STEELERS VS. PATRIOTS
Sunday, December 9,  2007
at Gilette Stadium

PATRIOTS CONFERENCE CALLS

 

BILL BELICHICK

You were making it look easy for a while, the last two games; can those in some way be good?

 

Well you know we had a real physical game Monday night with Baltimore.  They’re an outstanding team as we all now.  A lot of talented players and so it was a tough game, as it was with Philadelphia, as I’m sure it will be with Pittsburgh. The Steelers do everything well.  They’re good in all three phases.  Well coached, got good players, tough and they execute extremely well.  We know it will be tough this week.  That’s the way it usually is in this league. 

 

Were there times through the end of the game Monday that you thought you were going to lose?

 

I thought there were times at the end of the game where there were situations that we had to execute well in those situations.  And we’ve had those situations come up in the past or similar to it.  So you know you keep playing and you handle the situation that is in front of you and you try to make that one happen and then move on to the next one.  That’s the way you play the game. 

 

Is there any more pressure because of the unbeaten record and people’s expectations?

 

Right now the challenge is the Pittsburgh Steelers.  That’s really all we’re thinking about.  Playoffs week doesn’t mean anything and next week doesn’t mean anything either.  It’s just getting ready for the Steelers and we have all of the respect in the world for their team, their organization and the way they play.  We know we are going to have to play our best football this week and so that’s what we are going to prepare to do.

 

How does this compare from other Steeler teams you have faced?

 

They’re pretty good.  They can run it, they can throw it, they can pass protect.  Quarterback is a play maker; they’ve got playmakers at receiver, running back, tight end. Defensively they are good at everything.  They’re good against the run, good against the pass, good in the red area, and good on third downs.  They’ve got excellent kickers. Rossum is a good returner.  They’ve got a rookie punter, but he’s got a big leg and can change field position.  They’re good in everything.  They’re well coached, they’re disciplined, they’re tough.  We’ve seen them against a lot of good teams and they’ve played well.  They played well against Cincinnati who we know is a good offensive team.  They shut them down.  They scored a lot of points on the Ravens; we know that’s hard to do.  I think they’re good in every phase of the game.  We’ll have to be at our best on Sunday.

 

How much has adding the receivers helped your offense this season?

 

They’ve done a good job.  We’ve been productive in the passing game and it works all the way around.  Protection and all of the guys that are involved in that, the skill players the backs, the tight ends and the receivers.  I think that we’ve been able to be productive. As I said we’ll have a huge challenge this week against that Steeler defense.  They’ve seen a lot of good offenses and a lot of teams that can throw the ball and run it and they can defend anyone pretty well.  We know we’ll have our work cut out for us on Sunday. 

 

How is Brady better this season?

 

Tom’s been pretty good for us.  He’s done a pretty good job for us all of the way through. 

He’s been a good quarterback, we’ve won a lot of games with him at the position and he’s played well this year.  He’s always working to improve and get better at the little things and I’m glad he’s our quarterback.

 

What impresses you most about Ben Roethlisberger?

 

His record.  He wins, he does what he needs to do to win.  He’s a strong guy, he’s hard to get down in the pocket.  Does a great job on a lot of his timing throws, the out, the curls, those slim posts.  Gets the ball out of there on time.  When he has to scramble and run around, he is a hard guy to get down.  He has excellent vision down the field, throws a good deep ball.  He’s a play-maker.

 

Here in Pittsburgh they are always talking about the offensive line is giving up sacks, your offensive line doesn’t seem to have that problem, what is your secret to that success?

 

Well I think the Steelers have a good offensive line.  I think they run the ball well.  They run it better than anybody in the league.  They complement that with passing on early downs and third downs.  So I think they’re offensive line is good and I think they are a hard team to stop in the running game and they are hard to get pressure on.  But anytime you have trouble in the passing game, usually, in my experience, it is related to everything.  It’s related to the route running, the timing of the passing game, blitz pick up and things like that, that involve the entire unit in the throwing, the catching and the protection.  I think at the end of the year you break those down and you find out where the problems are and usually when you do well you can find good things everywhere and whenever you have problems they are usually spread between the skill players and the protection, the routes and sometimes the defense.  You have to look at it on a play by play basis.  I think their line is good. 

 

Can you talk about what Adalius Thomas has meant to your defense?

 

Adalius has done a good job for us.  He’s come in, played a lot of different positions.  He’s a versatile player, he’s smart, he’s big, he runs well, he’s physical and he has the ability both the physically and mentally to be flexible in terms of different positions and assignments and responsibilities.  He’s been a good addition to our football team and I’m glad we have him. 

 

Has it helped motivate your team with what happened earlier in the season when the NFL punished you guys?

 

We don’t talk about it.

 

Is this your most balanced offense?

 

I don’t know.  I mean right now we are just trying to move the ball and score points.  Probably like everybody else in the league. As far as rating this against something else or whatever, I don’t know.  We’re are just trying to be productive, get the ball in the end zone, get some first downs, score points and however we can do that, then that’s good and if we can’t do that then that’s not so good.

 

You concerned about the short week and the physical game Monday?

 

We’ve got our time to prepare.  Pittsburgh has theirs and I’m sure each team will be ready to go Sunday afternoon.  We are going to do what we do and use our time the best we can, as I said, the Steelers are a hard team to get ready for.  We’ll need all of the opportunity that we can to study and prepare for them.  We’ll be ready Sunday and I’m sure they’ll be ready too.

 

What are your impressions of Mike Tomlin?

 

I just know Mike a little bit from when he was in Minnesota last year.  He’s done an excellent job.  The team is playing well.  They are well coached, well disciplined.  They do a lot of things well and I think that’s a reflection on Mike, the staff and the players.  I think they are a real good football team. 

 

What is it about the zone blitzing scheme that makes your team struggle?

 

Yeah.  I don’t know.  As I said I think that Pittsburgh is real good defensive football team. They do a lot of things well.  They are a big challenge to get ready for. They mix it up.  I think Dick (LeBeau) is an excellent defensive coach, has been for a long time.  He’s got the Steelers playing well.  As I said they’ll be a huge challenge to prepare for this week.  They pretty much lead the league in just about every defensive category.  I think that speaks for itself.

 

What is your reaction with Baltimore saying that the refs giving you that game?

 

We’re concerned about what were doing.  Trying to improve, correct our mistakes, do a better job and get ready for the Steelers.  That’s really where all of our focus is.

 

 

MIKE VRABEL

What’s Ohio State doing in the title game?

 

Hopefully not getting blown out.  They’ve got some scores to settle with that SEC.

 

Do you guys have the Steelers number; you’ve certainly beaten them enough times?

 

No, I don’t really understand that or get that.  I think we’ve always played them it’s certainly been big games. It’s been in a championship game or was the opener up here.  When we opened our new stadium that was certainly a big game, it was I think a Thursday night game.  Just the thing that I think about with them is that it has always been an important game or it’s been a big game and we’ve made the plays in those games to win.

 

A lot of us saw what the Jets did to the Steelers, Mangini used to coach with you guys, and people think that you can do the same thing with better players.  Is that accurate?

 

Well I think the thing that you have to understand about this league, which you guys know, is that it is a copy-cat league.  The film is available to everybody and you look at the film and I’m certain that’s one of the games we’ll look at. Just as we’ll look at the Bengals game and the Dolphins game and right on down the line.  You have to be careful with some of those games, that’s not quite reflective of their offense.  Because it is an explosive offense and sometimes playing in those kinds of conditions you don’t really truly get to see what they are capable of.  But, we’ll certainly look at all the film we can.

 

Any advantage in being in close games the last two weeks for you guys Mike?

 

I think that not that you want to have them, but there are going to be close games in the league and you have to win games in the fourth quarter.  Not that it’s good or bad but there used to be a day where that’s how we played.  We played games, tight games, close games and we won them in the fourth quarter.  That’s how this league is.  There are tight games every week. There’s teams that have a chance to win with the ball and that’s how it comes down to. 

 

You guys made it look so easy for most of the season. Does it help you winning those close games?

 

Yeah, I think helps anytime you are in a position to make plays and I said this earlier in the year that there are going to be opportunities where we are going to have to make the right plays and we are going to have to perform under pressure and make the plays down the stretch to win games.  We’re not just going to be up by three or four touch downs.  If you make a mistake it doesn’t cost you the ballgame. We did that, we stopped them and we were able to stop them when it counted and get the ball back and the offense was able to complete the drive.

 

What are some of the differences with this year’s Steelers offense compared to the Steelers you’ve played in the past?

 

I think the running game is obviously always prevalent.  The thing I think that impresses me a lot, which they have done in the past, is that Ben’s been able to get out of the pocket.  He makes a lot of plays out of the pocket. He’s very consistent.  I know those plays aren’t designed but as soon as he is out of the pocket, those receivers know they have a chance to make a big play, or the tight end, if they get open or uncover from their guy, he’s able to find them. 

 

Speaking of tight ends, do you enjoy that position as much as any?

 

Well its part of what I do.  Its not a big focal point, but it’s situational football that we have to do, whether its goal line, red zone, two minute, things like that.  It’s just situational football and it may be comes up a couple times a game, maybe it doesn’t come up, but I have to be prepared for it. 

 

Is this the best New England team you’ve been on?

 

Well it’s the most talented.  I think that nobody can say that they have the best team they’ve ever had until the season is over, until the run through the playoffs and the Super Bowl.  I would look back to San Diego last year and I’m sure they thought they had a really really good team but I think if you asked them after the season they would say that it wasn’t because you have to win a championship to be considered that good of a team.

 

How important is it to you guys to go undefeated?

 

It’s not what motivates us or not what challenges us.  We’re trying just like everybody else is to get ourselves in a position for the playoffs.  That’s what everybody does.  And obviously by winning games, the more games you win, the better opportunity you have to get home field advantage, to get a bye.  So those are the things we’re trying. We won our division and we have to just keep trying to check off goals. 

 

What was your reaction to some of Baltimore’s claims about how the referees wanted you to win?

 

That would be a first for me that if I ever left the game thinking that the refs wanted us to win.  I don’t really pay much attention to it.  We’ve been in those positions before.  We need to concentrate on the Steelers. 

 

Why was Baltimore able to have such success running the ball, and how much of a concern is that going into Steelers this week?

 

Well I think it is a big concern.  If we don’t get those problems fixed, I would say that Pittsburgh runs the ball on average a little better than Baltimore does.  So if we don’t fix the problems that we had, I’m sure it’s going to show up again on Sunday.

 

Does it all affect a legacy when the league ruled you guys were cheating?

 

No.  We’ve moved past that and I don’t think it affects our guys on this team and how we prepare or how we try to go out and play.

 

In some way have you used that as a motivation at all?

 

Well no, I think we are past that and we are moving on to other motivating factors, playing the Steelers and the way they are playing right now and the guys that they have on their team, that’s motivation enough.