FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's morning news conference had the feel of being in the team meeting room, as he detailed what he perceives as the strengths of the Buffalo Bills and spoke with a high level of energy.
Some of the things that stood out:
No looking back: The first question Belichick was asked about was Sunday's successful fake punt, to which he responded: "I'm pretty much done with that. Really, I'm on to Buffalo. Really need to focus on Buffalo and not anything else right now. I'm sorry."
Why not put a spy on Taylor? While raving about Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor and his ability to extend plays, Belichick switched to the role of reporter at one point, saying, "I'll ask the question before you guys ask it: 'Why don't we just put a mirror on him?' Yeah, great, that's fine, but you still have to tackle him. That's an issue. Plenty of teams have put a spy on him and then he beats the spy and there's nobody left -- it's 20, 30 yards. So just throw a spy on him, that's not really the answer."
Similarities to Carolina: With Bills first-year head coach Sean McDermott having previously been the Carolina Panthers' defensive coordinator, the Bills are essentially running Carolina's system. That was reflected in how Belichick -- after seemingly mentioning every defensive player early in the conference -- talked about how safety Jordan Poyer is playing "for Carolina." It was obvious that there was no disrespect intended, but more of a reference to the Bills running Carolina's system.
Turnovers similar to fastball down the middle: The Bills are tied for sixth in the NFL in turnover differential at plus-6, with 19 takeaways and 13 giveaways (five of which came with rookie Nathan Peterman at quarterback), which led Belichick to be questioned on how difficult it is to secure a turnover when playing against Taylor. "Turnovers, I'd say, are about a 50-50 proposition when you look at them," he said. "A lot of those turnovers are based on offensive inefficiency or opportunity, and a lot of turnovers are based on defensive plays, I'd say -- contact hits, strip sacks, tipped ball, a great break on the ball on an interception as opposed to them just throwing it right to you or like we did where we just snap the ball and they pick it up and run it in for a touchdown. I wouldn't say that was necessarily a great defensive play, but they took advantage of a bad offensive play ... They can come both ways. Defensively, you want to take advantage of those opportunities when they make a mistake ... In baseball, when they throw you a fastball down the middle, that's one you want to hit. Throw you a curve ball that's outside, you're maybe not going to be able to hit that one out of the park. You have to play the play and get the most out of the play you can."
Gilmore consistent all year: Asked about the play of cornerback Stephon Gilmore, Belichick cited his consistency in terms of approach. "I think if you pulled up last week's practice, and pulled out one from September or May -- and took the weather out of it and didn't know what day it was -- you'd see pretty much the same guy every day," Belichick said.
Have been tracking Grigsby: After signing linebacker Nicholas Grigsby off the Baltimore Ravens' practice squad Tuesday, Belichick was asked how much Grigsby made an impression on the Patriots while playing against them for the Rams last season. "I thought at the end of last year for the Rams, he did a good job for them -- not just in our game, but in the last third [of the season]," Belichick said. "We saw that when he was released at the beginning of the year this year, and talked about him then, but it didn't really work out at that time. We didn't have a roster spot. But as time went along, we got into the situation last week where we felt like adding him to the roster would benefit the team. We've tracked him from in college at Pittsburgh, to the Rams, to here."