I've said this before, but Belichick is far, far better in interviews than people who don't cover him realize.
Ask a good question, he'll answer thoughtfully and in great detail.
These are yesterday from his regular Friday presser
Q: In the Bills media notes they pointed out that John DiGiorgio is one of the starting middle or inside linebackers in the league who was undrafted. I’m just wondering if there’s something about playing middle linebacker in the NFL as opposed to college that makes it hard to transition. Why do so many of these guys fall through the cracks?
A: I think you see a fair amount of that at the middle linebacker position and also at the safety spot. You’ll see a lot of safeties in this league that are second day draft choices or maybe college free agent-type guys, similar to what you’re talking about with linebackers. And probably the big thing on that is just the instinctive part of it. You can time those players and do vertical jumps and bench press and all of that, but really, at that position a huge part of the game is the instinct, is being able to anticipate things, recognize little tips: where the quarterback’s looking, where their guard is pulling, whether to shoot the gap, whether to go over the top of the blocker, whether to undercut him, when to take him on, when to slip him, diagnosing screens and reverses and gadget plays like that. There’s so many of those plays that are about recognition and anticipation and instincts. A player may not test as well in some of those areas, but if he’s able to react quickly then he can make up for a lot of that or actually out-produce guys who are bigger, faster and maybe stronger but it doesn’t necessarily show up on the field because of the reactionary stuff that people at those positions have to do. And it’s sometimes hard to gauge. You can look at guys in college and know what type of offenses they’re seeing or the scheme they’re playing. They may be more or less instinctive at this level than what they were in college. Certainly at this level you see a lot more in the passing game. The passing game is a lot more, I would say sophisticated, as it relates especially to the linebacker position. A player that can excel in the passing game at this level has a lot of value. I’m not sure in the college game there’s as much of that. College is a lot more downfield throws, tear screens, plays to the perimeter. They don’t have as many inside combinations like you see in a drop-back passing game in the NFL, so a guy who maybe does that real well in college doesn’t get to do it a lot. You don’t get to see it a lot because he’s not defending it, whereas at this level that’s a big part of the game plan.
and this, on different nickel configurations ...
Q: That’s a package you guys have used a lot since camp. Is that something you’ve done traditionally or is it working with the personnel you have?
BB: I think that’s probably what you see most teams do that play six defensive backs. A lot of teams will play…I think the fifth defensive back is normally a corner, and that’s to match up on the third receiver. And then the next player is generally either a safety or a cover-linebacker that plays the tight end or whoever that fourth receiver is. Not the third wideout, but either the back or the tight end, whoever the fourth receiver is. So regardless of whether that’s a backer or a safety, a lot of times those players have similar skill-sets. They’re bigger guys, they’re maybe a little bit more physical. They can handle size and are more comfortable playing closer to the line of scrimmage. Now, you get a team that plays a lot of four wide receiver sets, then you might want to have a fourth corner to match up against the fourth receiver. There’s not a lot of teams that play four receivers on third down. There’s some, but not a lot. You see more three receivers and either a tight end and a back or two backs. The teams that play a lot of four, that spread the field and play with four open guys, a lot of times those tight ends are more like receivers – the [Antonio] Gates and the [Kellen] Winslows, the [Tony] Gonzalezes and guys like that, teams that have those types of players at tight end. Even [Chris] Cooley, to an extent. He’s not really a receiver, even though he’s a real good guy the passing game, he’s not really a true receiver. But the four corners, most of the time, the four corners shows up on teams that use a lot of four wide receivers. But, you know, if you feel like your four corners are your four best football players, maybe you put them out there. Some of it is based on who you feel like your best guy is. I mean, the bottom line is when you get a team in a passing situation, whoever you have on your roster, you probably want the 11 best pass players on the field as much as possible. Part of that is match-ups, but again, you want to get your best pass defenders out there – pass rushers, pass coverers, blitzers, whatever you’re doing with them.
