The wrath of Bill Belichick: New England Patriots head coach unloads on “the Charley Casserlys of the world”
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick unloaded on the National Football League’s competition committee during his press conference today after getting a question on whether quarterbacks get too much protection from the rules:
Q: What is your general feeling about the way the quarterbacks are being protected these days and the way the rule is being interpreted today versus years ago?
BB: My background is as a defensive coach, so you can probably figure out the answer to that question. But the bottom line is that nobody cares what I think. It doesn’t make any difference.
Q: I care what you think. [Laughter]
BB: [Laughter] You got me on that one. I’m telling you. You got me on that one. But again, that’s one of those things that I don’t have any control over — do you want replay, do you not want replay? Pass interference at the point, a 15-yard penalty? I would say go talk to the geniuses that make the rule, because really they’re the ones who make it and they have all the answers, ‘Here’s why we do it this way. Here’s why we don’t do it that way.’ They want to sit in there and talk about how much money all the quarterbacks are making and we don’t want to see those guys on injured/reserve. They have all of the answers, so really I think that they could explain it a lot better than I can. Whatever the rules are, we need to understand them and play within those boundaries. That’s all I know.
Q: I was just asking in a theoretical sense to somebody that has been in the league for more than 30 years.
BB: Look, nobody wants to see a quarterback hurt and the quarterback is in the position, a lot of times, where he can’t defend himself. He’s looking at a receiver, he’s stepping, he’s trying to throw the ball and he really can’t protect himself from somebody who is trying to knock his head off. That’s different from a running back and for the most part it’s different even than a receiver, although once in awhile we see a receiver try to catch a poorly thrown ball usually, and they get laid out by a defensive player, but that’s more of a result of where the ball is thrown. Defensively you’re protected on crack-back blocks and things like that. I think the concept of protecting a guy, whether it be a returner who can fair catch, giving the quarterback protection in the pocket, hey once he gets out of the pocket there’s a little bit less protection, although he gets plenty out there too, the slides and all of that, there’s a million rules that of all been put in there basically to help him when he can’t protect himself, which is when he’s trying to look downfield and deliver the ball. We all know that’s an exciting part of the game, the passing game in the National Football League. That’s one of the things that make this the greatest game and the best part of it is the skill of those players and then the guys they throw to. I think we’re all on board with that. Now as it goes to each specific rule and point, the one-step rule and sliding, below the knees, and above the shoulders, helmet to helmet and all of that. There’s a point to everything and how much is too much and what’s not enough. Hey, I tell you right now when they meet again this year there will be another one in this year too. They’ll talk about it, I don’t know whether they’ll pass it or not, but there will be some other rule. Like I said, I think you should talk to the guys who make the rules. There are plenty of people on that committee and they love to talk about the rules that they’ve made and how great they are and all that, honestly. The Charley Casserly’s of the world, that have all the answers to everything. Talk to them. They’ve spent a lot of time studying it, a lot more than I have and I’m sure they have all the answers.
Q: Surely, the pendulum can’t swing any further than it already has.BB: Why not?
Q: Well because the defensive players don’t even know what they can and can’t do.
BB: They don’t make the rules either. The pendulum can swing as far as the people who make and pass the rules. I’m not just saying it’s the competition committee. The league votes on all of that too, so there must be enough of a sentiment within the league to pass those rules. 32 teams vote on them and I don’t know however many they need to vote, whatever the number is, you have to have enough people to want the rule for it to be a rule.
Q: Is it two-thirds?BB: I don’t know. Look, I’m not on any of those NFL committees. I don’t want to be on any of them. I just want to coach the Patriots and see if we can beat Jacksonville. That’s really all I’m interested in.
Q: Do they ask you to be on those committees and you turn them down?
BB: Look, all I want to do is coach the Patriots and try to win a football game here. I’m not trying to conquer the world. I just want to win one game.
As the Boston Herald‘s Albert Breer notes, it was the second time this week that Belichick went after Casserly after the latter claimed the Patriots had been warned by the league not to film the opposing team’s offense from the sideline.
There’s been a lot of speculation that Belichick is going to retire after this season, that he has had enough of all the non-football stuff he has to deal with as a head coach. That’s all speculation, but certainly when one hears him vent like that one might think that maybe the coach, the by far most sucessful coach New England Patriots have ever had, has had about enough. I think he’ll be back, though.
