Club ignoring furor, ‘trying to get better’

FOXBOROUGH, MASS. — Coach Bill Belichick shed little light Friday in his first public remarks since the report was issued on the Patriots’ use of deflated footballs.

He avoided direct answers to most of the 10 questions he was asked about Tom Brady, backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and how the team was handling the fallout from the investigation.

Brady, who is appealing his four-game suspension, did not speak with reporters after New England’s organized team activit y.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft has accepted the team penalt y of a $1 million fine and loss of t wo draft picks.

Asked if he agreed with that decision, Belichick said, “He made a statement on it last week.”

The rest of his answers focused mostly on the need to improve every day and to work hard.

Asked if he was preparing to start the season with Garoppolo as the starter, Belichick said, “I’m just going day by day right now. Everybody’s working hard trying to get better.”

How tough was it to watch the scandal unfold during the past month?

“We’re just working hard every day to come out here and get better, coaches, players, everybody in the organization,” he said.

Did the issue detract from the team’s enjoyment of its Super Bowl win over the Seattle Seahawks?

“That’s a long time ago,” Belichick said. “We’re on to next year.”

Brady spent the workout lofting passes, handing the ball off and waiting his turn while other quarterbacks got theirs.

In a 243-page report issued May 6, NFL investigator Ted Wells found that Patriots employees violated NFL rules cover- ing game balls and that Brady was “at least generally aware” of plans to doctor the footballs to his liking.

But it was business as usual on Friday on the third and final day of OTAs this week.

“It’s cool being on this team and in this atmosphere just because you wouldn’t know (about) everything going on outside when you come in this building,” safety Devin McCourty said. “Every day we come in here, coach Belichick has a list of stuff we need to get done in practice.

“Guys are so focused on those little things and trying to get better that we really don’t have time to focus on other stuff.”

That’s the approach Garoppolo, last year’s second-round draft pick, is taking.

His thinking with Brady facing a four-game suspension?

“I just have the mindset I’m trying to get better,” Garoppolo said.