Belichick defends McCourty's late-game tackle

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By Danny Picard
CSNNE.com Staff ReporterFollow @dannypicard
FOXBORO --A day after the Buffalo Bills 34-31 win over the Patriotson Sunday, New England coach Bill Belichick talked about what went wrong,re-iterating the fact that the Bills simply made more plays then they did.

They did a better job at executing some plays than we diddefending them, said Belichick in a press conference at Gillette Stadium onMonday. We made some plays. They made some. In the end, they made a few morethan we did. Weve just got to do a better job of coaching and playing.

Belichick said that there were still some positives to takeout of his teams first loss of the season, just as there were plenty of thingsto patch up after winning the first two.

Just because you win doesnt mean everythings right, saidBelichick. Just because you lose doesnt mean everythings wrong. You correctthe mistakes that you make, and you point out the things that are positive, andre-enforce those, and try to do them again or even maybe a little better thenext time. Thats what we do every week.

One aspect of Sundays game that Belichick refused tosecond-guess was cornerback Devin McCourtys tackle of Fred Jackson at the1-yard line, which was originally ruled a 39-yard touchdown reception in thefinal minutes of the game.

The play was overturned, and in essence, worked to theBills advantage, as they were able to run out the clock before kicking agame-winning field goal with no time left.

Devin McCourty made a good play of running him down,said Belichick. We just didnt play it well enough, obviously.

Belichick was asked again about the play, and whether or nothe would have liked to see Jacksons touchdown remain a touchdown. But still,the Patriots coach wasnt about to throw his second-year cornerback under thebus for making a big-time hustle play.

I think the way the play happened, that Devin McCourtydid what he instinctively would do, said Belichick. I wouldnt second-guesshim on that.

When asked if there are ever situations in which hed want ateam to score right away, so there would be more time on the clock, Belichickthen said, Yeah, of course.

Danny Picard is on twitter at http:twitter.comDannyPicard.

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