New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick held a Wednesday morning press conference and as expected, he was asked a few questions about the team’s Tuesday signing of former Pittsburgh Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison. Also, as expected, Belichick didn’t offer up too many useful quotes on the subject
“He played outside linebacker for the Steelers and we’ll see how it goes,” Belichick said when asked how he’d describe Harrison’s playing style.
Being as Harrison has played so many years in the Steelers 3-4 defense, Belichick was asked if there’s any carryover between the scheme the linebacker played in in Pittsburgh and the one he’ll be playing in in New England.
“Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll start working with him, see how it goes,” Belichick said
After the initial shock of Harrison signing with the Patriots wore off, fans of the Steelers instantly started to worry about the team’s former player providing useful knowledge about the Pittsburgh defense to his new team. Belichick was asked to talk about that topic on Wednesday and of course he refused to take the bait.
“We’re playing the Jets this week, I don’t even know what any of that has to do with it. Maybe I’m missing something, I don’t know,” Belichick said.
Media members then tried to get a little more specific by asking Belichick about the possibility of Harrison providing information on the Steelers for a possible playoff rematch with the Patriots and once again the New England head coach wouldn’t take the bait.
“We’re playing the Jets this week,” Belichick replied.
The Patriots will close out their 2017 regular season at home Sunday against the New York Jets and one would think that Harrison will play some snaps in that contest. Assuming he lines up on the right side of the Patriots defense, he’ll likely have a few battles with Jets left tackle Kelvin Beachum, who like Harrison, was once a member of the Steelers. That matchup should be a fun one to watch even if it only winds up being just six or seven plays.
