Saw the Develin quote, had the exact same thought. This also ties into being successful doing things that other teams don't do. League zigs to a 3 WR / 1 TE / 1 RB majority of snaps? Zag to more use of the FB.
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Cataloguing the Laws of Belichick
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Yea Flexibility seems to be an underwriting theme. What we might be missing is the reason he has that flexibility.
You cant have a a "Philosphy" and live by it alone.
The problem with "having one Offense (or Defense)" or at least a limited subset, is that Coach Baka might have "grown up" on Mouse Davis staff using the Run and Shoot. Because thats my experience I stick with it even when weaknesses are discovered and eventually its outdated and exposed. Basically that may be the only thing I can coach/convey to my players Well. Sure I have an understanding of 22 personnel, but how deep is that understanding?
BB on the other hand is such a Student of the game that He can seamlessly shift from The Run and Shoot, to an 11, to a 22 Or 23 Package based on his personnel and or opponents weakness. He can do this because he can Coach ALL of those equally well (or nearly so) and understands each of them at such a high level that he CAN convey it effectively to his players. I can only guess he also emphasizes that his staff also be able to do so.
Basically he has done this so long and is so naturally talented that he has become a "Expert of all Trades despite being a Master of None".
Or Basically BB is the "Doomsday" of coaches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_(comics)
You cant have a a "Philosphy" and live by it alone.
The problem with "having one Offense (or Defense)" or at least a limited subset, is that Coach Baka might have "grown up" on Mouse Davis staff using the Run and Shoot. Because thats my experience I stick with it even when weaknesses are discovered and eventually its outdated and exposed. Basically that may be the only thing I can coach/convey to my players Well. Sure I have an understanding of 22 personnel, but how deep is that understanding?
BB on the other hand is such a Student of the game that He can seamlessly shift from The Run and Shoot, to an 11, to a 22 Or 23 Package based on his personnel and or opponents weakness. He can do this because he can Coach ALL of those equally well (or nearly so) and understands each of them at such a high level that he CAN convey it effectively to his players. I can only guess he also emphasizes that his staff also be able to do so.
Basically he has done this so long and is so naturally talented that he has become a "Expert of all Trades despite being a Master of None".
Or Basically BB is the "Doomsday" of coaches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_(comics)
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Here is a link to defensive drive stats. It appears (if I'm reading this correct) that the Pats are currently #2 in defensive drive starting field position following a kickoff (LOS/KO). We were #3 for 2016. I don't see stats per game, but don't really have time to do a deep dive. It may be on there somewhere.
Great site.
I believe it was in an article on Patspulpit or somewhere. I usually end up mass consuming so many articles and stories the days after a game that they all seem to run together.
Fake edit - and I finally found it.
As an added advantage for a team that typically drafts very late, zagging emphasizes skills/players who aren't in as much demand, improving your odds of getting someone who can really help the team
One that's interesting that we haven't discussed: Never give the other team bulletin board material and look for positive things to say about every opponent not named Freddie Mitchell.
I think maybe one of the reasons we're deep in the thread with little discussion on this one is that somewhere about 5 years ago all other coaches started following him. It's one of his very rarely recognized legacies -- elimination of trash talk. Sometimes players in the NFL slip up. But rarely Patriots. Walker's foot-related tirade and subsequent benching is the last time I can remember a Patriot player stepping out of line. Even on the field the players congratulate each other but you almost never see any serious taunting. Maybe an occasional wave to a defender that is beaten.
I think maybe one of the reasons we're deep in the thread with little discussion on this one is that somewhere about 5 years ago all other coaches started following him. It's one of his very rarely recognized legacies -- elimination of trash talk. Sometimes players in the NFL slip up. But rarely Patriots. Walker's foot-related tirade and subsequent benching is the last time I can remember a Patriot player stepping out of line. Even on the field the players congratulate each other but you almost never see any serious taunting. Maybe an occasional wave to a defender that is beaten.
I do remember a player saying something about knowing a rule book that started a a small up roar a few years back.
I was, and still am convinced that that is what kicked off the deflategate thing. Hey TB, you think you know the rules? Well let's talk about football psi. It was not a smart thing for him to say.
That was after the game though. Hell, BB trashed Freddy Mitchell after the Super Bowl. He kind of trashed the Broncos returner too on Sunday night.
Brady made his rule book comments after the Ravens game regarding knowing the eligible receivers rule.
"Trouble now."
Such an inhumanly calm response to a fucking catastrophe. Trouble now. Are you fucking kidding me?
Two things he knows:
Sunk costs. Who cares if you spent a high pick on Easly or Brissett or whomever. The pick is now gone. If they can't help your team it's time to move on (and recoup value if possible).
A hope is not a plan. I know it's a cliché but there aren't a lot of team who would have drafted Thuney when you have recent draft picks Stork, Tre Jackson, and if memory serves Wendell kicking around. (Also not a lot of teams that would have benched a draft pick like Stork who'd started in a superbowl for an undrafted guy like Andrews). The normal move would be to rely on the recent high picks and hope they get better--but I guess they figured Jackson and Stork were too crappy/injured to count on and they used a pretty high pick on an interior lineman and make a second rebuild of the unit. That's a pretty good looking move in retrospect
Sunk costs. Who cares if you spent a high pick on Easly or Brissett or whomever. The pick is now gone. If they can't help your team it's time to move on (and recoup value if possible).
A hope is not a plan. I know it's a cliché but there aren't a lot of team who would have drafted Thuney when you have recent draft picks Stork, Tre Jackson, and if memory serves Wendell kicking around. (Also not a lot of teams that would have benched a draft pick like Stork who'd started in a superbowl for an undrafted guy like Andrews). The normal move would be to rely on the recent high picks and hope they get better--but I guess they figured Jackson and Stork were too crappy/injured to count on and they used a pretty high pick on an interior lineman and make a second rebuild of the unit. That's a pretty good looking move in retrospect
I googled "belichick trouble now" and learned that those were the two words he said into his headset as Robert Alford ran by in the super bowl for his 82-yard INT return for a touchdown, to make the score 21-0. Article.
There ought to be a stronger word than "focused" to describe such zen.
QFT
Sunk cost isnt just monetary or draft wise.
That play is gone. Time to move on and execute the next one correctly, and the next one, and the next one.
I know he doesn't like being down 28-3, obviously, but man you would just never know it. I guess when you have nothing left to prove and when you're immune pretty much forever to second guessing, you can just coach for the difficult situations. Ok, tie one hand behind my back and we'll just have to see how it ends up going.
There's going to be a time where he screws something up bad. Not just where it doesn't work out, but where he makes an indefensible mistake that all agree in hindsight was a mistake and for which the talking heads will throw around "hubris" and stuff like that. Maybe not, but it seems inevitable. I just hope that when it happens, whatever the mistake was, we remember it comes from the same place that has enabled him to be so cool under pressure all the other times.
Yeah, that's probably right, though in football there are some things that arguably are much less judgment calls. For example, not onside kicking if you're down under the two minute warning and you don't have time outs left. But, I guess what I mean is that he'll play a hunch and do something very unconventional and it will not work and in hindsight will be a headscratcher. Maybe he'll retire without that ever happening. I guess I mean more than just making the right decision but having it not work out -- like the decision in the Colts championship game.
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Which decision in the Colts AFC championship game are you referring to? It's been awhile since I've watched that game for good reason, but I don't recall a single specific horrid call in that game, outside of the entire second half collapse.
That's the amazing thing about 4th and 2. It was a game half way into the season. People act like it was a defining moment in NFL History. It's no more defining and way more publicized than when the Pats took the intentional safety to win the game in Denver, except that worked.
If Pats stopped them on 4th and 2 and won the game, it wouldn't be a blip on the history scale. it was unconventional but not mind-blowing. It's not like kicking in a dome in OT under the old rules.
The closest he has come to an in game total screw up was 4th and 13 in the Scottish Game. I will never understand that decision, and IMO there is no defense to it. Pretty much every other decision he has made in game has been defensible.
4th and 2 was a great call.
The only scenario I can see is if he trades Brady or lets him walk, he goes somewhere else and has a great year or two while the Pats can’t find a replacement.
4th and 2 was a great call.
The only scenario I can see is if he trades Brady or lets him walk, he goes somewhere else and has a great year or two while the Pats can’t find a replacement.
I would be surprised if Belichick lets go of Brady early. He is too hard to replace, and I think by the time he declines enough that starting the backup becomes a potential improvement he will retire. Plus, Belichick kept Bruschi through 08 even though he was pretty bad.
I think BB's ruthlessness wrt roster decisions is a bit overblown. He cuts bait when players develop attitude issues or want more than the team can afford to pay.
This was the most annoying part of the post game doubters. Faulk was obviously across the line but how do you overturn a spot of the ball?
The ONLY "indefensible" call I can imagine is up big (say 17) with like 3 mins to play and the ball. And Brady gets killed.
While it IS defensible based on history and 17pts not being insurmountable, the Media and naysayers and many of the supporters in NE will be like "Yea that was Dumb. No way Brady should be playing then".
Keep in mind I am NOT arguing one way or the other. Just that a Big lead and Brady injury will be open season for the naysayers.
Look at Gronk Special teams as Pre-Exhibit A.
While it IS defensible based on history and 17pts not being insurmountable, the Media and naysayers and many of the supporters in NE will be like "Yea that was Dumb. No way Brady should be playing then".
Keep in mind I am NOT arguing one way or the other. Just that a Big lead and Brady injury will be open season for the naysayers.
Look at Gronk Special teams as Pre-Exhibit A.
That suggests there's another Law of Belichick: The best players play, nearly regardless of game situation. Never run scared from the possibility of injury or failure, never rest on your laurels, never sit anybody. 60 minutes, from everybody, every time.
At the time of the Gronk FG incident, I'm pretty sure Belichick was quoted as saying "yeah, that sucks, but it happens. Coulda happened on any play, in any game." He will never baby anyone, and that attitude pervades to all sorts of other moments and places in the team's preparation.
At the time of the Gronk FG incident, I'm pretty sure Belichick was quoted as saying "yeah, that sucks, but it happens. Coulda happened on any play, in any game." He will never baby anyone, and that attitude pervades to all sorts of other moments and places in the team's preparation.
Right, Ty Law was a vice player on the punt return team in 2001. He was crucial to the Troy Brown return in the AFCCG.
Yup, that's it. It's hilarious. In the documentary he talked about how the game didn't feel out of control - they weren't getting blown off the field - but the score was out of control, so they didn't panic. But still... Trouble now? Seriously? That's your reaction, just calmly muttering 'trouble now'? Are you fucking serious? Cracks me up.
“You let me know who is going to be hurt on any particular play and I won’t have him in there.” Also, Gronk got hurt on an extra point, right?
IIRC, the play wasn’t reviewed. It was outside two minutes and NE didn’t have any timeouts so they couldn’t throw the red flag. Anyways, that’s my memory but it could certainly be faulty. Guess I’ll have to look it up when I get home.
Yeah from that angle it looks like a perfect play.
Edit: I mean, lost in the controversy caused by everyone seeing something that maybe was right but went against all conventional wisdom/stupidity is the fact that it was a perfectly executed play to exactly the right spot.
Ed2: The only failure of the play was that it wasn't idiot (ref) proofed by being another half-yard longer.
Edit: I mean, lost in the controversy caused by everyone seeing something that maybe was right but went against all conventional wisdom/stupidity is the fact that it was a perfectly executed play to exactly the right spot.
Ed2: The only failure of the play was that it wasn't idiot (ref) proofed by being another half-yard longer.
Let's put it this way: if someone put a gun to my head and said "admit he didn't make that first or die," well...it's been nice knowing you.
Wasn’t the argument for the spot at the time that Faulk bobbled it? Not that it remotely looked like a bobble from that angle...
He did bobble it, but he secured it on his next touch, just before his left foot (the farthest-backwards part of him) steps precisely on the 30-yard line. If you're giving him forward progress, you're giving it to him where the ball was when his left foot hits, just before he gets trucked by the defender. If you're even mildly accustomed to observing humans standing upright, there is no way that ball was behind the 30 yard line.
Indirect look at the laws of Belichick by looking at his father's scouting rules:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/01/16/scouting-new-england-patriots-using-steve-belichicks-scouting-manual
https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/01/16/scouting-new-england-patriots-using-steve-belichicks-scouting-manual
Late to the discussion here, but in fact they were not able to challenge that BS spot because they had used their final timeout after the third down play. I bring this up because while the 4th down call itself was of course entirely correct, the total sequence was a pretty unequivocal example of Belichick being less than his usual brilliant self. If they were going to go for it on 4th, they clearly should have run on third down (I believe BB acknowledged as much after the game), instead of the pass to Welker, which was so predictable that it nearly turned into a pick-six. And then using the last timeout proved costly as well, of course. He made the right call on 4th down, but if he had realized a little sooner that it would be the right call in that situation, the outcome would probably have been entirely different.
I know it seems ridiculous to blame him for this when no other HC in football would have had the guts (or the intellect) to make the right decision on 4th down in the first place. But this is a very rare case where he obviously had not thought things through ahead of time. I know I can't have been the only one here who was thinking "four-down territory" as soon as the offense went on the field.