Bill Belichick coached Bernie Kosar (pictured) in Cleveland when Kosar set the old record for most consecutive pass attempts without a touchdown. Belichick now coaches Tom Brady, who broke Kosar's record on Sunday against Buffalo. Belichick talked about the two quarterbacks on a conference call with the media on Monday afternoon. (AP)

Here are a few quick notes from Bill Belichick’s conference call with the media from earlier Monday afternoon:

On Alge Crumpler and his contributions this year: “He’s made a great contribution to this team all year and I think the fact that he’s one of our captains, with this being his first year on the team, really is a testament to the amount of respect that he has from his peers and his teammates. He’s a hard working guy. He’s really smart. He understands the game. He knows what’s important. And he’s very team oriented. Totally focused on winning and not looking at his personal statistics or achievements. Just whatever he can do and whatever we need to do as a team to win. He’s right at the front of the line in doing those things. I think his personal rewards come in the final score and in the team record, and he contributes in a lot of ways from Monday to Saturday, and then on game day, it’s whatever his role is, whether it’s blocking or pass protection or the opportunity to handle the ball. He just does a lot of things for us. He’s a very important part of the team and the offense.”

Tom Brady broke Bernie Kosar‘s record for most consecutive pass attempts without an interception on Sunday. Belichick coached both players — Kosar was with him in Cleveland when he set the old record of 308, and is Brady’s coach now that the Patriots’ quarterback has extended the new record to 319. He talked about coaching both quarterbacks, and the similarities between the two:

“I think probably more the other way around, I think I’m fortunate to have been the coach during those two periods where my starting quarterback didn’t turn the ball over. I think a lot more of that is a reflection and a compliment to the player throwing the ball instead of the coach. They’re the ones who have to make the decisions, see the defenses and make the throws and take the hits from the pass rush and all that, so … certainly Bernie and Tom deserve credit for those streaks, not the coach. But the way I remember it about Bernie, Bernie, like Tom, was very diligent in his preparation. He studied everything — the schemes, the players, the individual tendencies as well as the overall teams schemes and tendencies. I’d say both players are very well prepared and neither one make a lost of mistakes in terms of misreading something or not knowing who was going to run a certain route or who was hot or getting fooled by different defensive looks. Things like that. So Bernie’s preparation was excellent, and he was a good decision-maker — very careful about where he threw the ball in terms of not turning it over and making throws like that and making good decisions and knowing when he was pressured, not taking a sack and turning it into an interception and things like that. Trying to make plays that were impossible. I think Tom’s kind of the same way. He reads things. Even when plays break down for one reason or another, a receiver gets jammed or there’s a breakdown in protection, or sees a good coverage that matches up particularly well against a pattern you have called, that’s when a quarterback really has to be his most sharp and most alert and not let that become a turnover or a worse play than what’s already not a good play. I’d say Bernie and Tom throughout their careers, do a good job of that — better than a lot of quarterbacks do. It’s not only taking the plays that are there, it’s taking the plays that aren’t going to work out well, and keep them from being bad plays or turnovers.”

On what he might be inclined to do in terms of playing time Sunday against the Dolphins: “I think it’ll be like it is every week in that the decisions in what we do as a football team this week will be what we feel is in the best interest of the football team. And there are a lot of things that would go on in that conversation — there are a lot of things we’ll take into consideration. Certainly, what’s good for the overall benefit of the team, but there are some players with individual situations who are a little different than other guys. The long answer to that what should be a short question is that we’ll do what’s best for the football team individually and collectively, and we’ll make those decisions this week.”

Was the road to this year’s AFC east title feel anymore challenging than any other one? “Every team has had a very challenging season in the National Football League, and each week, we go up against great players and great coaches, great teams that work hard and that challenge you in a lot of different ways, so I think every single week that I’ve coached in the National Football League, I view it as a huge challenge being on the other side of the field from whatever opponent we were facing. I don’t think this year is any different than last year or any other year. We know we have big challenges ahead coming up. We don’t know they’re with yet, but whoever they are, anybody playing at this time of year is going to be a good team going forward. Miami, we certainly have had our problems with them through the years and they’ve come up here and beat us pretty good a couple of years ago, and down there last year. We have a big challenge ahead of us there, and we always take them one at a time. I take satisfaction in the team’s achievements every week if we win and disappointment if we don’t. So we’re going to approach this week’s game just like the other ones. They’re challenging every week.”