Bill Belichick's statement (courtesy Patriots Media Relations)
I have to do a better job; we all have to do a better job. I’ve been
asked about the situation at the end of the game, so I’m just going to
take a couple minutes to explain that and then that will be the end of
it.
On the final kick, after we took the timeout and rushed the kick, from
the sideline I saw the ball go pretty close to the upright. I couldn’t
obviously tell from where I was at where exactly it went, but I saw our
players waving that it was no good and I saw the officials giving the
signal that it was good. I just wasn’t sure from where I was standing
whether the ball – when it went over the crossbar, was above the
upright or in-between or not in-between the uprights. By rule, if the
ball isn’t over the crossbar and it’s either inside or outside of the
upright, that’s reviewable. If it’s over the top of the upright, then
it’s not reviewable, but I couldn’t tell from my angle when the ball
crossed the crossbar where it was, so I didn’t know whether or not that
play was going to be under review or whether it wasn’t.
So, when the game was over, I went out and I was really looking for an
explanation from the officials as to whether the play was under review
and I did try to get the official’s attention as he was coming off the
field to ask that, but I really wasn’t able to do that. I’ve coached in
this league a long time and never been penalized, never had any
incidents with officials or anything like that. I have never meant any
disrespect or in any way tried to abuse or be disrespectful to the
officials and the job that they do. I was just trying to get an
explanation for obviously an important call, play, in that game.
That’s the number one thing between coaches and officials; it’s always
at the forefront. It’s just communication of what’s going on, what’s
happening.
As many of you know, I’ve been involved in a game like this before. In
2000, here in Foxborough, Johnny Grier was the referee when Drew
[Bledsoe] was trying to throw a pass at the end of the game against
Miami and the ball was ruled a fumble. The clock ran out, the game was
over and then as I was walking off the field with Johnny, at that time
I talked to him about, ‘This seems like an incomplete pass, there
should be more time on the clock, we should have another play here. [He
responded] ‘No, that’s the ruling. The game is over.’
We go back into the locker room, 10 minutes or so later, Johnny comes
back and says they’re reviewing the play, we may have to go back out
and finish the game. About five minutes after that, when the players
got dressed, we came back out for a final play in that game. I’ve been
through a situation in the final play of the game where it’s over, but
it’s not over, that type of thing. That was really the situation last
night. So, I was trying to get the official’s attention to get an
explanation on it and in no way was I trying to do anything other than
that. I have nothing further to add about that situation, but that’s
what happened.
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