The Colts beat the Patriots 27-17 yesterday after jumping out to a 20-0 lead.
After the game, Bill Belichick gave a clipped and terse press conference, which lasted just over six minutes.
After extending his sympathy to Colts center Ryan Kelly, Belichick essentially spent the next few minutes responding to questions about the loss by giving the same answer repeatedly, with minor variations. It was a very on brand performance, of course; he’s made a career out of giving the media very little to use, almost to the point of it being a game. Even by his standards, though, this was pretty bare:
Was there any reason for the flat start that the team had?
“We didn’t play well. We didn’t coach well.”
How do you feel the team managed the clock at the end of the game?
“Nothing was good enough tonight to win so it wasn’t good enough.”
Is there a reason the team came out flat?
“We didn’t play well. We didn’t coach well.”
What did you see on Jonathan Taylor’s 67-yard run?
“We’ll look at the film.”
Belichick opened his Monday press conference this morning with a very different tone (rhetorically, that is, he was in his usual monotone), apologizing to reporters for how he handled things, suggesting he was taking his frustration out on the media:
“I apologize if it seemed like I was a little short with you after the game. Not really trying to be short, but honestly, there wasn’t too much to say. I don’t know that there’s a whole lot more to say now. But it’s not your fault. It was a frustrating game.”
“Clearly we had problems in every area, so there was no simple answer, and every play could have been better, every area of coaching could have been better, every area of playing could have been better. And any of that would have helped. So, not really trying to be short, but honestly, there wasn’t too much to say. I don’t know that there’s a whole lot more to say now.”
Belichick is clearly who he is at this point, especially with the media. Maybe he doesn’t apologize like this ten years ago, but if the Pats come out flat next week and lose to the Bills, he’s not going to suddenly turn into Steve Spurrier (or whichever colorful long-winded football coach you want to pick) up on the dais.
But, hey, the apology was nice. Beat writers probably appreciated the nearly twenty minutes he spent today answering questions even more than the apology, though.
