Bill Belichick praised Adrian Phillips’s performance after Patriots’ win vs. Chargers

In the aftermath of the Patriots’ 27-24 win over the Chargers on Sunday, Bill Belichick praised his team’s ability to beat a quality opponent.

“Really good win for our football team,” said Belichick. “The Chargers are a good football team. To come in here and come out with a win’s a great feeling.

“Certainly some things we could’ve done better,” Belichick added. “We left some plays on the field, some penalties. Could’ve coached better, could’ve played better, could’ve taken advantage of a couple of opportunities that we missed on, but again, all in all, we made the plays we needed to make in the fourth quarter which was something that we hadn’t done as well earlier in the year, so it’s good to see that.”

Two crucial plays in the game came from the same player: New England safety Adrian Phillips, who made a pair of interceptions against Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. This included a fourth-quarter interception that Phillips returned for the decisive touchdown.

“Obviously [Phillips’s] two picks were a really big difference in the game,” Belichick explained. “Really counted for 10 points right there.”

“He does a good job of seeing the routes, seeing the quarterback, having vision on the ball, just got good awareness, just a good football player,” Belichick said of the 29-year-old Phillips, now in his second season with the team. “We saw him do that from the opener last year against Miami.”

“He makes those plays in practice too,” Belichick noted. “He’s got a good nose for the ball and good hands.”

On the defense’s performance overall, Belichick maintained that there is room for improvement.

“We did some good things, we gave up some big plays,” he explained. “Like I said, we have to coach better and play better more consistently. But we did enough things to win, so that’s good.”

Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones completed 18 of 35 passes on the day for 218 yards, keeping New England’s offense on track.

“Mac’s done a great job,” said Belichick, noting that each week presents different challenges. “He prepares hard, he works hard. He definitely knows what to do. Some things he needs to see and experience and there’s really no substitute for that other than getting out there and doing it.”

Belichick specifically credited his team’s ability to bounce back from difficult circumstances.

“I thought our players showed a lot of resiliency and mental toughness today all the way across the board.”