champion Chargers, but also at the podium in his post-game press conference, where he defended his embattled coach.

“We’re all lucky to play for him, because he’s the best -- no question,” Brady said of Bill Belichick, who on Friday was fined $500,000 by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
“I can’t imagine anyone being as disciplined as he is in getting us prepared to play.”

Despite a week filled with distractions, Brady and the Patriots obviously were prepared to play last night.

“Over the years,” he said, “[Belichick] always has done a great job of keeping us focused and tried to make sure that the most important thing that we’re doing in terms of preparation is what we’re taking care of.

“If handle your preparation, and your ethic, and your attitude, then you come out and try to play the best that you can.”

The Patriots couldn’t have played much better against the Chargers, offensively or defensively.

For the second week in a row, Brady made superb use of his dazzling array of offensive weapons, the most explosive of which is wide receiver Randy Moss, who racked up his second straight 100-plus-yard game, catching 8 passes for 105 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Clearly, opposing defenses need to concentrate on stopping Moss, who had 9 receptions against the Jets, for 183 yards and a touchdown.

But, if they do, that could create even more openings for Wes Welker, who last night had 8 catches for 91 yards, and big tight end Benjamin Watson, who included his second TD catch in as many games among his 5 receptions for 49 yards.

The Pats also can run the ball, as Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris combined for 128 rushing yards on 25 carries.

Equally impressive last night was New England’s defensive effort.

San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson was all but unstoppable last season, setting NFL records for touchdowns (31, including 3 receiving) and points scored (186). He also threw three TD passes.

Last night, however, he rushed for just 43 yards on 18 attempts (2.4 per carry), caught 4 passes for only 15 yards, and failed to get into the end zone.

“I think this team did a nice job,” Brady said, “putting some distractions behind us and realizing that the most important thing is coming out and trying to win football games.

“You just focus on the task at hand. If we were to listen to everything that everybody said and then respond -- there’s just too many battles to fight. There’s only one battle I care about, and that’s playing football and performing well.

“We can control that. You just can’t go out and respond to what everybody says about you. There’s not enough hours in the day.”

“I know the truth,” said Brady, “and I know what I believe, and that’s all that’s really important. Everyone who’s been around here knows that and, hopefully, everyone who follows us realizes that. But, if you don’t then who really cares?

“I just don’t feel like I ever need to respond to what people say or think because they’re going to think that way, anyway. It’s just not something that’s worth the energy. We’re just going to go out and try to play the best that we can for the one statement we can make a week, which is when we play.”

Brady and the Patriots made an eloquent statement last night.

“We’re all lucky to play for (Belichick),” he said. “He’s the best coach, probably, in the history of the NFL.”

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 1:12 AM | Permalink | Comments 0

Adalius Thomas has a big game

By ROBERT LEE
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO – Adalius Thomas doesn’t fit the mold of a sprinter.

The Patriots linebacker is 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds.

But none of the San Diego Chargers will likely challenge him to a race any time soon.

With San Diego driving down the field trying to cut the Patriots 17-0 lead to 17-7 last night, Thomas, on third-and-1 from the Patriots 37-yard line, intercepted a Philip Rivers pass intended for Malcom Floyd and out ran the San Diego offense for a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown with 5:17 remaining in the first half, giving the
Patriots a 23-0 lead. The Patriots won the game, 38-14.

“We were in zone coverage and [coach Bill Belichick] told us to get back and read the quarterback,” Thomas said. “That’s kind of what I did. I just caught the ball and ran.”

Thomas said that he wasn’t going to stop running until he reached the end zone.

“You don’t look behind you, I mean you look back and tend to slow down so I just took a peak at the jumbotron,” Thomas said.

“He made a nice play, anticipated the throw, made a good catch, and he really showed his speed on that,” Belichick said. “He had a couple of guys chasing him. I don’t know if they made up any ground, but they didn’t make up much. That was a pretty good run.”

The pick was the third-longest interception return for a touchdown by a linebacker in Patriots history. It trails only Chris Singleton’s 82-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 15, 1992, and Sam Hunt’s 68-yard scoring return against Tampa Bay on Dec. 12, 1976.

Asked if he was worried if anyone would catch him, Thomas simply said, “No.”

“You don’t know where they are so I just ran as fast as I could,” Thomas said.

It was Thomas’ seventh career interception, and the third interception return for a touchdown of his career. It was also his sixth career defensive touchdown. In addition, he also had three tackles, one of which resulted in a four-yard loss on a LaDainian Tomlinson run.

“It was just instinct,” Thomas said of the tackle. “I kind of shot the gap and that’s kind of like what it was.”

One of the reasons why New England signed Thomas as an unrestricted free agent on March 3 was for his covering abilities.

“I think it was the total package with Adalius,” New England coach Bill Belichick said when asked why the Patriots drafted him earlier this year. “ . . . His work ethic, his toughness, his versatility defensively and in the kicking game, he has some pass rush skill, he has some coverage skill, he can play the run. He’s a good pursuit player.”

“AD, he brings that playmaking ability that he showed in Baltimore,” Patriots linebacker Rosevelt Colvin said. “That’s definitiely one of those things that attracted Bill to him. And I think he showed that tonight and that’s great when you got a guy that can make the play and then take it to the house.”

Thomas, a Pro Bowl selection in 2003 and 2006 with the Baltimore Ravens, said that he is having a good time playing for New England so far, and that he has nothing to prove to anyone outside of the Patriots’ locker room.

“I just go out there and play for the guys in this locker room,” Thomas said. “Those are the guys that go out and work with you. I’m not here to try to prove a point. I’m trying to go out there and do my job and my job is to go out there and be where I’m supposed to be and make a plays when it’s my turn to make plays. That’s what you go out there to do.”

Thomas said that he is getting more comfortable in the Patriots system every day.

“You get more and more comfortable every time [you take the field],” Thomas said.

Last season Thomas set career highs with 11.0 sacks and 106 tackles while starting every game for Baltimore.

Posted by Rob Lee  at 1:09 AM | Permalink | Comments 0