Belichick Talks Newton, Jones; Mum on Harry, Uche And More After Patriots Win Preseason Game Two

After partaking in two days of joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles, the New England Patriots were eager to show exactly how effective they can be on both sides of the ball in a game setting. While Philadelphia chose to rest many of their starters, the Pats rode solid performances by quarterback Cam Newton and Mac Jones, along with a very impressive night for the defense, to a 35-0 victory over the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick met with the media, both postgame on Thursday, and again on Friday morning. Here are some of the highlights from Belichick’s meets with the media:

PostGame, August 19

On the Patriots’ work on the red zone offense paying off on their first possession:

“It’s always good to put the ball in the end zone. We did a pretty good job of that tonight. The backs ran hard and we hit some passes. Just, overall, the efficiency was a lot better than it was last week. We actually gained some yards throwing the ball and converted some third downs. That leads to some points.”

On the Patriots’ ability to feed off each other’s energy in all three phases:

“Yeah, that was great. There was a lot of good energy on the sideline. There was a lot of support for each other in the other groups – offense, defense, special teams. When you play complementary football that always helps the overall performance. It’s fortunate when those things come together, but we were able to do some of that tonight. A turnover on defense and stick it in for a touchdown on offense and so forth, so it was good.”

On QB Cam Newton’s performance during the week:

“You know, I thought all players had a good week. Everybody improved – the coaches that helped us, you know, seeing a new team and working through that. The players - Cam had a good week - but I thought everybody worked hard and tried to take advantage of every opportunity that we had to go against a different group of players and different schemes. It was beneficial for all of us. It was two really good days. I think we benefited from it.”

On Newton’s play this year coming off of his first season with the team:

“Well, I mean, the season’s pretty early here. We all have a long way to go. I’m not really worried about last year or some other year. I’m just worried about moving ahead this year. It’s a new year, it’s a new team. [There are] some people that weren’t here that are here this year and there are people that were here last year that aren’t here – like it is on every other team in the NFL. So we’ll see how this comes together. I think we’re making progress. We still have a long way to go, though. We’re talking about the second preseason game, we have a long way to go.”

On Newton’s level of comfortability:

“I think everybody is comfortable with what we’re doing. I hope so. If [Newton] isn’t, then I don’t know.”

On QB Mac Jones and how the offense could have handled the last possession of the first half differently:

“We learn every time we go out on the field, every time we run a play, every time we are in any series of plays. We learn from all of them. We learn from the first series to the last series. They’re all good teaching moments. We’ve had the chance to play two games and a lot of practice, but the games are different and everything comes together in the games and they’re all good learning experiences.

On whether QB Mac Jones could have handled the last possession of the first half better:

“Again, we learn from every situation. There are always things we can work on and talk about. Every situation is different, so there will probably never be another situation exactly like that one. We’ll try to apply the principles that we talk about in different situations. Sometimes there are some grey areas and sometimes they are clear. We all learn from them. Josh [McDaniels] and I talk about this too.”

On LB Matt Judon:

“Matt’s a good player. He’s a good football player and does a lot of things well. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

On having to adapt while being short handed at tight end:

“That’s real football. Things happen and you have to make adjustments. Guys have to maybe do something that is a little bit different than what they have been doing. We cross-train guys to do more than one thing. Devin [Asiasi] played around 40 snaps and there were times when he wasn’t on the field. Sometimes we had linemen in there, sometimes we had four receivers on the field, or two back in the backfield. We utilize those formations. When we’re short on a position, then we have to use other personnel groups. You got to have 11 guys out there, but we try to still do as many things as we are comfortable doing; things that fundamentally fit for the offense or defense. Hopefully we just have one or two guys that have to make an adjustment and we can go from there. That was a good opportunity for us. We practiced that way on Tuesday and Wednesday, then went back over it this morning. We thought the players handled it pretty well and adapted to it. Those are the kind of things we’re going to have to do. Sometimes you will have to do them before the game. Sometimes it comes within the game. That was a good learning situation for us.”

On QB Mac Jones getting experience with different situations:

“Every play is a good play for us to learn from. Whatever ones come up we can learn and make the most out of them. Some come up and some don’t, but the ones that do we learn from and teach. The ones that don’t, we teach in practice or watch when they come up from our opponent. We can sometimes talk about those situations if it is a strategy. We try to keep learning and covering things. Sooner or later, that situation or one similar to that will pop up and we’ll need to know what to do.”

On the running back group:

“It’s a good group. Those guys all work hard. They have all gotten opportunities and have shown positively in their opportunities. Competition brings out the best in all of us. Those guys are competing well and are all contributing. It’s a great situation.”

From Friday Morning, August 20

On Chase Winovich:

“It was good to have Chase back out there. This week, he got some reps in practice. Like all of us, he has a long way to go. Chase is a bit further behind, because he did miss some time. But he will work hard, pull on his experience and try to get caught up.”

On Harvey Langi’s versatility (playing off-the-line)

“Harvey did quite a bit of that with the Jets. When he was here [in New England] before, he played on the line a bit more, but he played off-the-ball as well. Our depth off-the-ball took a hit when we lost Raekwon [McMillan], so that has given him and even Cassh [Maluia] a bit more playing time. But, Harvey has done a good job with that, pulling off of this experience doing that with the Jets.”

On Thursday’s Penalties:

“It’s a learning experience. We have had opportunities to work with the officicials twice in practice…once here and once in Philly. The game settings are a bit different. But that’s something we always have to work on. We had a couple of penalties on defense last night…some of that is on us to teach and coach better…some is on the way the players are reading it. We will continue to coach that and improve that.”

On N’Keal Harry, leaving Thursday’s Game with an injury:

(Harry was seen postgame wearing a sling on his left arm)

“We just got back [a couple of hours ago]…we will see how things are going today.”

On Josh Uche leaving Thursday’s Game with an injury:

“Again, it takes at least a day or two in these instances to really see what is happening. We will evaluate, but we’re not sure, yet”

On Quinn Nordin’s performance on Thursday:

“Whenever you go through a player's performance…either in preseason, or in regular season….there are always plays you’d like to have back. I thought Quinn did a good job of bouncing back to finish strong. But we are all working for more consistency, and Quinn will work on that. We always try to improve the three-man team chemistry with snapper, holder and kicker. That group is on the field for a specific purpose, and that is something we will continue to work on.”

On the absence of Joe Cardona and its effect on that three-man dynamic:

“Whether it’s with Joe or not, there are always ways to improve the things we need to work on. Obviously working with new people [ long snapper Brian Khoury] is a part of that. It changes the dynamic. Last night, we left five points on the field, so we will continue to work with what we have…and when Joe gets back, we will work to get him back into condition, as well.”

PostGame, August 19

From Friday Morning, August 20

*Bill Belichick’s Thursday’s PostGame comments transcribes by New England Patriots Media Relations and Philadelphia Eagles Public Relations