Pittsburgh - 14, New England - 17
BILL BELICHICK: Well, that was a good team win for us. You know, really proud of the way the guys competed here. This is a great, you know, football city, football environment.
A lot of energy in this stadium today. And I thought our guys responded to it well. Good plays on all three areas of the game.
You know, Pittsburgh is tough, like they always are. And a battle back and forth with them. But, you know, I thought that our play there in the fourth quarter was, you know, we came up with some big plays, two big three and out stops.
And then held the ball for whatever it was, six minutes of the game. And we were able to run it out and kneel on it. So some good, good football when we needed it the most.
You know, a lot of guys contributed. I couldn't sit here and write them all off, but, obviously, offense, defense, special teams, we got good contributions on all three areas. And that's good, complementary football.
Q. The way you closed out the game, Coach, at the end, especially the offensive line opening up holes, how important was that?
BILL BELICHICK: Yeah, it was great to be able to hang on to the ball at the end there. And our backs ran hard and our line gave them some space to run. We were able to control on, what was it, three first downs or whatever it was. I think it was a little over six minutes when we got the ball.
So, yeah, that's the way you want it, kneeling the ball. That's the best way to win. So they did a great job.
Q. Coach, can you talk about the -- the Steelers said -- they wanted to open it up, take shots down the field. They weren't able to do that. What do you think your defense was able to do so well against their offense to force them into those check-down passes?
BILL BELICHICK: Well, they made some yards on that. You know, Mitch did a great job of taking Najee on some of those check-downs. And they had some gains there. He read the defense well. We were back there and he dropped it off. So you'd have to ask them, you know, exactly what they were reading and that kind of thing.
But I thought they took their check-downs and certainly hit us on the perimeter with, you know, Johnson and the touchdown. The check-downs to Harris probably were a little more productive for him than the running game was. But, you know, he's a good back, he a tough matchup. All those guys are tough.
Q. That big play from Mac to Nelson, how significant was that?
BILL BELICHICK: Yeah, Nelson did a great job going up there and taking the ball. You know, just good job by, you know, Mac giving the receiver a chance to go get it. And Nelly came down with it. So, yeah, that was a huge play for us.
We had a chance for a, you know, swing there at the half, but we weren't able to get the field goal in the third quarter. But it was the right idea, we just got to do a little better job there finishing the drive at the start of the third quarter.
Q. (Question concerning Nelson Agholor.)
BILL BELICHICK: Yeah, he's been good all year. Yeah, I mean, I don't think you want to judge guys on one play or one game. He got a lot of snaps and he's been, really, one of our most consistent players this year.
Q. How about Judon covering that wheel route on the third down to get you guys the ball back and running out the clock?
BILL BELICHICK: Yeah, that was a big play. And then the third down stop before that where they threw it to Harris on the flat on the blitz and tackled Harris.
You know, Harris is one of the best backs in the league. I think he led the league last year in broken tackles. He's a tough guy to get on the ground. So it was big point as far as -- I thought our defensive players, you know, for the most part did a good job of tackling him and wrapping him up and getting multiple players around the ball. But he's definitely a tough guy to tackle.
So that was a big stop for us. And one of the top receivers in the game as a running back. So it was a great by Judon.
Q. Big play for Mack Wilson on that interception. What kind of progress have you seen from him from the course of offseason to this point?
BILL BELICHICK: Mack Wilson?
Q. The tipped ball --
BILL BELICHICK: Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, that Mills intercepted it. Yeah, it was a play-action pass, kind of pop pass over the middle. Yeah, made a great reaction to it.
That's a play that -- it's becoming a very popular play in the league. We run it, so I know they've seen it in practice. Miami ran it, Pittsburgh. And he's really an outstanding athlete.
He was able to -- you know, I don't know how many people would have made that play, but just his athleticism and ability to, like you said, get his hands on it and tip if to Mills. That was a big play for us.
Q. Larger role for Kendrick today. How do you feel like he responded?
BILL BELICHICK: We'll watch the film. I think everybody responded well. I thought our players played hard. I thought they played tough. It wasn't perfect but we competed well. And did enough good things in all three areas to win. Hopefully we can build on that and try to keep improving next week.
Q. Coach, I know you've got a lot more away games ahead of you. You said earlier, football talent. How does it feel or what can you sense from your team after their first win, especially in a hostile environment like this?
BILL BELICHICK: I think it was just good to reinforce the things that we're doing. The way we prepared, the way we played was good enough to come in here and win against a good football team. A team that had a big win last week, coming in for their home opener. The Steelers are tough, Coach Tomlin, this organization consistently puts out high-quality football teams. And it's good to come in here and get a win. It's not easy. So we'll take it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports