Bill Belichick Not Concerned With Stats: 'We're Not Playing Fantasy Football Here'
FOXBORO (CBS) -- Last year, the Denver Broncos came to town and rushed for 280 yards. On Sunday, the Broncos once again visited Gillette Stadium, and on this trip, Peyton Manning threw for 438 yards.
The common theme in those games? The Patriots came away with wins.
And as always, that's all Patriots head coach Bill Belichick cares about.
"It's not about a bunch of stats and stats this and stats that," the head coach said after the Patriots' 43-21 win over the Broncos. "We're not playing fantasy football here. We're trying to win."
Belichick gave that answer when asked about the statistics of his own team, but it shines a light on the coach's thoughts regarding individual stats in any given game.
"Look, everybody plays a role in the offense," he explained. "It doesn't really -- it's not really that important who gets it or how it comes, as long as we get it. We use different people and so one guy gets it or multiple guys get it, as long as we're producing, we're moving the ball and scoring points, we're doing the right thing. That's the idea."
Of course, stats are kept for a reason, as they provide at least some indication of how certain players fared over the course of a game. Yet the fact that Manning threw for 438 yards while Brady threw for 333 yards en route to winning the game by 22 points shows they don't always tell the full story.
As for the historic matchup between Brady and Manning, the coach with a great appreciation for the history of the game wasn't much in awe of the record books after this one particular game.
"Yeah, I mean they're two great players," Belichick said. "But right now, we're just focused on this game."
Surely, though, the coach recognized the significance of this win, and he thinks there's a good chance his team will see the Broncos again in the playoffs in January, right?
"Right now I think there's a good chance we're going to see Indianapolis," Belichick deadpanned, referencing the next game on the schedule.
Back on the statistic track, there was in fact one stat -- Julian Edelman's 84-yard punt return for a touchdown -- that Belichick didn't even want to be a possibility at the time it happened.
"It was kind of a crazy play. We should have blocked the punt. [Britton] Colquitt dropped the snap. We just didn't finish the play on the front end of it," a moderately perturbed Belichick said when recalling the play.
Belichick then went on in great detail to praise the work of the return team in springing Edelman free, but the comment provided yet another glimpse into the mind of a coach who's always seeking perfection.
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