3 takeaways from Bill Belichick's Wednesday morning press conference

Bill Belichick opened up about a variety of things in Wednesday morning’s press conference, but here are my three biggest takeaways:


1. He wasn’t revealing any information on Rob Gronkowski and his status for Super Bowl LII. The big tight end, who suffered a head injury in the AFC title game against the Jaguars, hasn’t been spotted since he went down. On Wednesday, Belichick was asked if there was an update on Gronkowski’s health.

“We will be compliant with the NFL injury report and when that is required we’ll put it on there,” Belichick said. “Whatever the situation is, whatever is status is, we’ll put it on the injury report. We’ll make sure you’re the first one to get it.”

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz knows that if Gronkowski does play, it’s not just about slowing Gronkowski.

“You can't scheme for one player. If you do, then they have plenty of other players that can make plays,” Schwartz said of the Patriots’ offense on Tuesday. “You have to do a good job against their entire offense, and you can't really make it about one person.

“I think you have to put that challenge to playing the Patriots' offense. No player stands on his own,” Schwartz added. “I mentioned (tight end Rob) Gronkowski, (wide receiver Brandin) Cooks, (wide receiver Danny) Amendola's been mentioned, (wide receiver Chris) Hogan, (running back James) White, (running back Dion) Lewis. There are a million different guys in there.”

For what it’s worth, Gronkowski’s WWE pal Mojo Rawley says the tight end is going to be OK.



2. Chris Long made the right decision to leave as a free agent. Long had a memorable season with the Patriots in 2016, finishing the year with 35 tackles, four sacks and one forced fumble. But after the year, he decided to move on to free agency, where he was quickly scooped up by the Eagles. On Wednesday, while Belichick acknowledged the contributions of Long with last year’s team, he said it was “probably” the right move.

“He probably made a good decision,” Belichick said of Long. “He probably did. Not that it wouldn’t have worked here. I’m not saying that. Whether it would’ve worked out here, I don’t know. But it certainly has worked out for him there, just like it worked out for him last year. That’s one of the benefits of free agency. It gives players and teams the opportunity to find the right situation.”

With the Eagles this season, Long had 28 tackles and five sacks.

“Chris has a lot of good skills,” Belichick said. “But his overall skill set and experience is probably more in — it definitely is more in the system he’s in than our system. … And he did a great job for us, and there wasn’t a better teammate or guy who tried to embrace the program than Chris. But in the end  he probably was a better fit there for his skills and for this point his career than maybe we had for him.”

For what it’s worth, Long and LeGarrette Blount could be the fifth and sixth guys in NFL history to win a Super Bowl one season and follow that up with a Super Bowl win the next year against a different team: Brandon Browner, Derrick Martin, Deion Sanders and Ken Norton Jr. all turned the trick previous to this year. They could also be the first teammates ever to win consecutive Super Bowls with different teams.

3. They want to score in the first quarter this time. One of the strangest statistical wrinkles in New England’s recent Super Bowl run is its strange inability to score in the first quarter. Of the Patriots’ seven Super Bowl appearances of the Belichick-Tom Brady Era, New England has failed to score a first-quarter point in all seven games. Belichick was asked about it.

“We try to score in every game — I know that’s probably hard to understand. We try to go out and score and keep the other team from scoring. That’s our goal every game,” he said with a wry smile. “What’s important is what happens this week against the Eagles. We’re going to try and score. We’re going to try and keep them from scoring.”