Bill Belichick Press Conference Transcript

Q: Have you slid defensive ends over to defensive tackle for a few years now, or when is the first time you saw that?

BB: As far back as I can remember. In Cleveland we did it with Rob Burnett. He probably had more production inside than he did outside, and he had a lot of production outside too. So how far is that? 20 years ago? We’ve done it with plenty of people around here. When you’re in a 3-4 defense, you usually take your defensive ends and move them inside. If you’re in a 4-3 defense, a lot of times you just get your better pass rushers out there on the field. If one of your outside guys can move inside and be productive in there, then I think you see a lot of teams of that. I don’t think it’s anything that’s revolutionary or that big a deal to us or any other teams in the league. But like I said, I can remember doing that back in Cleveland with Rob Burnett. Those guys can do a good job sometimes moving inside on guards with their quickness and their pass rush skills, when they don’t really have to play the run on a lot of those situations. They can just rush and you can get a third guy in there, that’s really three ends. It gives you better speed, better athleticism, better pass rushers on the field – if that’s the situation.