Bill Belichick defends fourth-down decisions and Stephen Gostkowski
Twice in the fourth quarter the Patriots drove into the red zone against the Broncos. Twice they went for it on fourth down. Twice they didn't get it -- or any points.
That is one of the subplots of the AFC championship loss New England suffered to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, and head coach Bill Belichick -- with his own special brand of flowery speech -- didn't second-guess his decisions.
Asked about the fourth-and-1 try from the 16 yard-line with over six minutes to go, Belichick said: "At the time there was no hesitation in doing that."
What about the fourth-and-6 with 2:25 left?
"We felt like the best thing to do was to go for it," Belichick said.
So no regrets?
"Couple calls, couple plays, couple whatever, you want back," Belichick said. "We came up short in the end. Bittersweet."
Both times, the Patriots were down eight points in an eventual 20-18 loss. A field goal could have narrowed that gap to five, and the Patriots could have been driving for the win.
One of the reasons the Pats were down eight, and not seven, was because all-world kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed his first extra point in a decade.
Belichick said the miss, which kept the score 7-6 in the first quarter, "didn't affect the outcome of the game in any way."
After the game, Gostkowski took the loss hard and blamed himself for the loss.
"Steve is a great kicker, he had a great year for us," Belichick said. "I think we all feel this way. All the other players that played feel like it's their fault."
Belichick, who lobbied for the extra point to be pushed back to the 15-yard line, would not take the bait when asked if the rule change is what did in the Patriots.
"Whatever the rules are, we play by them," he said.
Basically, they're on to 2016.
