What Bill Belichick said of Jabrill Peppers’s ‘flak’ comment following Patriots’ win vs. Steelers

Patriots

Peppers said he didn’t appreciate the “flak” Belichick was getting prior to the Patriots’ win on Thursday, which improved their record to 3-10.

Bill Belichick received some support from a Patriots leader following their win over the Steelers. (Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff)

The Patriots’ upset win over the Steelers on Thursday ended a five-game losing streak as they’re in the midst of their worst in decades. Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers gave it some extra meaning.

Following the win, the Patriots safety told reporters that they could “get it done for Bill [Belichick],” adding that he didn’t like the “flak” his head coach has been getting.

Belichick said that Peppers’s comments were “great” when he was asked about them during his digital press conference on Friday. However, Belichick also made it a point to show some gratitude for his players.

“I would say the big thing for me is what I appreciate is what the players do every day,” Belichick said. “Whatever happens on Thursday night or Sunday is certainly, in part, a big reflection on what happens during the other days of the week. The preparation, the training, the resilience, and the determination to improve, to get things right, to make things better. That’s what I appreciate about our team, our players, our coaching staff. That’s the attitude, that’s the way they approach things.”

The 2023 season has not only featured low points for Belichick’s 24-year tenure in New England but also included some historically bad NFL records. For instance, they recently became the first team to lose three games in a row despite allowing 10 or fewer points in each game since 1938.

Some of that frustration has been shown by the players at points, too. Peppers was chief among them when he was heard telling Saquon Barkley, “You lucky we [expletive]” following the Patriots’ Week 12 loss to the Giants.

Belichick acknowledged that while the season certainly hasn’t gone the way anyone’s hoped, he’s happy to see the players and other members of the organization still hang in there.

“Obviously, a level of frustration with the overall season. But, on a week-to-week basis, you kind of put that aside and focus on the week that you have,” Belichick said. “Other than two games, really, it’s been so competitive every week. It’s certainly nice to be on the higher end of the score last night.

“But, what I appreciate is the players and their effort and their commitment to doing what I and the coaching staff, we have asked them to do, and working hard on it and sacrificing. It’s obviously great to see them have that positive result.”

As Belichick alluded to, seven of the Patriots’ 10 losses have been within a score and they had a chance to tie or win the game late in each of those seven instances.

Peppers acknowledged how frustrating it was that New England wasn’t able to break through and get a win when he apologized for his remark to Barkley last week. He told reporters at the time that he felt the players were letting down the coaching staff, particularly Belichick as rumors of his future in New England grew louder than ever.

That was the biggest reason why Peppers was happy to get a win on Thursday.

“I don’t really like all the flak he’s been getting, because it’s on us as players to go out there and execute and I personally feel like the game plan has been phenomenal week in and week out and we had the opportunities to make the plays, we didn’t make them,” Peppers told reporters. “But we made enough tonight. So we’re going to correct this tape, get our bodies back and move on to [Kansas City].”