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While the past three weeks rained red flags for the New England Patriots, a 25-22 Week 7 win over the Buffalo Bills just rained yellow penalty flags.
New England and Buffalo tallied 17 penalties combined, plus two declined ones, on Sunday, October 22. Belichick considered the officials’ approach to calling the game as “unusual”, especially amid multiple picked up flags with no penalties.
“You’d have to ask Clete about some of those,” Belichick told reporters on Monday, October 23 via a video conference. “Throwing flags, picking them up, throwing them late and whatever. It was just kind of an unusual game the way some of the penalties were called all the way around.”
“The obvious question is if [a flag] gets picked up, why’d you throw it in the first place? I don’t know. You’d have to ask them that,” Belichick added.
New England at least went penalty free on the game-winning drive led by quarterback Mac Jones. The Patriots also benefited from a defensive pass interference on that drive, which set the team up at the goal line before Jones’ 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mike Gesicki.
“I think you can get a feel for how that goes,” Belichick said about the officiating. “Sometimes it goes in that direction; sometimes it goes in the other direction [where] they kind of let the players play and aren’t calling a whole lot. That’s kind of the flow of the game. Every game’s different, and I think you see that in all sports. Balls and strikes or fouls in basketball or football — whatever it happens to be.”
“There’s a certain way that the game’s being played that particular game, and it might be a little bit different from another game that basically the same players are playing. That’s one of the things that you have to recognize as a player, and as a coach, you try to point that out. ‘They’re calling it tight today,’ or they’re not,” Belichick concluded.
Bill Belichick Stays Mum on Contract, Job Security
Belichick appeared on the hot seat this year, but he received a contract extension before the season.
Belichick said little when asked about that and his job security, however, when asked on WEEI on Monday. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the contract extension on Sunday, which Belichick downplayed after the game, followed by his WEEI statement.
“Yeah, I’m not talking about that,” Belichick told WEEI.
This season brought unsightly firsts to the 24th-year coach’s tenure with the Patriots such as his worst loss and his worst start. Speculation of Belichick not making it through the season ensued when the Patriots dropped to 1-5 after a Week 6 defeat.
Instead of folding after a blown 12-point lead, the Patriots rallied to deliver Belichick’s 300th career win on Sunday. At 2-5, the Patriots have a steep climb the rest of the way, but Belichick’s squad took a step in Week 7.
Bill Belichick Delivers Fitting Response to 300th Win
Belichick didn’t gush over his 300th win amid the challenges of the young season.
“It’s great,” Belichick told reporters after the game. “I’m really more focused on our team and this year. I’ll worry about that later. Thank you.”
New England will get a tough test next for Belichick’s swing at win 301 against the Miami Dolphins (5-2) in Week 8.
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