From the post game press conference of Belichik: Why didn?t Gabriel play in the second half? ?We played all the receivers today. We played them all.? I don?t think he played in the second half? ?I don?t think he did either. We played them all.? Was he injured? ?I don?t think he?s injured. No, we played them all. We got them all in there and they all got an opportunity to play.? Ya gotta believe his lockerroom is a bit dicey tonight.
Gabriel wasn't protecting the ball at all, but it shouldn't have resulted in his benching. It turned out to be irrelevant because the Jets controlled the ball pretty consistently in the 2nd half, but I don't agree with Belicheck's decision.
It shows you how seriously he took this game against the Jets and beating Mangini. He wanted to destroy us.
Follow-up to this from the same press conference: Was Seymour dealing with an injury in the second half…it seemed like his playing time was sporadic? “No. We played all our defensive linemen.” Any reason why he wouldn’t be out there every down? “It’s a long, tough game. We rotated everybody. Just like they did, just like everybody else did. There aren’t many defensive linemen who are out there for every play in this league.” Belichik has always ridden a thin edge with his players. Benching a rookie who made one mistake is a bad thing but benching your best defensive player is quite another. I think Belichik risks losing his lockerroom with these kind of moves.
