Bill Belichick Releases Surprising Statement About Patriots Players

  The New England Patriotsrun defense made headlines after the losses to the Miami Dolphins and thePittsburgh Steelers. These were the Patriots’ first couple of consecutive losses since 2002.

A week ago, the Miami Dolphins managed to rush for 189 yards on 21 carries for a 9.0-yard average. On Sunday, James Conner was out of action, and the Pittsburgh Steelers still found a way to run it 25 times for 158 yards and a 6.3-yard average. The Patriots allowed opponents to average more than 4.2 yards per carry in six games and 11 of 14 games overall.

“We always try to play with good fundamentals and technique, so that will never change. What we do schematically will depend on the game plan and what our opponent does and what we’re trying to stop and so forth. But fundamentally we always try to play with good fundamentals and techniques,” Belichick said.

Fifth-round pick Jaylon Samuels did most of the damage for Pittsburgh with 19 carries for 142 yards, one of the hugest runs came from Stevan Ridley.

“There was a couple things that could have been better. We could have coached it better. We could have played it better. It wasn’t a good play,” Belichick added.

“I think the National Football League has always been a passing league. But the running game is very important. Each week you try to defend whatever the offense for your opponents do, running game and passing game, situational football, third down, red area and everything else. What you do is a function of what they do. That’s really more of a week to week thing for us. So whatever the league trends are or aren’t, I don’t really know that it matters. What matters is who you are playing and what you have to do in order to be competitive against that opponent. That’s the way I look at it. It doesn’t really matter what the whole league does. Whoever you play that week, that’s what you better be ready to deal with.”