Bill Belichick appreciative of his 24 years in New England, but focused on Week 18 vs. Jets

FOXBORO -- Bill Belichick is usually pretty relaxed and extremely open with reporters by the time Friday rolls around in a game week. But on this particular Friday -- which could be Belichick's last one as head coach of the Patriots -- he wasn't all that talkative.

It had nothing to do with his future with the franchise being up in the air, however. Belichick, like many of the players in the New England locker room, is under the weather as he and the team prepares for their Week 18 showdown with the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium.

That prompted Belichick to call an audible and change his Friday press conference to a virtual meeting with reporters.

"Not feeling too good. I wanted to spare everyone in the first few rows from my coughing and sneezing," he told reporters.

There was plenty of coughing and sneezing during the media session, and Belichick deserves credit for taking and answering questions for over 10 minutes. No one would have faulted him for taking a sick day on Friday.

But don't expect him to miss Sunday's game. Not with the Jets in town. 

"I expect to," Belichick said when asked is he'd be good to go for Suday.

The Friday version of Belichick is usually extremely chatty with reporters, especially when it comes to the history of the game. "Friday Bill" was always more than happy to expound on the art of special teams play or the intricacies of a zone defense for several minutes at the end of the week. 

This week though, a hoarse Belichick didn't want to talk too much. But seeing how this may be his final game with the Patriots after 24 seasons in New England, his future obviously came up. And Belichick did give a bit of an answer, though he said that he'd wait to reflect on the past some other time.

"I've always appreciated the opportunity. I'm just looking forward to Sunday's game against the Jets and trying to put our best game out there," Belichick said. "That's what we're working for. I'm sure there will be another time to, you know, talk about other things, but right now I'm just focused on the Jets."

Belichick didn't even have the energy to go after meteorologists, as he's done in the past. With snowy conditions expected before and during the game on Sunday, Belichick said that he and the team will wait to see how the forecast plays out leading up to the 1 p.m. kickoff.

"We'll see what happens. Things can change quickly at this time of the year, so we'll see how it goes. As the conditions get closer to game time, we'll deal with them appropriately," he said. "All of that is out of my control. I don't have any control over those. Whatever it is, it is."

He did admit, though, that some of the younger players who haven't had the joys of experiencing a New England winter have been given a crash course on snow removal.

"That is definitely part of the education of playing in New England," said Belichick.

So it sounds like rookie Demario Douglas will be ready come Sunday morning after admitting that he didn't know what a snow brush was on Thursday.