The Patriots’ reign of dominance continued Sunday with their 33-8 victory over the Raiders in Mexico City. But for Bill Belichick, he would prefer to prep for a game in which the environmental factors are more predictable.
“We dealt with it. Players did a great job dealing with all the challenges we had to deal with,” Belichick said Monday on Boston’s WEEI. “I think we’re fortunate there was no volcano eruptions or earthquakes or anything else while we were down there. You have two NFL franchises in an area that I don’t know how stable the geological plates that were below us [were], but nothing happened, so that was good.”
Mexico City was hit with a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in September, resulting in the death of 200 people. The league deemed Estadio Azteca safe, as the stadium was built with a four gaps that enable it to move in the event of a natural disaster. Though the NFL will continue to play a game in Mexico through 2021, Belichick isn’t rushing to book another flight.
“Personally I wouldn’t be in any big rush. It’s a long way to go for a game. There’s a lot in terms of logistics of it,” he said. “They are not used to having an NFL team, so you have to go in there and handle a lot of the logistics. It took a lot of manpower, a lot of hours, a lot of energy out of our organization to do that. We are exhausted from the trip.”
Following the radio appearance, Belichick’s remarks were met with anger from the Twitterverse.
“Outrageous ignorance of a ‘genius’ in the NFL,” ESPN Mexico’s Poncho Vera posted.
New England faces the Dolphins at home Sunday in Foxborough, where no volcanic eruptions are expected.

