Patriots head coach Bill Belichick on Texans interim head coach Romeo Crennel: "He's a great teacher. His players always play with a lot of confidence. He tells them and shows them what to do and how to do it. He's always very fundamentally sound. He's got a great deal of experience. He's coached many, many different types of players. He'd take that player's individual skills and maximize them within the framework of the scheme that he's coaching."
Patriots QB Cam Newton on Texans QB Deshaun Watson: "That's my guy. I just love the player, the person that he's grown to be. His stock is still ascending. I just sit back, man, and admire from afar. He's just a person that has a bright future in front of him."
Belichick on Watson: "You have a very athletic and mobile quarterback that can run, but he really creates more problems when he extends plays and gives these receivers a chance to get open, and extend the play and then he can hit them for big plays. Obviously, he's a dangerous runner and he can pick up first downs and chew up the yardage that way. When he can buy time in the pocket and the receivers have a little extra half a second or second to get open, then that's going to result in some big explosive plays, too. So, the combination of all of it really makes him very difficult to defend. The quarterback's got a great arm. He's big. He's athletic. He's mobile. He's experienced. He's seen all of the different things that teams do against him."
Patriots DB Devin McCourty on Watson: "The thing that sticks out with Deshaun Watson is how many times he either, in the pocket or running, gets hit and you can tell how strong he is. Even last week, the Cleveland game, it looks like it definitely should be a sack and he's able to throw the over route while kind of getting tackled and falling. He has really good strength. Lower-body and upper body strength that you don't always see guys have when they can move as well as he does."
Belichick on Texans WR Brandin Cooks: "Brandin Cooks is a tremendous competitor. Good speed and then can go all day. He has unbelievable endurance, as much as anybody I've been around. He can run go routes all day long if that's what you want him to do. It's like he never gets tired. Very unselfish kid. Smart, competes hard."
McCourty on Cooks: "I love competing against Cooks. One of the best people I've had the opportunity to be around. Works extremely hard. Really motivates and inspires other guys around him, just by his work ethic."
