Patriots coach Bill Belichick spoke with reporters on a conference call this morning, and he was in no mood to discuss the controversial ending to Monday night’s loss in Carolina.
Belichick said at the outset of the conference call that he and New England’s players and coaches weren’t going to focus on the officiating after a pass interference flag in the end zone on the last play was picked up.
“I don’t really have any comment about today the officiating or any of those calls,” Belichick said. “If you have any questions on that, you can talk to the league office, the officiating department, let them give their explanation on them. It’s not really our job to call the games, it’s to play it and coach it. There are calls they make, and those are the ones we live with. We can’t let that affect what we’re doing.”
When asked about referee Clete Blakeman’s explanation that the officials waved off the flag because Rob Gronkowski couldn’t catch the ball, Belichick again declined to discuss it.
“That’s what I just said, I don’t really have any other comment on that,” Belichick said. “Whatever the officials think is the only thing that matters. It doesn’t matter what any of us think. They’re the ones who make the calls, so it’s their explanation, their judgment that we all have to abide by.”
Belichick said his team needs to turn its focus to Sunday’s game against the Broncos.
“We’ve got to turn the page here quickly and turn to Denver,” Belichick said. “Move on to Denver, have another good week of preparation, get ready to go next week.”
Belichick’s mantra to his team is always, “Do your job.” He doesn’t want anyone focusing on the referee not doing his job.