Belichick: Trashing Colts 'bunch of garbage'

FOXBORO -- Realizing he would be asked often about motivating his team against an 0-11 Colts team this weekend, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick came out on the attack to questions Wednesday about the quality of New England's opponent at Gillette Stadium. In short, Belichick is telling his players to forget about Indianapolis' record.

"[Patriots players have] heard me talk about it every week, so they really don't care about their record, and we really don't," Belichick said, before passionately asking his own question. "What difference does it make? How somebody played two weeks go against somebody else -- I mean, who cares? Us or anybody else. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is how we and the Colts perform against each on Sunday. That's all that matters. Who cares who won three weeks ago in some game with some other players? It doesn't matter.

"We talk about it every week. It doesn't matter. There's 16 games on the schedule and they're all the same. It's our team versus that team that week. And we look at tape and learn about our opponent, scout them, and pick up tendencies -- their strengths and weaknesses, all that. But how we match up against that team that day is all that matters. The rest of it, it's a bunch of garbage. You guys can write about it all you want, it doesn't matter. But, really, the winner of this game will be determined by who plays better on Sunday, not what happened four weeks ago. And this isn't a new story, it's like this every week. Every week."

The Colts will start former UConn quarterback Don Orlovsky this weekend after Kerry Collins and Curtis Painter were unable to lead the Colts to win in 11 previous tries. As a result, the 8-3 Patriots enter as 21-point favorites.

Belichick then went off when it was suggested by a reporter that it is more difficult to gauge his own team against a winless opponent such as the Colts, as opposed to a team with a better record. 

"I don't agree with that," Belichick said, stopping the reporter mid-question. "I don't want to go on a soliloquy about that, but I just don't agree with that. You don't think you can gauge a team based on how a player blocks Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis? I mean, who else would you gauge it against? Are you kidding me? Covering Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie, and Pierre Garcon -- you don't thin you can gauge your coverage based on those players? I don't care what their record is. You don't think there's better receivers around than them? Better pass rushers than Freeney and Mathis? I'm not sure what games you're watching here."

For more, visit the Patriots team page at weei.com/patriots and the blog It Is What It Is.