Bill Belichick Third Quotations

If you're not really good in the running game and you're not really good on third down, you're probably not going to be really good defensively,

They run the ball. He throws it downfield. They pick up third downs. They control the game.

He was a guy who was able to go hard and run hard on virtually every single play of the game. It didn't make any difference if it was the fourth quarter, in the middle of a two-minute drive, or the third play of the game. He was always very, very close to his top speed. ... Even if he had good players covering him, he'd wear them down.

It?s always good to make those yards when you need them, like in short yardage and goal line situations or like that third quarter (against the Jets) when you're going into the wind. You want to try to control the clock a little bit. Those are important yards, too. I think we can do a better job in running the ball than we did. I hope we can.

I think there were a number of times when they had trouble with the running game. At times, they had trouble on third down.

The third quarter was really frustrating, ... We had the ball at their end of the field for most of the quarter and couldn't get a whole lot done.

The thing I thought was Jerry's greatest strength ... was his endurance. I thought he was a guy who was able to go hard and run hard on virtually every single play of the game. It didn't make any difference if it was fourth quarter, in the middle of a two-minute drive or the third play of the game. He was always very, very close to his top speed. Nobody else was like that.

This year, we have an extra third and an extra fourth. Having those extra mid-round picks in a full draft certainly gives you flexibility to move up, but there's only so far you can go in the first round. From 21st, you're not going to be able to get into the top 10, but you could move up a couple of spots.

I thought there were some good things defensively. It was nice to see the turnovers. I thought we played more competitively in the running game and on third down. But we've only been in camp for three weeks. It's not like we're three or four months down the road.

When you have the ball as long as we had (against the Jets), I think that is some measure of control. But we'd like to have more rushing yards for the number of attempts. There's no question about that. There were some positive things in the game about our running game. There are certainly a lot of things that we can work on. We'd like to be more consistent and gain a few more yards. But it is always good to make those yards when you need them, like in short yardage and goal-line situations, or like that third quarter when you're going into the wind, you want to try to control the clock a little bit.