FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- After his opening remarks Thursday, which lasted about eight minutes, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick fielded questions from reporters.
The following was the Q&A:
Q: Aside from the NFL investigation, in your own investigation, did you find if anyone willfully [altered the footballs]?
Belichick: I’ve told you everything I know. I have nothing. I don’t have an explanation.
Q: Not withstanding what you’ve said here today, there are a lot of people questioning your integrity, who say you’re a win-at-all costs ...
Belichick: I’ve told you everything I know.
Q: What do you say to critics who are challenging your character, which seems to go well beyond the sport of football?
Belichick: I’ve told you everything I know.
Q: Any message to the fans who are watching this and are upset by all this?
Belichick: I’ve told them everything I know. There’s nothing else I can add to it.
Q: I would assume you’ve had conversations with Tom [Brady] about this specific issue and what happened ...
Belichick: I have no explanation for what happened.
Q: Coach, why do you think these controversies continue to follow you?
Belichick: I don’t have an explanation for what happened.
Q: As many Super Bowls as you’ve been to, you know distractions come with the territory. What do you say to your younger players who don’t have the experience being in the spotlight like this, and some of the older players?
Belichick: None of them are involved with this.
Q: How do you keep them focused with all of this going on?
Belichick: None of them are involved in this.
Q: Does Tom Brady handle the ball after inspection with his ball boys?
Belichick: Those are all questions that should be directed to the league, and that’s part of what they’re doing. That’s not what I’m doing.
Q: Is it possible that someone on your sideline, even though you maybe didn’t know about it, might have deliberately altered a ball?
Belichick: I don’t have an explanation for what happened. I’ve told you all that I can tell you from my point of view. Anything coming from the investigative side from the league needs to be directed towards them.
Q: Why do you want to overinflate the balls unless you think it happens naturally?
Belichick: So that there is no opportunity for a small margin of error that would put us under the specifications.
Q: Do you see any circumstance that 11 of 12 footballs could have deflated by accident?
Belichick: I don’t have an explanation for what happened.
Q: Knowing that you care about what’s going on, what has it been like for you once you found out about the investigation, and what’s it been like trying to deal with everything going on?
Belichick: As I said, I’ve learned a lot about the process. I had no idea how the balls got from the officials locker room [to] the field, and so forth and so on and all that. That’s not something that I have ever thought or concerned myself about game day. I’ve concerned myself with preparing and coaching the team. So some of the things that have been talked about that have happened, I’m totally unaware of.