Bill Belichick typically doesn't admit to making mistakes, but it was a little different following Sunday's 27-24 win over the Chargers.
In the second half, Belichick threw his challenge flag arguing a Chargers holding penalty occurred in the end zone, which would have been a safety. But, it was a quick review as the penalty actually didn't occur anywhere near the end zone.
Appearing on The Greg Hill Show Monday, Belichick explained what he saw and admitted he made a mistake.
“That’s exactly what I thought it was (holding in the end zone)," he said. "Obviously, I made a mistake on that. I saw the play and I saw the tackle, [No.] 74 [Storm] Norton, hold [Kyle] Van Noy and I thought it was close to the end zone. When the play came on the replay, I thought he held him in the end zone. Kyle was maybe two yards deep in the end zone, he tried to fill back towards the line of scrimmage and Norton grabbed him. I thought it was clearly in the end zone. They actually called the holding penalty on [Matt] Feiler, which was kind of an in-line call. In looking at the film, that was holding, too. But, I thought it was a hold on Norton.
“… I didn’t get the number. I should’ve been more detailed and found out who it was on. I thought it was on Norton, but it was on Feiler. Feiler clearly held on the 4-yard line, so there’s no question about that. Should Norton have been called for holding? I don’t know. He wasn’t, so I guess not. That was really a mistake on my part. The play came up fairly quickly and I felt like it would be a signifiant play if it was a safety. It was a mistake. It was a wasted challenge.”
In the end it didn't matter as the Patriots came away with a 27-24 win to move to 4-4 on the year.
