Bill Belichick, Patriots express mix of confidence and optimism after historic loss

FOXBORO — The Patriots insisted their confidence is not shaken.

But if there was ever a time, Sunday would have been it.

The team’s worst home loss under Bill Belichick was a product of season-worst performances on offense and defense. Players on both sides of the ball believe they will correct their mistakes, which included committing four turnovers, fumbling two more times and allowing almost 500 yards of offense. The question is where to start.

Center David Andrews, a captain fresh off injured reserve, said it will be on the practice field.

“We’ve got to practice better,” Andrews said. “I thought we had pretty good practice this week, but it wasn’t good enough. We’ve got to come in tomorrow and learn from that and start on the right foot and just continue to execute. You can talk about effort and all those things, but at the end of the day, this game is about execution. We’re just not doing that right now.”

In a brief post-game press conference, Belichick showed some optimism. He said the team has already made strides, having finally practiced for a full week after battling positive COVID-19 tests for much of the month.

“We got better last week. We needed to get back on the practice field. We definitely got better,” Belichick said. “We improved in some areas. It didn’t show up on the score.”

Patriots captain Matthew Slater said he derives his confidence from the resilience and commitment the Pats have shown in the past. To ensure that history repeats itself, he said the players must move pats Sunday’s 27-point loss quickly.

“The one thing we can’t do is feel sorry for ourselves because no one else is going to do that. And if we do that then it is going to be a long season,” Slater said. “Again, I believe on the men in this team and believe we can find a way to right this ship.”

Against the 49ers, the Patriots were out-gained by more than 200 yards, minus-two in the turnover department and 1-of-6 on third downs.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3jv3BTA