Belichick Credits Lions For Super Bowl Win [Video]
The New England Patriot coach was complimentary of the lackluster Detroit club, which is one of only a few franchises to never get to the Super Bowl.
Celebrating his 6th Super Bowl title since becoming New England's coach, Bill Belichick said it was a game plan hatched by his former defensive coordinator Matt Patricia that inspired their defensive showing Sunday night in Atlanta.
In a post-game interview on ESPN, Steve Young led a question about the game plan by hinting it was the Chicago Bears who had inspired the blitzing of the LA Rams' young quarterback Jared Goff.
Belichick, however, gave credit to the lowly Lions, saying it was their game against the Rams that motivated the defensive planning.
"We just felt like we had to put something together that would neutralize the run game and their big-play play-action passes on early downs," Belichick said on ESPN's postgame show Sunday night. "That's where they've killed people all year, is the 120-some explosive plays."
"We felt like if we make them drive it, make them earn it, similar to what the Lions did to them, to make them run a lot of plays and get them in third down, we felt like we've have a chance to get them off the field on third down."