Belichick’s on hot seat
Coach has answer for early exit
By Karen Guregian | Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Still feeling the sting of Sunday’s Super Bowl XLII loss to the Giants, Bill Belichick yesterday attempted to put some closure on a few nagging game-related questions.
While there were a number of topics on the table during his conference call with the media, the most sought after response was Belichick’s explanation for leaving the field before game’s end.
The Patriots [team stats] coach has come under considerable fire for marching out onto the field, and shaking Tom Coughlin’s hand while there still was one second left on the clock. He already was long gone and headed to the locker room when Giants quarterback Eli Manning took the final snap and kneeled down to end the game.
“Basically, on the last play I wasn’t really sure of the time,” Belichick said. “Everybody started onto the field and then I got over there and I wanted to congratulate Tom. I’ve been in that situation before after the game. I wanted to get over there and congratulate him and congratulate him on the championship. They deserved it. There really wasn’t much left at that point.”
In relation to the game itself, Belichick was asked if he considered challenging the play in which Pierre Woods appeared to recover a fumble, only to lose it in a scrum.
“Ultimately, on the play, the officials ruled that there
wasn’t any clear-cut possession and (referee) Mike Carey was standing right there in front of it,” Belichick said. “I can’t imagine that he would have ruled it any differently than the way he did when he’s standing right on top of the play. So I really didn’t give it much thought. I didn’t think about anything more than the next play at that point.”
Belichick did say he’s always left wondering if he could have done something that would have changed the outcome. He does second-guess himself.
“It’s disappointing,” he said. “You look at what you did, and say, ‘Well, if I had done this, or if I had done that, maybe it would have made a difference.’ I think that’s a normal feeling in a game like that. I certainly feel it. I’m sure everyone else who participated in the game feels that about the entire game.”
When asked about the future of some of his elder statesmen, such as Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi [stats] and Rodney Harrison [stats], Belichick wouldn’t budge. He didn’t think the timing was right for an appropriate answer. The same rule applied to his coaching staff.
“I think that at the end of each season, and I have said this in previous years and I would say it every year, I don’t think the day after the season is a great time to make decisions about anything,” Belichick said. “I think we all need to give the end of the season a little bit of time, and whatever decisions need to be made,
sometimes they are timely decisions and you can’t wait forever on them, but I don’t think the day after the season is a great time to be making a lot of important decisions on anything.
“So how those players feel now, and how they might feel a week from now, or two weeks from now, or a month from now, could be entirely different. I’ve certainly seen that in my career as a coach and I’ve had feelings after a game, that after a period of time have shifted a little bit too for various reasons. I personally wouldn’t put too much into anything that happens soon after the end of any season, good or bad, or immediately after a particular game. A lot of times those are emotional decisions and not really good fundamental ones.”
Belichick indicated the staff would go through an evaluation process for the season in order to prepare for free agency, the draft, personnel decisions, and ultimately, the 2008 season. As for the 17-14 loss to the Giants, that’s history.
“It’s pretty much over. It’s time to move on,” Belichick said. “I’m not going to sit here and dwell on anything, good or bad, that happened in the past. It’s over. It is what it is. We played
Posted by: soxmuscle
...I like all of these quotes.
Posted by: min0 lee
He may not be a bad guy, he's not the best in front of a camera I guess.
I would be awful if I was in his shoes....thats for sure.
Posted by: soxmuscle
My heart races when I go up in front of a class, I can't imagine being in his shoes.
Posted by: soxmuscle
^
It's weird though, I can't control it. I'm not nervous, but my heart is?