Bill Belichick after Patriots victory: ‘There are still a lot of things we have to work on’
The New England Patriots were looking to avoid going 0-2 for the first time in the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era and they did just that yesterday when they routed the Minnesota Vikings 30-7.
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The Patriots were exceptional in all three phases yesterday as their defense only allowed one touchdown and caused four turnovers, the offense put together long sustaining touchdown drives, and the special teams blocked a field goal and returned it for a touchdown.
Regardless of the sensational play of the entire team, head coach Bill Belichick was wary to state that everything was perfect on Sunday. In fact, Belichick noted that the team still has plenty to improve on as the season progresses.
“There are still a lot of things we have to work on,” Belichick told Patriots media this morning. “There’s so many things that we can do better but I thought we showed improvement from last week.
One of the major areas that the Patriots need improvement on is reducing the amount of penalties. In both games the Patriots have shot themselves in the foot by giving up too many penalties on both sides of the ball.
“Fifteen penalties accepted and there were several early ones where we had multiple fouls on the same play and 160 yards, or whatever it was, it’s way too much,” Belichick continued. “We can’t keep doing that. We had a lot of penalties last week, we had a lot of penalties this week and it’s not just the penalties it’s the yardage, it’s too many personal fouls.”
The Patriots will look to improve to 2-1 next week when they host the Oakland Raiders. Expect Belichick to harp on his team this week in regards to penalties, and we will see how it plays out on Sunday.