Sunday on Eagles Postgame Live, when recalling Super Bowl XXXIX and the press conferences held leading up to the game, Ray Didinger said Bill Belichick made Andy Reid sound like Seinfeld.
Reid, as we all remember, rarely revealed much during his press conferences, but if one head coach said less, it was Belichick.
So with that, here's the transcript* of Belichick's press conference after his team's stunning loss to the Eagles:
Q: What was the thinking on the onside kick when you were up 14-0?
BB: I think everything we did, we’re trying to do what we think is best.
Q: Why did you have Nate Ebner kick twice and Stephen Gostkowski only once on the three onside kicks?
BB: Because we thought that was the best thing to do.
Q: Who handles the play calling on surprise onside kicks?
BB: We make all the decisions.
Q: Specifically on the drop kick, was he supposed to put air on the ball so it’s a jump ball or was he supposed to hit it on the ground like a typical onside kick?
BB: We don’t have time for all that.
Q: You told us during the week that the Eagles have the best special teams of any team you’ve played this year. Did we see exactly what you meant today?
BB: Yeah, give them credit. They took advantage of our mistakes. We’ve been good in that area, but we weren’t today.
Q: What was the risk-reward calculation on the first onside kick? Why did you think that was a good time to do it?
BB: Well, I mean there wasn’t a tremendous downside to the play. It was like when they mortared their one over there and [Michael Williams recovered it]. It was different, but it was kind of the same thing – kicking it to dead space.
Q: What did you see on the blocked punt?
BB: We blew it, just didn’t block it properly obviously. Nothing we hadn’t seen before, just didn’t execute it well.
Q: There was a 3rd-and-3 where pass interference was called, but Jamie Collins signaled that he tipped it. Would you have had any problem if he called a timeout and had you challenge the play? Did you guys talk about that at all?
BB: No.
Q: Obviously there are no moral victories but what did you take away from the fact that your team battled and gave you a chance at the end?
BB: We had some good plays in the game. We just didn’t have enough of them. We had too many bad ones. Just, it’s not good enough.
Q: The Eagles had given up a lot of points in their last two outings. Did their defense do anything different today or was it a result of your own team’s play?
BB: Look, I said all week they have a good defensive team and they do. They have one of the best fronts. Fletcher Cox is one of the best defensive linemen in the league. They have a good defense.
Q: What went into the decision to call the pass to Tom Brady and did you think it was well executed?
BB: I mean we got a first down on it, yeah. We thought it was a good play to run at that point.
Q: What did you see on the pick-six?
BB: There were a lot of plays in the game that I’m sure all of us would like to have back – all of us that played, all of us that coached. That was a big swing.
Q: What were you trying to accomplish by going hurry-up on the first-and-goal prior to the pick-six?
BB: It was the same thing that happened when we scored a touchdown in the same situation – trap their dime defense on the field at the 1-yard line. We obviously didn’t execute the play well, let [Malcolm] Jenkins run four yards in the backfield unblocked. That’s not what we’re trying to do obviously.
*Transcript courtesy of Patriots media relations department