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Bill Belichick shows Philadelphia Eagles’ defense some love

By Geoffrey Knox

FOXBOROUGH, MA - JANUARY 13: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on in the second quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoff game against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium on January 13, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
FOXBOROUGH, MA - JANUARY 13: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on in the second quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoff game against the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium on January 13, 2018 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Patriots head coach doesn’t say a ton, but he was awfully wordy in his praise for the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense.

Perhaps one of this largest areas of interest in Super Bowl LII involves the Philadelphia Eagles defense and how it plans to neutralize what may be the greatest postseason quarterback in the history of the NFL. If it comes down to one drive, and the Eagles defense needs to stop Tom Brady and company, can they get it done?

What about Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski? Will he play? Does that mean he’ll be shadowed by Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins if he does? Yes, this is a subject that will be analyzed over and over before the Eagles and Patriots take the field on February 4th.

Hey mom. That grumpy old man is on television again.

Here’s what’s funny about a Bill Belichick press conference. You could call them the most boring events on Planet Earth, and you’d get a ton of people to agree with you. Then again, you could call them largely entertaining because of Belichick’s disinterest and dry personality, and you’d get a ton of people to agree with that as well.

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Most often, he stands there, frowns, and looks at people like he has no idea why they’re even asking him a question.

That didn’t change much in a recent presser as Belichick admitted he wasn’t familiar with the Eagles roster. The last time these two played was during the 2015 season. The Eagles have changed since then.

They have a new coach, a new quarterback, and most of the roster is new as well. The Patriots coaching staff intends to watch 18 weeks of game tape, and from there, they’ll begin to analyze individual players and take it from there.

Belichick is impressed with what he’s seen so far.

The stone faced Patriots coach, for whatever reason, was willing to verbalize his thoughts on the Eagles defense. He was high in his praise for Eagles defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, calling him disruptive and ‘as good as anybody in the league at his position’. He seems impressed by the rest of the unit as well. When asked about the Eagles front four, he stated “Yeah, it’s a lot more than four. I wish it was just four”.

Here’s some more of what he had to say.

"Again, it’s a very disruptive group. They’re hard to run against, hard to throw against. Again, they’re well coached, very instinctive. Screens and plays like that that you think will take the edge off the pass rush don’t look as good. When you run them they don’t look as good as what you think they’re going to look like — draws, screens, things like that, play action. A lot of times they blow those plays up, too. They do a good job. They’ve got a lot of good players. They have good inside rushers. They have good outside rushers."

Belichick and his coaching staff will begin devising a plan to neutralize the Eagles defense later this week. The game, as you all are well aware, is on February 4th. There won’t be an Eagles fan on the planet who isn’t by a television when the game kicks off.

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