Bill Belichick's Quotes After Win Over Richmond

• "First of all, you know, after the game, Chancellor Roberts and the team dedicated the game and the ball to, you know, Mitch, who's been, you know, with the team for a long time. It's a really inspirational person for us. And of course, I've only known him since I've been here, but you know, he's been, you know, surely an important part of this team through the years."

• "And so just want to make sure that, you know, everybody realizes how important he is to us and how he was recognized by the team after the game, and we dedicated the game and the ball to him. He got on the on the iPad and talked to us afterwards, and you know he's fighting and we're praying for him, and you know, just all want to wish him well and let him know how much we're behind him."

• "But as far as the game goes, it was a real good team effort today. Thought we got good plays out all three units, our special teams, you know, stopped the fake punt, gave some good field position and kicking game field goals. And offensively, we got a couple big plays, scored some points. And defensively, you know, the goal line stands was a big, big, big series for us. And, you know, turn the ball over scored on defense. So it was overall good, good, solid effort, certainly, a lot of things we can still work on and do better."

• "It's no question about that. We left some plays out on the field. You know, you give Richmond a lot of credit, that's a good football team. They're very well coached, got a lot of good players. Unfortunately for them, some didn't play today. You know, they have four or five of their best players, so we're banged up, but that's good football team. Saw how hard they fought all the way to the end, and it'll give coach a lot of credit for the job that he's done there."

• "They're a tough, tough football team. So good to win. And you know, hopefully we can still continue to improve each week with good solid practices and preparation. So big challenge this week going down to Orlando, but looking forward to it. "

On the Defensive Front

• "Yeah, second half of the TCU game. You know, it was tough to kind of get banged around a little bit there. We've done a better job of defeating blockers and, you know, holding the line of scrimmage, playing with better technique."

• "Coach Diaco, you know Steve Ty Nichols, those guys have really done a good job with the front the last couple of weeks, and players have worked hard to improve. It's right about fundamentals, and there's no secret sauce, and you gotta line up and be able to feed the blocks in front of you. And we did a much better job of that today."

On if He Knows the Defensive Front Well

• "You find out more every week. So like I said, this is a big challenge for us this week. You know, these guys, Richmond has a really good running game. Quarterbacks a big, big part of the running game. He's about 50% of it in the backs. You know, today they used kind of a new formation with their two backs and three receiver sets instead of the tight end they had, so they had some different formations in motion on that that caused us to make some adjustments to it."

• "But they did a good job of that and we tried to adapt to it as quickly as we could. But, yeah, it's been t's been improvement every week. But there's still a lot of things we can do better. We're we've tackled better, which is obviously, is a big help, too."

On Demon June's Performance

• "Yeah, he's earned it. He's earned it. You know, nobody gave him anything. I mean, he started at the bottom of the depth chart, and just kind of worked his way up. And he's had some opportunities, and, you know, he's done pretty well with them, but he's made some yards on his own, and that's a big thing. You know, the plays are blocked to for a certain amount of yards, whatever they are, five yards, six yards, two yards, and then we're kind of back in on his own after the first contact or after he can make that first guy miss."

• "And short yardage play was really a good run. We didn't, we didn't really block it that. Well, there's two unblocked guys in or near the hole, and he made a miss. And, you know, turned into a long run. So, you know, he's doing a good job of the ball in his hands, and we've got him on that screen pass. That was a big play to set up a score. So, you know, he's done a good job in running and catching."

On Jordan Shipp and What He Has Seen Out of Him

• "Yeah, Jordan has done a really good job for us in all areas. First of all, he's smart. He can play all positions. He plays the f, the y, the x, the Z. He's an excellent blocker. He's tough, you know, he can match up on the DBS with his length and his toughness. So in some of the perimeter plays where we get the ball outside."

• "He's a nice job walking, and he has been a good route runner on a lot of different things, crossing patterns, in cuts, you know, possession patterns, and he's done a good job of the ball behind his hands after the catch. So, excellent red area receiver, and we try to keep him out there as much as we can. "

On Confidence Going Into Another Power 4 Competition

"Well, yeah, I hope so. I mean, we'll see. We'll see next week, but we'll just go through the preparations for Central, and that's another good football team. And you know, I don't know, Scott does a good job down there, but we'll have to, you know, gear up for what they do. And they've got a lot of skilled athletes. They get the ball in space a lot. And defensively, they got some explosive guys we're gonna have to handle so, you know, we'll find out."

On Performances the Last Two Weeks in Comparison to TCU and UCF

"Yeah, well, I mean, again Charlotte and Richmond have a lot of good football players. I mean, those are good programs, and especially Richmond. I mean, they've, you know, been on top of their division, you know, last several years, and, you know, played for championships and all that so, but look, we just keep working on doing what we can do, to work to get better, and I feel like we've made some improvement. But yeah, we'll see what happens next week when we play somebody else, I don't know."

On Gio Lopez Through Three Games

• "Yeah, again, I think we're getting more comfortable with him. He's getting more comfortable with us. There are things that you know, he obviously does really well, and you know, we want to try to feature those, or some other things that you know we need more work on, and some timing and things like that. But you know, he's done a good job protecting the ball."

• "It's done a good job making decisions in critical situations for us, and so that's allowed us a chance to win. We had turnover at the end of the game today, but really, before that another turnover-free game from the offense. And you know that that goes a long way to win it."

On the Defense's Ability to Focus and Lock In

• "Well again, I think it starts in practice. You know, if they when those, when you make fewer mistakes in practice, communications better. There's more awareness and more alertness to those kind of plays, then you know, you play better. And so, you know, Richmond had, you know, they tried to throw the double pass over in front of our bench. They kind of bobble the ball, but you know, we're on that. You know, double pass. They threw a couple shots down the field."

• "Dawson had a tremendous catch on that ball down the sideline. But you know, we covered the deep ball pretty well. These guys and their explosive team across the 50-yard line, they'll take a lot of deep shots and and so, you know, we held up on those but again, it really comes from consistency in practice."

• "So be practicing consistently, then that'll show up in the games. And if you don't, then eventually it won't. So let's keep stressing those things in practice. Our communication is better, playing with each other, starting to get a better feel and anticipation for  the way we can play off each other and so forth. And hopefully, that'll continue to improve with each week. You know, that's our goal. Is just keep getting better every week."

On What Makes Demon June an Effective Runner

• " Well, I mean, he's a, he's a strong one cut runner, you know, there's not a lot of, you know, a lot of dodging when he gets the ball. He just kind of, he hits a crease and can, you know, accelerate through it with some power. It's hard to run. Gallon arm tackle, and he can step through some, you know, some soft tackles."

• "So that's his style. And, you know, if he can just continue to play to that, if we can create some creases for him, we saw it last week in Charlotte and again today, I think that, you know, that's how it can be effective. I mean, this is, you know, when I talk about Gail Sayers here, I mean, this isn't like a, you know, scat-back, jitter-bug kind of guy, but he can hit it and go, and that's, that's what he does best. So, you know, hopefully we can get him in that situation."

On Melkart Abou-Jaoude

• "Yeah, I think Melkart spent a great story for us, you know, came to us in Delaware, and kind of, you know, wasn't a, you know, wasn't that big of a transfer coming in, but just getting better and better and better and better every day all through the spring. He had a good spring."

• "By the end of the spring, you know, he's probably our, probably our most productive defensive lineman, of course, that we didn't have Leroy at that point, he was still out, and then he just continued to build on that through the offseason and training and we got to training camp. So you know, he's just put a lot of consistency together, even that's a guy that you can count on to come in and work hard do the right thing almost every single day, every single time."

• "And he's earned a lot of respect and trust from the his teammates, obviously, in the defensive coaching staff and certainly head coach, but it's really been impressive. He's just improved so much in every area. His past rushes, run defense, his play space, his ability to stunt and run games."

• "It just keeps getting better and better. And you know, it's the kind of guy that you know you just love to work with, because he continues to improve and just can take those little fine coaching points and continue to make them be effective for his game."

On Things Said or Conversations With Demon June that Help His Confidence

• "The confidence comes from performance. You know, we can talk confidence all we want, but until you go out there and do it and show that you can do it still not there until you can actually produce it. So everybody has confidence in him and try to encourage him and all that. But many go out there and make those plays in training camp, in practice, and then in practice, as we go through the season, get a few more reps and that's kind of how you work your way up, is you get, get a few plays, you do pretty well with them."

• "You take advantage of them. You get a few more. You get on special teams. You show you can do something there. And that just leads to other opportunities. And I've had a lot of players like that, you know, the Troy Browns, the Julian Edelmans, the Rex Burkheads, the guys like that. They just keep doing stuff, and it grows on you, and you keep putting more on them, and they keep showing up and producing. So to this point, he's continued to make good progress."

• "You know, can't let today go to his head. I mean, he's still got a long way to go, but he's got a great future. If he can keep doing the same things he's been doing to get to where he is, then he's got a chance to grow and develop. If he stops where he is, I don't how far that's going to take him so far, he's been really persistent about that, and that's what we need."

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