Bill Belichick Run Quotations

Getting all the run defense, seven or eight or however many guys, in the right places on any given play isn't easy. You can have everybody going hard, 110 percent, but if one guy is out of position, there's space there for the runner.

What we wanted to do was try and run the ball and give our defense a break, ... The defense couldn't stay on the field all day. And the big thing was when we had the opportunities we had to take advantage of them. That's what we wanted to try to do: Play defense, play field position and take advantage of our opportunities.

He was a guy who was able to go hard and run hard on virtually every single play of the game. It didn't make any difference if it was the fourth quarter, in the middle of a two-minute drive, or the third play of the game. He was always very, very close to his top speed. ... Even if he had good players covering him, he'd wear them down.

He made a great catch. That was a huge play. Changed the field position, put us in position to run the clock out. ... He did what he was supposed to do. Tom read it, laid it out there, and Bethel ran it down. I mean, we always tell Tom just throw it out there as far as you can and make him run for it. He can't overthrow him -- he almost did -- but Bethel ran it down.

I think he'll be all right. I thought he ran the ball hard. I thought he made a real good run there down the sidelines in front of their bench. I thought it was a big-time run.

That?s the passing game in the NFL. It?s pretty involved. I don?t want to say it?s complex, but it is what it is. It?s not like college where they run quick screens and play-action. The sophistication of the passing game in the NFL from a protection standpoint is pretty involved. I don?t care what team you?re with.

The thing I thought was Jerry's greatest strength ... was his endurance. I thought he was a guy who was able to go hard and run hard on virtually every single play of the game. It didn't make any difference if it was fourth quarter, in the middle of a two-minute drive or the third play of the game. He was always very, very close to his top speed. Nobody else was like that.

A lot of people think you just give the ball to a back and watch him run and that's all there is to it, like they do in high school. But understanding how each block is being made on the line, depending on how the defense unfolds after the snap, is a big part of it.

They run the ball. He throws it downfield. They pick up third downs. They control the game.

He's fast and he has good range for the safety position and he's done a good job as a contact player both in hitting and tackling and forcing the run when he's been asked to.

He's unique in the fact that he is a very powerful inside runner.He is a strong guy, a big kid that can run through people,

He's an impact player. You have to know where he is. You have to defend him. He beat us inside on a rush down there in the preseason game last year, I don't know, for about a 15-, 17-yard sack, whatever it was. We don't have any quarterbacks that can run away from him, I can tell you that. If he's after us, he's going to get us. He's a lot faster than we are.

It's not like he'll get through the line of scrimmage and you'll run him down for a 10-, 12-, 15-yard gain,

They have good players. Not just (Stroud and Henderson), but certainly they're a big focus of it and they're right in the middle. You have to deal with them every play. It's not like you have a corner where you can throw to the other side or you have an outside linebacker (where) you can run away from him. It's two tackles. There is no play where you can run that you don't have to block them.

It was good to be able to run the ball and run the ball with consistency, control the clock. Those are things you have to do at this time of year.

They're ahead of everybody by two or three touchdowns. Being able to withstand the onslaught in the first quarter, the first half, whatever it is, it sure is going to be important. . . . They get off to a fast start and they keep it rolling and they just run out the clock in the second half.

I don't think we had any major problems on the offensive line. We were all at the game. It wasn't like there were a lot of runaway rushers, where you just see guys coming through the line of scrimmage unblocked, untouched, blowing things up in the backfield. There were times when we got pushed back. There were times when we pushed them a little bit. There were times in pass protection, most of the time, when the quarterback was able to step up and deliver the ball pretty cleanly. In relative terms, it was OK. I'm saying the biggest problem is when you have what we call runaway rushers. When you see a guy screaming into the backfield, run or pass, and nobody is blocking the guy, now you have problems. You certainly want to avoid that.