the greg hill show: Bill belichick on facing off against the philadelphia eagles
The Patriots’ 2023 regular season campaign begins this coming Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles, and naturally eyes will gravitate towards the likes of Jalen Hurts, Matthew Judon, and of course, Tom Brady.
However, the top storyline heading into the contest has to be Philly’s top-tier pass rush versus New England’s piecemeal offensive line. Bill Belichick joined WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Monday morning and discussed how they’ll try to handle it:
"We're going to have to play really good team offense,” Belichick explained. “I don’t think there’s any one person that can stop their aggressive front and pass rush. We're going to have to do a good job of, of course, blocking them, but also getting open. Getting the ball to the receivers who are open quickly. Can't stand back there and hold the ball all day. We know that, everybody knows that. That’s a combination of pass protection, receivers getting free, and the quarterback getting them the ball.”
He continued:
“Good team offense, team execution, obviously staying out of long yardage will be important. You certainly don’t want to get into a lot of third and long, second and longs against this team, so being able to be productive on first and second down to manage third down, that will be very important too.”
The Eagles’ pass rush led the entire NFL with 70 sacks last season, 15 more than the next closest team (the Chiefs, with 50).
Not only is Philly’s pass rush lethal, but the Patriots’ offensive line has been their downfall all preseason. Not only have the players that have actually practiced been subpar, but core guys like Trent Brown, David Andrews, and Mike Onwenu have all missed time due to injury. This has resulted in New England “starting” offensive line rarely repping together throughout the summer. The battle in the trenches will be the one to watch on Sunday afternoon.
Belichick also spoke about facing off against the NFC champion Eagles, quarterback Mac Jones, and more on Monday’s edition of The Greg Hill Show on WEEI. Listen to the full interview here.
Make sure to follow Mike on Twitter @mikekadlick, and follow @WEEI for the latest up-to-date Patriots and Boston sports news!
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