The North Carolina Tar Heels are 2-0 in the second year of the Bill Belichick era following their big win over East Tennessee State 35-3. In the home opener for UNC, they dominated from the start, and it continued throughout the game.
As UNC jumped out to a 35-0 lead, there were a few lightning delays throughout the game, which meant a few delays in the second half. Still, by the time they resumed, the game was out of hand.
UNC got to 2-0 thanks to a nice showing by its offense as well as the defense as the team came out and made a statement and never looked back. While the schedule gets tougher, the Tar Heels are happy to be 2-0 and needed this win to help their bowl chances. But before we look too far down the road, here is what Bill Belichick
had to say about his team's win.
All quotes via Inside Carolina.
Opening Statement
“Solid effort by our guys. We were able to convert our opportunities into touchdowns and made a couple stops on defense. They kept the points down, so ultimately that was a big difference in the game. Running backs had good production. I thought Billy made some good checks at the line of scrimmage on some of the tough looks that ETSU gave us. But that’s a good football team.
On learning about Billy Edwards Jr.
“He went through his progression and did a nice job with the reads. What I was referring to was the checks that he made. They gave us some overload blitzes. He was able to get the ball and the plays called away from the strength of the defense we had some good runs. The backs ran well, but Billy was a big part of that too because he was able to get us into those plays. So again, it was just a good job all the way around. Good execution.”
On Demon June and depth at RB
“You can never really have too many players, and sometimes in September, you look at your depth and think, well, we got a lot here, and then you get to the middle of October and November, and you don’t have any depth, so it can change in a hurry. We’re fortunate that we have that kind of competition and those kind of players at that position, and hopefully we’ll have that for a long time. But that can be very fragile in football. So, you’re always a couple plays away from not having it. So we’re glad we have it now, and we’ll keep using it, and hope we can keep it that way.”
On having a lot of players play Saturday
“It worked out that way. The delay was a part of it too. But I think the big thing was the players who played in the first three quarters gave us a pretty solid effort. We definitely improved from last week in our execution, our communication, just in our ability to operate without some of the hiccups that we had in Ireland. So that’s like it should be.
“It was the decision of whether you want to rewarm everybody up and put them back out there with a 35-point lead or try to get those guys out and let some guys that hadn’t played as much allow them to warm up, play, and be ready to go.”
On defensive consistency
“Players playing good team defense is where it starts. You can’t give up big plays. When you give up long touchdown passes, you don’t have a chance to stop them in the red area. So if we don’t give up big plays and make them drive it, hopefully we can make plays somewhere along the way to knock them off, get behind the chains, get them in long yardage, and then make a stop or make a good play on third down to get off the field.”
On Peyton Seelmann and his improvement
“Peyton’s been improving pretty steadily since he’s been here, going back to the spring and even in the summer, and then training camp. Just seems to get more and more comfortable with the defense. This is quite a bit different than the way they played at Richmond, and he played well there. And that’s a very good defensive system too. They’re well coached and they do a good job. We’re just a little bit different than they are, and so he’s he’s picked things up. He’s pretty instinctive. He’s a good tackler. He’s fast. Definitely gets the nose and can find the ball.”
On the difference of TE's this year compared to last year
“It’s been a huge difference. Jelani’s been a real weapon for us. Again, anytime you get a good player in the middle of the field where he has the options to go down the field or go across or go outside, he just has a lot more space to work in than a permanent receiver does. And obviously, he’s a big target, and he’s good with the ball in his hands.
“Having a tight end has been an important part of the offense. Coach Petrino does a great job of utilizing players in that position, and it’s a tough matchup on defense. Hard to find somebody to cover those guys.”
This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: What Bill Belichick said after UNC beats ETSU
