New England - 28, Buffalo - 25
BB: A good win for us today. A good team victory. You know, we had a lot of contributions from all three units; offense, defense, special teams. There was a lot of good football. Buffalo's, obviously, a good team, quality team, very explosive. So, you know, it came down to the last handful of plays and fortunately this week we were able to make them. Good day today. Still got a lot of work we can do, things we can do better. It's good to have those results.
Q. Bill, after Mac hit Rhamondre -- or got down to the seven, you called your last time-out. So you have first and goal at the seven and Mac hit -- to Pop at the one-yard line. He did not get out of bounds but had the pass interference call which stopped the clock. In retrospect, the way things went, how did that pass interference call change the complexion at the end of the game?
BB: Yeah, I mean, it is what it is. Kind of the same thing happened at the other end. I mean, look, there were flags, there were no flags, they pick them up, they throw them late. I don't know. But, yeah, their defensively penalty stopped the clock. That's what it is. When you're in that situation, penalties are never a good thing. We had them, they had them. It helps the offense.
Q. Hi, Bill. What did you see from Mac Jones today, especially on that last two-minute drive?
BB: Well, I mean, got a good offensive drive. We had a good run there by Rhamondre and, you know, got up a lot of -- covered a lot of field. But Mac made a good check on the blitz, got it to the weak side to Parker, and Pop down there, a good throw for a touchdown. A lot of good football. Pass protection. I mean, they were running, they were blitzing, they picked them up, we threw it, we caught it. It was good execution.
Q. Coach, you got players making plays on both sides of the ball, guys stepping up big time. But Peppers, he seems to come through for you week in and week out. How big is Jabrill?
BB: Yeah, Pep's had a good year. Good, explosive player, hard tackler. Big play on the interception. That was a nice kind of -- we got hit on that play against them last year. And we worked on it in practice. He played it well. Nice job to go up and high point the ball.
We worked a lot on Allen throwing down the field. He had that one in the end zone, it seemed like he threw it about 70 yards. I don't know how far it was, but J.C. kind of broke it up down there. Kind of 50/50 deep balls. He's tough. A good arm and good receivers. But, yeah, Pep's been good for us. And, you know, he's helped us in the kicking game, as well.
And you mentioned offense and defense. But I thought Chad had a big kick there, a 49-yarder. A punt return gave us good field position there in the first quarter. Covered kicks, obviously, a lot better than we did the last time we played them. And punts. But Bryce had a big field position swing there. But all the units contributed and it's good to have that.
Q. Bill, first few games here at home this year, you guys started slowly. You've been playing from behind, turnovers, that kind of thing. Today, you had the lead. What was the difference for your team here today?
BB: Yeah, well, I mean, they played well today. Still room for improvement. But, yeah, we'll see how it goes the next time we play them.
Q. Bill, what factored into the decision to put Mike Onwenu at right tackle today? And is the plan to keep him there going forward?
BB: Yeah, we'll see. I'll talk to Mike about it. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. We'll see how it goes.
Q. Bill, what is your reaction to becoming the third head coach with 300 wins behind Don Shula and George Halas?
BB: I mean, it's great. I'm really more focused on, you know, our team and this year. Worry about that later. Thank you.
Q. Bill, I'm wondering how much a drive like the last drive today for your offense can help generate confidence in Mac moving forward, for everybody, players, coaches, staff?
BB: Yeah, I don't know.
Q. How about for you, then, individually? How much more confidence might you have when --
BB: I have confidence in all our players. That's why we put them out there. If I didn't have confidence, I wouldn't put them out there. So...
Q. On the other side, Pop had a lot more production today. Just what did you see from him after coming back from that concussion?
BB: Yeah, I mean, Pop's quick. You know, he got some separation on a few routes, made a couple tough catches. The seem pass was a good catch. He got held on the play action route on the first drive, I think it was. Short yardage play.
Yeah, I mean, the big thing for all of us is, obviously, just offensively ball security. From every person on the team. So quarterbacks, receivers, running backs, tight-ends. Everybody who handles the ball, if we can just take care of the ball, that will help us a lot. And so, it's the No. 1 thing for everybody.
Q. Bill, Mac gave a lot of credit to the offensive line today. Just overall as a group, I'm just curious your thoughts about the blocking upfront, the two tight-end sets. The change with the O-line, I'm just curious your thoughts on the overall performance upfront today?
BB: I think it was one of our most consistent offensive performances of the year. You know, we had a couple long drives last week. You know, today, I don't know, we had to punt a couple times. It wasn't very many, which is good. That's always a good thing. What, we had 10 points against New Orleans or whatever it was.
So, yeah, we moved the ball, we scored points, changed field position. Again, that's not one person. One person can't do it. You have to have 11 guys working together. And Billy did a good job all week with the game plan. Team went in there and played, you know, with good competitive level, better fundamentals and better execution. So that's a good place to start.
Q. Hi. There's been a lot of discussion as of late about your contract extension. Is there anything you would like to share with Patriots fans about --
BB: Yeah, I never talk about my contract. I focus on the game and try to focus on Buffalo. Now I'll focus on Miami. Yeah, you can count on that.
Could you lob a softball up there for me or something? I mean, I hit a single. Can you softball me one? (Laughing.)
Q. (No microphone.)
BB: Yeah, that was a -- that could have been costly. Obviously, we -- that was a mistake, you know, on our part. And I'd say, you know, normally probably just think about taking the delay penalty and kick it. The way the wind was today, those kicks were hard.
I know it's from the 15-yard line, you back it up, but it's a lot tougher kick. We blew a time-out on that. But thank you for reminding me that. You know, bad coaching, bad management. But, yeah, normally that would kind of be a time-out thing. But based on the way it was today, that was a good kick.
He made a 49-yarder. And you saw what happened on Bass' field goal. It looked like one of my five irons, straight to the right. It was a tough wind out there today. But, yeah, that was the -- we decided to take the delay and try to make it a little bit shorter kick.
Q. Hey, Coach. Just on Pop Douglas again for a second. His skill set, how does that kind of open up things for the other skilled position guys? You, obviously, send him in motion a lot, he's a guy you have to watch out for. Does that open up other opportunities for other receivers, the running game, when you have somebody that has to be accounted for like that?
BB: I mean, I don't know. Hopefully they account for everybody. I mean, you got to account for Bourne, Hunter Henry, Gesicki, Parker, Stevenson. I mean, I don't know. You'd have to ask Buffalo about that. I don't know. Hopefully they're accounting for everybody. If not, we should be getting them the ball.
Q. Bill, can you talk about the final drive you saw and the final touchdown? In particular, what you liked about it?
BB: Well, you know, the way Buffalo plays down there, it's really hard to throw the ball on the goal line. They did a real good job of taking the goal line away. You kind of got to throw behind them into the back of the end zone, you know, with a flag or some type of play in the back-end line type of thing. Because on the goal line, they're really aggressive and they -- you know, it's just hard to stuff the ball in there.
So it was a good throw. A good, high throw is what you need to do in that coverage when they play like that. And sometimes they drop back and play a little cover two down there. But, you know, they played aggressively and it's hard to get open and find space. And sometimes the space is behind the defense on the goal line instead of right on the goal line.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports