FOXBORO -- Bill Belichick is not a man of many words with the media. Except for when someone questions the Jets, apparently.
Belichick did everything short of quoting Birdman’s “respeck” Friday morning at Gillette Stadium when asked what he’s seen from the 3-2 Jets as it relates to competitiveness.
The Jets, of course, are not good at all but have rattled off three straight wins over the Dolphins, Jaguars and Browns. Belichick responded to the question by speaking for more than two minutes, calling them “very competitive” and giving numerous examples, starting with a play in the Miami game in which four Jets raced to a fumble while only one Dolphins player gave chase.
That wasn’t the end of it. Or even close.
“They exchanged punts in Jacksonville in overtime with two minutes to go, get a punt return, kick a field goal, win in overtime,” Belichick continued. “I mean, the other teams had as good a chance to win as they did, except they out-competed them, out-executed them, out-performed them in critical situations. I mean, look, it’s one play against Buffalo to tie the game at the end of the third quarter. That was a very competitive game, too.
“Even I would say in the Oakland game, even though they didn’t win that game — they fell behind at halftime — I thought they competed very hard through the end of the game. Kearse scored at the end of the game. They made a lot of plays, made a … third-down stop [that] led to a fourth-down stop, so they’ve played good in critical situations, they’ve played good at the end of games, they’ve played good for 60 minutes.”
Then came the icing on the cake. Like any great argument, he first presented the facts, then closed by saying if you don’t agree you’re a stupid nerd.
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“They play hard,” Belichick said. “I mean, whoever’s saying that [they aren’t competitive], I [don’t know] what games they’re watching. Maybe it’s fantasy football or some garbage; I don’t know. I don’t know how you can watch that team play and not think they’re one of the most competitive teams they play.”
The Jets are 25th in the league in passing yards, 23rd in points and 15th in points against. There’s no reason to think the Pats won’t beat the Jets Sunday in New Jersey. When they do, it will apparently be a triumph.