CHAPEL HILL - Bill Belichick isn’t budging on Billy Edwards Jr. at quarterback.
After a week off, UNC’s coach said Monday that Edwards will keep the starting job as the Tar Heels prepare for a far tougher test against No. 3 Notre Dame on Saturday at noon on ESPN. Belichick made it clear he sees the passing-game problems from the Clemson loss as a broader team issue, not something that falls on Edwards alone.
When asked directly at the Kenan Football Center whether Edwards would remain the starter after the open date, Belichick answered, “I do.”
Edwards has taken heat for his accuracy after UNC’s 28-20 loss at Clemson, where he went 13 of 30 for 122 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Belichick pushed back on the idea that the answer is simply to bring the ball down, saying some of the high throws are connected to how the routes are being run.
“A lot of times it’s thrown high because the route is going to be deeper,” Belichick said, responding to the idea that Edwards simply needs to throw the ball lower. “I think all of us can do a little better job on that, and that’s what we’ll work on.”
Belichick said the offense stalled in the second half against Clemson, but he framed that as a shared failure.
“Offensively we stalled a little bit in that game. Some of it was Clemson, some of it was us, but in the end it’s a team execution,” Belichick said.
“There are other things that we need to do better. We all need to do a better job.”
He returned to that theme when talking about the passing game, describing it as a system built on timing, route detail and execution across multiple players.
“The passing game at every level is just really about timing and execution,” Belichick said. “There’s a lot of detail that goes into every route and every throw, and so sometimes we have to make adjustments on that, whether it’s the receiver, the quarterback, or the way the pattern is distributed.”
Belichick then underscored how he views the issue.
“It’s on all of us,” he said. “I’m not trying to turn this into landing the guy on the moon, but there’s more to it than just one-on-one quarterback throwing a receiver against air.
I think that’s good to warm up on, but unfortunately that’s not the way the game is played. A lot of it just depends on what coverage they play when you call a certain pattern.
Each one has its own little nuances.”
Edwards beat out Texas A&M transfer Miles O’Neill for the job in August, and Belichick was asked whether the backup might have a role beyond simply waiting in reserve. He said he does not want to turn the position into a rotation, though he stressed the importance of being ready if called.
“Everybody’s one play away from being out there,” he said.
The challenge only gets steeper this week. Belichick spent much of his opening remarks praising Notre Dame, which enters the matchup 4-0 and has looked complete through its first four games. He singled out the defense as the group’s biggest strength and pointed to a special teams unit that plays with aggression.
“They’re sound all the way across the board,” Belichick said. “Defensively, they haven’t given up much. They don’t give up many good plays.”
He also said the Irish offense is dangerous, noting that Notre Dame’s running backs and receivers have combined for almost 1,000 yards through four games. That’s why he described the group as “very explosive coming out of the gate.”
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