New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick didn't seem to want to talk too much about moving past George Halas for the second-most wins all-time for an NFL coach with 325 after his team defeated the New York Jets 22-17 on Sunday. But his players spoke highly of him.
Patriots quarterback Mac Jones opened up his press conference by unusually giving an opening statement, in which he praised his coach.
“Just wanted to give a huge congratulations to coach Belichick,” Jones said. “What an accomplishment, obviously he’s done a great job here, and it’s just a blessing to be able to play for him. We don’t do the whole individual awards, but that’s a big one and just to be his quarterback right now is a huge blessing. I thought today was a good win, I think in the National Football League it’s obviously hard to win.”
In Belichick fashion, Jones praised the Patriots' effort in all three phases of the game.
“The defense played exceptional,” Jones said. “We kind of knew, we were just going to wait and let them kind of take over the game and special teams played great as well. Obviously, we did enough to put points up, but we want to do better, and we will.
“A lot of things will turn up I’m sure when we watch the film, but have to give credit to the Jets defense, that’s a really good defense, top defense in the league and we’ll face really good defenses in the future and that was good preparation for that.”
Third-year linebacker Josh Uche had some praise for Belichick, too, but not just as a coach.
“Y’all don’t know the real Bill,” Uche said. “A great guy, a great leader and got some of the best jokes I’ve heard in a while. So, it’s fun to come into meetings. You never ever know what to expect and the greatest coach of all time.”
Patriots receiver Kendrick Bourne, who came to New England as a free agent in 2021, shared the respect he has for Belichick and how cool it was to help him reach that mark on Sunday.
Patriots’ HC Bill Belichick won his 325th game today, passing George Halas for the second most all-time for NFL head coaches. pic.twitter.com/R7T107acFH
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 30, 2022
“It’s just dope to be a part of the history with him in a sense, to kind of claim it with him,” Bourne said. “It’s an honor. He just knows exactly what he’s doing. In Bill I trust, in Bill we trust. With Bill, we’ve always got a shot every single week. And I just love being a part of something like that, to be able to talk about that for the rest of my life.”
“That’s just dope, man, not letting (the Jets) spoil something that was on track,” Bourne added. “It’s very exciting, and a win we needed, also.”
Mac Jones congratulates Bill Belichick for moving into second place on NFL's all-time wins list https://t.co/yxC8KIvctb pic.twitter.com/sFzeeZo3yK
— WBZ Boston Sports (@wbzsports) October 30, 2022
Jones, Uche, Bourne, and the rest of the Patriots will look to help Belichick secure his 326th career win as a head coach in Week 9 when they host the Indianapolis Colts. After they moved to .500 on the season with their win over the Jets, the Patriots will host a Colts team that lost to the Washington Commanders, 17-16, to drop to 3-4-1 on the season.
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