Belichick: Patriots Have 'A Long Way To Go'
BOSTON (CBS) – The New England Patriots looked good in their 47-12 blowout of the Jaguars Thursday night, but head coach Bill Belichick knows his team has plenty to improve.
It was mostly young players that took the field as the Patriots kicked off their 2011 preseason, which the head coach wanted to see.
"We really got off to a slow start, obviously, and there are plenty of things we need to work on. But I think we just keep working hard and going forward here," said Belichick, who is now 37-29 in preseason play. "We looked at a lot of people here (last night), a lot of young players, and that was kind of the idea; to get them in there and let them play. We let them play against some better people there in the beginning of the game, so we'll get a good evaluation of them."
Despite the score, the Patriots did have some deficiencies. Special teams looked spotty at times, with multiple missed tackles allowing long kick returns by the Jaguars. Deji Karim averaged 42 yards in his three returns, including and 84-yarder in the second quarter. As a team, Jacksonville averaged 32.5 yards over six kickoff returns.
The Patriots also fumbled the ball three times, losing one of them. Tight end Aaron Hernandez fumbled twice, with running back Danny Woodhead fumbling once.
"We had a lot of balls out – one of them we lost and a couple other ones that were out that either we got back or they called us down or whatever it is, so yeah, no question; we need to catch the ball better. We need to run it and hang on to it better and not let it out. There's no question that we've got to do a better job of that," said Belichick.
One aspect that did improve for the Patriots was third-down defense. Opponents picked up a first down nearly 50-percent of the time on third down in 2010. Thursday night, the Jags were just 3-for-13.
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But it is just preseason, one game at that, and with no starters on the field there is no reason to believe Thursday night will mean anything come September 12 in Miami.
"We've got a long way to go," said Belichick about third down defense. "There were plenty of third-down conversions that we could have been on a little bit tighter. We've got a lot of work to do. We made some plays and our red area defense was decent. At least we kept them out of the end zone, even though we gave up some yards and they drove it on us, but at least we were better in the red area."
"I mean, last year is in the past and we're moving on," said linebacker Dane Fletcher, who wore the green dot on defense, putting him in charge of the signal calling. "We're definitely trying to work on the third downs, along with first and second downs. Yeah, we have to work on it. There's a lot we have to work on."
The Patriots defense was able to pick off one pass by Jacksonville, but it was by the hands of a receiver in Buddy Farnham (an Andover native) who played both sides of the field. Safety Patrick Chung could have had a pick of his own, but dropped an easy interception in the first half.
"We've got a receiver leading the team in interceptions," joked Belichick. "It will be a point of embarrassment for the defensive backs, but it's alright; they deserve it."
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"I actually got a joke about that, too. He's going to show me how to catch the ball tomorrow," Chung joked after the game. "No, he's a good guy, good player. You see him playing both sides of the football field, so it's good. Good stuff."
Good stuff indeed, but plenty of work to do.
