Patriots Notebook: Patriots have a walkthrough; Belichick asked about Brady's 2019 comments

FOXBOROUGH — Bill Belichick was asked Wednesday about Tom Brady's statement regardinng playing in 2019.

“Right now, I think it’s a one-game season here,” Belichick said in his press conference. “So we’ll just concentrate on the Jets and worry about next year, next year. (We’ll) worry about next week, next week, worry about last year some other year.”

Here are a few other highlights from Belichick’s Q&A earlier on Wednesday:

Q: You guys have either blocked or deflected three punts in the last three weeks. How much of a difference can those types of plays make in a game?
BB: Yeah, those are some big plays. So, yeah, we’ll see how it goes. We look for those opportunities every week – sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not, sometimes the opportunities are better to return. So, we’ll just see how it plays out.

Q: What do you attribute Sony Michel’s success to this year? He’s had some big production games in spurts. Obviously, he missed training camp and a few games here and there, but when he’s in there, he’s produced for you guys fairly regularly.
BB: Yeah, well, I mean, he’s a good back. He’s a good player, runs well, takes care of the ball, he’s tough, he’s got good playing strength, runs through some arm tackles. He’s still got a lot to learn, still a lot of things that he can work on, but he’s a tough kid, he’s smart, he works hard, he’s out there every day, so he keeps getting better. That’s a good thing.

Q: You’ve seen a lot of running backs go through that process, especially when they’re rookies. How long does it take a player to gain confidence in himself so that what he’s doing later in the season obviously shows an upward curve in what he’s able to accomplish?
BB: Yeah, that’s a tough question. I think each player’s different, each situation’s different. I don’t know if there’s one set standard. We have guys on our team at that position that didn’t play at all as rookies that have been very productive and good players for us. Other guys played as rookies and played less as it went along. So, I don’t know. Just keep grinding it out day by day, week by week and see where it goes. Just take it one day at a time.

Q: In which ways has Rob Gronkowski helped this offense that might not show up on the stat sheet?
BB: Well, there’s a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. What shows up on the stat sheet for us is wins and losses, not the individual stats. So, that’s everybody doing what they need to do on each play as consistently, as often as possible.

Q: So, he’s done a good job with a selfless approach this season?
BB: Yeah, Rob’s a great team player. I don’t think that’s ever been an issue.

 Q: When it comes to blocked punts, Matthew Slater credited Nate Ebner as well as the coaches for coming up with the idea for what they did on that play. How critical have those two guys been in working together and not just helping their teammates, but maybe helping their coaches at times, too?
BB: Yeah, they both do a great job. They have a real good understanding of what we’re doing and then they also are able to see what our opponents are doing, what scheme they’re using, whether it’s a protection scheme or a blocking patter in the return game or maybe a coverage pattern for our return game. So, they give a lot of valuable information on that. Brandon King is another experienced guy that’s done that for us, too, and others. I know [Ramon] Humber, [Albert] McClellan and obviously Chung, those other guys that we use in the kicking game, as well, Rex [Burkhead], James Develin. But, those guys that are experienced that can give you that kind of feedback, a lot of times the kicking game, especially on the punt team, punt return team, a lot of that’s based on calls. So, hearing what they’re calling, understanding what they’re doing can be helpful. And when you’re trying to sort it all out in terms of who’s blocking, who’s in the return the game and that type of thing, especially when there’s a lot of touchbacks involved like there are in kickoffs and kickoff returns, sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s blocking who when you’re on the sideline or even if you’re looking at it on film. But, sometimes the players can tell because they can see the guy is looking at him, even though he doesn’t block him. You can’t tell from the sideline or on film who he’s looking at, but if the individual player knows, ‘This guy is the guy who’s going to block me, and then OK, this guy is going to block him,’ and that kind of thing. So, they do a good job of that. They have very good awareness. You know, Joe [Judge] and Cam [Achord] coach those guys well. They’re aware of what, like I said, not only what we’re doing, but also what our opponents are doing and how they do it. Sometimes, it can be one of two things, this or that, and if we can figure out which one of those it is, then that’s a big jump, as opposed to not knowing which one it is. Again, teams don’t have 10 punt protections. They don’t have 10 kickoff returns. It boils down to a couple simple things, maybe with an adjustment or two off it, and that’s being able to recognize that and identify it. They do an excellent job of that. So, yeah, it’s a big help.

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