Patriots Coaches’ Quote Room: “All of Us Have To Do a Better Job”

The last edition of the New England Patriots “Quote Room” featured comments from Bill Belichick and some of the team captains following their loss to the Washington Commanders on Sunday. The main takeaway, “just a disappointing result.”

Since then, the New England Patriots coaches and players have chimed in on the loss itself, looking ahead to this weekend’s game against the Indianapolis Colts in Germany, and issues of what continues to plague the team in 2023. A review of what has been said:

New England Patriots Head Coach

Bill Belichick

“We just got to keep grinding away here, turn things around this week.”

“We missed some opportunities that weren’t that hard. Should have been able to get them.”

“I think some of our fundamentals are definitely inconsistent. And we need to be a better, more consistent fundamental team. There’s no doubt about that.”

(on Jonathan Kraft’s “we’re not good enough” comment) “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them (Robert and Jonathan Kraft) about what they said.”

“There’s no way that one person, in my opinion, can do everything that needs to be done in those two roles (head coach and general manager).”

“I’m going to do the best I can every week and I’m going to keep doing that.”

“I’m not going to get into that, all the decisions we make on personnel.”

“Number one thing every week that we emphasize is taking care of the ball and trying to take the ball away. So, we got to do a better job at both, obviously.”

“My focus is on getting ready for the Colts.”

“Those variances in the schedule, they are what they are.”

New England Patriots Offensive Coaches

Bill O’Brien

“We just need to be more consistent. Whether it’s coaching it better or executing it better. It’s not just Mac, it’s every position. We’re striving for that consistency. We still haven’t really found it and we’re working hard to get it. And hopefully we can find it.”

“The touchdown pass to Hunter (Henry) was just a beautiful play.”

“All of us just have to do a better job. That’s really what it comes down to.”

“It comes down to 6-to-8 plays.”

“It’s hard to get the running game going when you’re three-and-out.”

“We have two really good backs back there and we’re going to have to run the football.”

(on Tyquan Thornton) “He has not played a lot of football because of injury. And so when you don’t play a lot of football, it’s hard. And he’s got to continue to work, and he will. He’s a great guy. He works very, very hard. And he just hasn’t had a lot of opportunities.”

“We just haven’t played on a consistent level at all.”

“We’ve got a really good group of guys. They work really hard. There’s no finger pointing going on, anything like that.”

“No substitute for hard work.”

“There’s a lot of ball left, and let’s see if we can get better starting this week.”

Vinnie Sunseri

“He (Rhamondre Stevenson) did a good job getting out into his route and making himself available to the quarterback, which is what I’m trying to get him to do more often.”

(on Rhamondre Stevenson and Ezekiel Elliott) “Really proud of those guys. They keep playing extremely hard.”

Troy Brown

(on Tyquan Thornton) “He has to keep working hard, keep getting better, keep practicing well and showing improvement. That’s the easiest way to get on the field around here.”

“The obvious thing is nobody wants to be 2-and-7.”

“If I’m disappointed in anybody it would be myself. Not having our guys ready to go and play at a high level.”

“We go out there on the field with some confidence that we can get it done and then we come up short. So you know, that’s the NFL.”

(on Demario Douglas) “He’s a rookie, so he’s got a got a lot of growth to go. Psyched to see him continue to get better.”

“The only thing I ask is to get open and catch the ball. If they can do that they can play.”

“I got to do a better job of getting them prepared and playing situational football better.”

Ross Douglas

“It’s all correctable and coachable.”

“We got good players in our room.”

“Two main jobs for a wide receiver in the passing game is get open and catch the ball.”

(on Demario Douglas) “Definitely progress there.”

(on Kayshon Boutte) “He’s starting to become more consistent at what he does. It’s not about what we do in a day, it’s what we do daily.”

(on Tyquan Thornton) “He just has to continue to be consistent in everything he does.”

Will Lawing

(what he’d like to see more of from tight ends) “It’s always the fundamentals. Little more finish in the run game. Continue to work on our technique, Hand placement, footwork and pad level.”

“It boils down to execution.”

“We can’t have turnovers, that’s critical part of the game.”

New England Patriots Defensive Coaches

Jerod Mayo

“I just got to do a better job getting these guys ready.”

“The best coaches are always the best thieves.”

“It’s pretty tough from a player perspective when you put a lot of work in and you just don’t get the outcome that you want.”

Steve Belichick

(on the Colts) “I see a tough team. A lot of tough players on their offense.”

“Another good challenge this week that we’re looking forward to the opportunity.”

“We never like to give up big plays.”

“Try to do a better job. Starts with the coaching staff and trickles down, so we can all do a better job.”

“I got no problems with Jack (Jones). He loves ball. Every time he steps out in between the white lines you know what you’re going to get, which is a competitor, a guy that’s going to play hard, and a playmaker. So I’m good with Jack.”

“I’ve always been a big fan of J.C. (Jackson).”

“Hard work pays off, and he (Jeremiah Pharms, Jr.) is a good example of that.”

(on playing outside the U.S.) “It’s a cool experience. There’s a lot of cool things that come with having this job. And you need to enjoy it, embrace it. We’re going out there to obviously win a game just like every other week, but at the same time you got to take it all in and understand how big football is in the world, not just in the United States.”

Brian Belichick

“You always want to have good communication, and execution of the call. And good fundamentals, including tackling, coverage, etc.”

(on Marte Mapu) “Marte is a guy where his strength as a player is probably his versatility to play in the box, and have the speed and athleticism to play in other places on the field.”

“Unfortunately, Devin (McCourty) is irreplaceable. So, we’re doing our best. And thankfully I have a lot of confidence in the guys we have.”

Mike Pellegrino

(on Colts WR Michael Pittman, Jr.) “Big body guy. Similar to A.J. Brown…how they kind of use him in a sense, on a slant. You know that guy can catch the ball, all you got to do is put it on his body.”

(on Colts WR Josh Downs): “A rookie comes in and plays this well, it’s impressive. Does a lot of good things out there. Extremely explosive, quick, twitched up.”

“Every team that we play has great receivers. This (playing Indianapolis) is no different.”

“It comes down to general awareness and doing our jobs. And making sure everyone across the board is doing their job.”

“For the most part, there’s multiple things wrong on the play when you have 20-plus yard gains (by the opposition).”

(on Jonathan Jones) “He’s one of the toughest guys on the team and I need that toughness on the perimeter for him. And, he’s just doing what he’s told. Obviously, he’s a great soldier, he’ll do whatever’s needed.”

“I’m not trying to do anything other than put all these guys in the right spots for this team to succeed.”

(on Jack Jones sitting on the bench during the Washington game instead of standing on the sideline) “You could ask Jack about that.”

“Everybody knows what they need to do to play.”

“Practice is harder than the game. You get to the game, game should be easy. Because we ask a lot out of them in practice. Practice is not easy around here.”

“Shaun (Wade) has done a lot of great things here for us in this part year, and is a different player than what he has been in the past.”

New England Patriots Special Teams Coach

Cameron Achord

(on special teams penalties) “They call what they call out there and we just have to be able to adjust.”

“We just got to get coaching, the technique, the fundamental right there. And know the situation.”

(on turf difference in Germany) “It will be a little bit different. The footing is something we’ve got to look at pregame. Whether you wear soccer cleats, football cleats. That’s something we definitely have to talk about before the game so our guys aren’t slipping or falling out there.”