Bill Belichick confident Patriots could have stopped Marshawn Lynch on goal line

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is confident though, that had the Seahawks run the ball, the New England defense would have been ready to make the stop.

On WEEI’s Dale & Holley Show Tuesday, Belichick said that the scheme matchup favored the Patriots in the run game and that the defensive line was in good position to stop Lynch:

Lynch got down to around the [1-yard line] and we put our goal-line defense in probably around the same time they were sending in their multiple receiver group, which was kind of what we wanted to be in there, make sure they didn’t run the ball in, which I’d like to think had they run the ball against our goal line defense with three receivers on the field, we couldn’t ask for more than that in terms of stopping the running game.

The world will never know what a Lynch run into the teeth of the Patriots’ defense would have looked like, but New England doesn’t have to worry about thinking about that scenario. For Belichick, even taking time to appreciate his sixth Super Bowl ring isn’t much of a priority with plenty of big offseason dates coming up on the Patriots’ schedule:

“We’re already back at it. We’re into next season,” said Belichick. “I know when you’re not in this game you really have that feeling of you can’t wait until it is over so you can officially turn the page and be on to the following year, so we’re in it. The combine is two weeks away. Free agency is two weeks after that. We have a lot of things we have to do and prepare for in a relatively short period of time in terms of both college and pro free agency.”

SB Nation presents: Should the Seahawks have ran the ball on second-and-1?

That doesn’t leave much room for vacationing for Belichick, but when he does take some time he’ll be able to do so on his renamed boat:

Belichick was asked if he has any plays of changing the name of his boat from “Five rings” to “Six rings,” and he didn’t hesitate: “Definitely. Soon.”