The New England Patriots (9-4) are coming off a short bye week to face one of their toughest opponents this season with the Indianapolis Colts (7-6) on the road.
New England is fairly healthy, but the players were cut short a couple days of rest due to a Monday night matchup against the Buffalo Bills and a Saturday night game against the Colts. Bill Belichick joined WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning and discussed the short bye week.
“It went by pretty quickly,” Belichick said, transcribed by WEEI. “It’s kind of a short bye week here with the Monday night game, and then playing on Saturday. But it was good to get a couple days to rest.”
Following up on the shorter break, Belichick carried his typical attitude of adjusting and making the best of the situation.
“The schedule is what it is,” Belichick said. “There’s short weeks, there’s long weeks. We have them and other teams have them. Honestly, I don’t really worry about them too much. Do the best we can to get ready to go with the time that we have, that’s what we’re going to do. Whatever somebody else does or doesn’t do, I don’t even worry about it.”
The Colts bring a huge challenge with Jonathan Taylor and Nyheim Hines in the backfield — specifically Taylor. The second-year back has 1,684 total yards and 18 total touchdowns (16 rushing) through 13 games thus far. He’s on pace to shatter records and he delivered a five-touchdown game against the Bills — one of the league’s toughest defenses.
Belichick discussed the challenge ahead, while explaining what Hines brings to the table as well.
“I think with a running back like Taylor and Hines is a different type of runner, but he’s also very good, everybody has to understand the ball can go anywhere,” Belichick said. “It might be designed to go into a certain hole, but that doesn’t really mean anything. Those guys will take it wherever there’s an opening, wherever there’s space. Everybody has to be the their gap. Be in their area of responsibility or we’re looking at giving up a big play. Taylor is really fast. He’s had a lot of long runs. Literally, they can score from anywhere on the field. That’s always a very dangerous situation.”
The Patriots are riding a seven-game winning streak and they carry the No. 1 scoring defense, leading to a highly-anticipated AFC matchup.
[listicle id=115968]