Last week, the Patriots were stripped of two OTA practices and Bill Belichick was personally fined $50,000 for an offseason workout violation involving improperly scheduled meetings. Prior to the team’s first open OTA practice of the year on Wednesday Belichick spoke for the first time since the punishment, but didn’t have much to say on the matter.

Often times, when Belichick doesn’t want to discuss a certain topic, he’ll go to a ‘catch-all’ answer. That technique gave us “we’re on to Cincinnati” among many other famous Belichick-isms.

• Four of the six times Belichick was asked about the punishment, he gave a similar answer. Here are some examples from the transcript…

  Q: Bill, you mentioned that working things out from the Phase 2. Can you just explain from your standpoint what happened?

  BB: That’s in the past, we moved on. Looking forward to getting out on the field today.

  Q: Were you on board with everything Joe Judge was doing?

  BB: Looking forward to getting out on the field today. It’s all in the past.

  Q: Was it disappointing to lose those two OTAs?

  BB: We’re looking forward to getting out there today.

  Q: Bill, just judging from your tenure, regarding Joe and the OTA stuff, would it be unfair for folks who read the reporting on it to conclude Joe screwed up?

  BB: The whole situation’s in the past. It’s resolved and we’ve moved on. Like I said, it was three Phase 2 meetings.

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• There were a few times Belichick deviated from his ‘catch-all.’ Asked how the meetings impacted the team, he simply replied, “they got a long weekend.”

  It was his last answer that stood out the most though. Belichick interrupted a question about special teams coach Joe Judge’s involvement in what happened, saying “look, I’m responsible for it. So, that’s it.”

  That’s not an unfamiliar tone for Belichick to take. When facing questions about the Patriots’ offensive coaching setup throughout last season, Belichick would regularly say something along the lines of him being ultimately responsible for what happens with the coaching staff.

• Judge was one of the coaches involved in the offense last year, mainly working with the quarterbacks. Despite last year’s offensive struggles he’s back with the team in a still-to-be-officially-defined role. Documents from the NFL relating to the OTA punishment described him as a “special teams coach,” but Belichick didn’t get that in depth when asked about his role on Wednesday.

  “He’ll do whatever I ask him to do. It might change from time to time. He’ll be involved in a lot of things,” Belichick explained. “Joe’s great. Smart guy, got a lot of experience. He’ll do whatever we need him to do, and he can do a lot, so he will.”

  When asked for Judge’s title, Belichick replied, “We’ll announce our staff. We got a couple things to still work out, but we’ll announce it soon.” The official coaching staff titles are often announced in the days leading up to training camp in July.

  This all occurred before the Patriots took the field for practice on Wednesday. For a full breakout of what happened on the field, check out our takeaways here and here.

• Alex Barth is a writer and digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Looking for a podcast guest? Let him know on Twitter @RealAlexBarth or via email at [email protected].

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