PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK

Club set to honor former standout Faulk

Patriots’ reliable third-down back to retire from NFL Tuesday

KEVIN FAULK

By Michael Vega

Globe Staff / October 8, 2012

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“Trying to pick it up,’’ Belichick said then when asked about his decision to go for it on fourth down. “It was too long for a field goal. The ball was on the 30-whatever yard line, so we were just trying to pick up the first down.’’

Pressed further on why he opted not to punt, Belichick said, “Because we didn’t have very far to go. We would have gained some yardage if we punted it, possibly, depending on how good the punt was. We would have had to protect it and [all] that. I thought we had a good chance to pick it up there, we just didn’t do a good job on it.’’

A real handful

Belichick said after Sunday’s game there were a “handful’’ of negative plays that could use improvement. “Offensively, we had about four penalties, we had four negative runs, four sacks, and we had a couple of fumbles and we lost one of them,’’ he said. “There were a couple of other times where the ball came out. Defensively, we had one run over 10 yards and about six passes over 10 yards. Kickoff return, we had one penalty there. We had one penalty in the kicking game, we had a penalty where we had a return out past the 30-yard line. I don’t think any of those were backbreaking plays, but they were plays where we’d like to play better, so let’s start with those.’’ . . . Sunday’s win over the Broncos earned a 37.6 television rating, the Patriots’ highest of the season.

Shalise Manza Young of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.