That was then: Celebrating what was

twibnotes

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Jul 16, 2005
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Post above is indeed awesome...what's really amazing is that Belichick is considered by some to be "stubborn" when in fact, as it relates to coaching, it appears that he is flexible, willing to listen and try new things and creative. Most NFL coaches - who may seem more approachable to the media - are on fact stubbornly adhering to the same rules, systems, etc. By way of example, Andy Reid is a good coach, but we just saw his same Achilles heel (clock management) pop up yet again.
 
Dec 21, 2015
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I'm reminded of the research some amateur or statistician or somebody did on 4th down punting decisions, or maybe it was 2-point conversions. (...googles a bit) yeah, turns out it was both. My favorite bit:

The Patriots have turned to the academic world on several occasions. A few years ago, Rutgers professor Harold Sackrowitz got a call from Patriots director of football research Ernie Adams, who quizzed Sackrowitz on some work he had just done detailing football’s two-point conversion — when to go for two and when to kick the extra point. Adams sent the professor the Patriots’ “go-for-two” chart, and asked Sackrowitz to take a look. Of the 32 NFL teams, the statistician told the New York Times, only the Patriots called.
Then there's his work getting doppelgangers for the scout team. Maybe I'm in a Patriots bubble, but I just don't hear about this kind of attention to detail from other head coaches, except oddball things like Chip Kelly monitoring his players' diets and stuff.

edit: one of these years, Belichick is going to finally say 'fuck it' and just coach up his team from training camp to adopt the Pulaski Academy-grounded philosophy of "we're (almost) never going to punt". I can't fuckin' wait, either, to hear the shock and confusion of the announcers when he goes for 4th-and-5 on his own 48yl or something. "4th down means you must kick" is the football equivalent of valuing RBIs in baseball.
 

I am an Idiot

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Nov 16, 2007
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I'm too lazy to read the thread to see if it's posted, but Brady's percentage of afc championship appearances to seasons played is higher than his career completion percentage now. Actually, it is now higher than any quarterback's completion percentage ever, if you take out the year his knee got torn up and 2000. That really is something.
 

williams_482

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Jul 1, 2011
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I'm reminded of the research some amateur or statistician or somebody did on 4th down punting decisions, or maybe it was 2-point conversions. (...googles a bit) yeah, turns out it was both. My favorite bit:



Then there's his work getting doppelgangers for the scout team. Maybe I'm in a Patriots bubble, but I just don't hear about this kind of attention to detail from other head coaches, except oddball things like Chip Kelly monitoring his players' diets and stuff.

edit: one of these years, Belichick is going to finally say 'fuck it' and just coach up his team from training camp to adopt the Pulaski Academy-grounded philosophy of "we're (almost) never going to punt". I can't fuckin' wait, either, to hear the shock and confusion of the announcers when he goes for 4th-and-5 on his own 48yl or something. "4th down means you must kick" is the football equivalent of valuing RBIs in baseball.
"We're almost never going to punt" isn't really an optimal strategy in the NFL, but I'd estimate that approximately 1/3rd to 1/4th of normal kicking or punting situations (4th and 5 from either 48 included) shouldn't be kicks or punts. If Belichick ever does fully commit to going for it in those spots, I'll be ecstatic.
 

mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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EEI had some ridiculous stat last night:

When NFL teams drop back to pass on 80% or more of the snaps, their W/L record is something like 6-130.

When Tom Brady drops back to pass on 80% or more of his snaps, his W/L record is 6-1.
Yep, there's another reason!
 

SumnerH

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Jul 18, 2005
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"We're almost never going to punt" isn't really an optimal strategy in the NFL, but I'd estimate that approximately 1/3rd to 1/4th of normal kicking or punting situations (4th and 5 from either 48 included) shouldn't be kicks or punts.
Why do you think almost never punting isn't optimal in the NFL and that only like 1/3 of situations shouldn't be punts? All the studies we've seen in this thread and elsewhere seem to contradict that.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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Not sure where else to put this, but ESPN Insider had an interesting article about how the Pats have had so many more practices than everyone else over the past 5 years due to the playoff games that it provides an advantage, especially to the younger players. It is a really interesting point. We have had a lot of discussion about what makes BB so much better than everyone else (when outsides just want to say cheatriots); having more practices can't hurt.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/insider/story/_/id/14616090/deep-playoff-runs-allowed-new-england-practice-more-competition

Edit: for instance, the article estimates that the Pats have had roughly 312 practices since 2011, vs. only 255 for non-playoff teams
 

williams_482

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Why do you think almost never punting isn't optimal in the NFL and that only like 1/3 of situations shouldn't be punts? All the studies we've seen in this thread and elsewhere seem to contradict that.
I haven't seen a credible study that suggested going for it on 4th down all the time (or close to it) in the NFL. The Pulaski Academy guy justifies his decision to do this (as well as never trying to return kicks and always attempting the onsides on kickoffs) by pointing out that high school players are often pretty bad at basic skills that NFL players can do in their sleep and his decision to essentially forgo participating in special teams allows his team to focus on the important stuff in practice. When his kicker and punter are terrible, he isn't losing much my going for it in almost any situation, although 4th and 10 inside his own 10 is still pretty questionable.

The Romer study generally recommends that teams be significantly more aggressive than the more recent calculations that go into the AFA 4th down calculator or the NYT 4th down bot, and I am much more inclined to trust those numbers.
 

edmunddantes

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I heard it mentioned on the broadcast, and there it is again when Bill is talking to the official on the sideline.

Where the hell did this "you have to have a body part in the endzone" bullshit ever come from in the first place? It's always just been the ball has to break the plane.

Is this just them trying to come up with a lame excuse on the fly or what?
 

Mugsy's Jock

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dynomite

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Don't know where to put this, but has anyone else stumbled upon the Do Your Job digital extra where Belichick talked about the playoff losses in 11, 12, and 13?

He literally says that if Gronk had been healthy he thinks they win each of those 3 games.

I mean, all of us say that and talk that way... But for the "Next man up" coach to say that is relatively stunning to me.

[youtube][/youtube]
 

54thMA

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Don't know where to put this, but has anyone else stumbled upon the Do Your Job digital extra where Belichick talked about the playoff losses in 11, 12, and 13?

He literally says that if Gronk had been healthy he thinks they win each of those 3 games.

I mean, all of us say that and talk that way... But for the "Next man up" coach to say that is relatively stunning to me.

[youtube][/youtube]
Not sure about the 2012 loss to the Ravens or the 2013 loss to Denver, but without a doubt, if he was healthy in the Super Bowl vs the 9-7 Giants, no question they win it; in reality, they should have won that game even without a healthy Gronk.
 

GeorgeCostanza

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Not sure about the 2012 loss to the Ravens or the 2013 loss to Denver, but without a doubt, if he was healthy in the Super Bowl vs the 9-7 Giants, no question they win it; in reality, they should have won that game even without a healthy Gronk.
Not a doubt in my mind about the Super Bowl either. The Manningham catch would have meant fuckall down 14 pts.
 

chechusma

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BlackJack

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Nice to see the WWL giving the Pats some love. I feel like I haven't seen that sort of stuff from them since 2004-2005.
 

hoothehoo

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Jul 15, 2005
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I don't know where to put this and I might be the last to know, but if you go on Twitter and type #doyourjob, a little Pats logo is added to your tweet.

Thanks to DMac for sharing it on his Twitter.
 

k-factory

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http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/01/22/tom-brady-patriots-charlie-weis-option-routes

Bedard talks to Charlie Weis about the complexities of the Patriots offense for receivers, Brady's aptitude and the steady evolution of the Erhardt-Perkins system.
At the heart of that system is the responsibility heaped upon the QB’s shoulders. That starts with the “alert” system, in which most play calls are essentially two-in-one. There’s the original call, plus an alternate that gets put into motion if the D aligns a certain way. Brady yells, “Alert!” to make the switch.
Nice to see a steady stream of stories lately that take the time to respect what BB & co have brought to the game of football rather than the lazy tear downs from last year.
 

LogansDad

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Nov 15, 2006
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This was really good. One part in particular, hit me really hard:

The end is coming. It's not coming as fast for Brady as it is for Manning, but it always comes faster than everyone believes it will. That's the story of sports. Still, it's not yet time for reflection. A career eulogy would enrage him. But the best vegetables and the smartest body guru and a genius head coach cannot hold back the tide forever. Brady even said as much this year after being called robotic. "I'm a human," he said. "There's no doubt. I'm definitely human."

Still, Brady might be right. He might play deep into his 40s. His magic as a player has always been more about his ruthless efficiency than his jaw-dropping, field-stretching throws. He can't uncork 50-yard lasers like Aaron Rodgers, but he also doesn't have to. He is better at taking a scalpel to a defense than anyone who has ever lived. You delude yourself into believing he is aging backward, that he can play forever, but the final chapter of his football life has, at the very least, begun. A sense of melancholy accompanies that realization, the understanding that while his best moments might be happening now, they are slipping through our fingers.
I think most of us here on SoSH appreciate what we have been able to see over the last decade and a half, but there are a lot of Patriots fans out there who probably don't appreciate it as much as we do. I am in awe of what Brady has been able to accomplish over his career, and so many people take it for granted.

I really think that someday a lot of those fans of other teams, who have never stopped complaining about "cheating" and "preferential treatment" and such, are going to look back on this time and realize that while they were blinded by hatred of a guy they never even met, they missed out on being able to really appreciate and enjoy watching the greatest in the history of his craft.

Of course, most of them will probably take that hatred to their death beds, so fuck them.
 

djbayko

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Jul 18, 2005
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I don't know where to put this and I might be the last to know, but if you go on Twitter and type #doyourjob, a little Pats logo is added to your tweet.

Thanks to DMac for sharing it on his Twitter.
What's even better is if you add the #HGHRetirementParty hashtag, your Tweet gets one of these.

 

Super Nomario

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I hate to keep bumping just to say, "I agree!" but SN is correct. The interview that amarshal2 posted is tremendous. Really a must listen for all Pats fans.

The first 12:20 primarily covers Moe's combine experience. The next 25 minutes or so deals extensively with NE and the differences between their preparation compared to other organizations.
 

McBride11

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Jul 15, 2005
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Barstool sports story and all that, BUT basically the story goes Edelman is hanging out with some random guy SB weekend. After Brady did his MVP appearance and got boo'd, he texts to him:

'Everyone fucking hates us. Lets win it all next year.'

No idea how true this is. But if it is even remotely close, it is awesome.

http://www.barstoolsports.com/boston/tom-brady-texted-julian-edelman-after-he-got-booed-at-the-superbowl-and-said-everyone-fucking-hates-us-lets-win-it-all-next-year/?utm_campaign=SFFB&utm_source=BarstoolFB&utm_medium=Socialflow
 

BuellMiller

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Let's hope that's the tagline for the 2017 Super Bowl championship video, like "Do Your Job" was last year.
 
Apr 7, 2006
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We are lucky for so many reasons, for so many wins, and so much glory, thanks to BB and TB12. We are lucky that it remains a decent option on a slow Saturday night, when the wife and kid are asleep, to fire up the Apple TV and watch random fan reaction videos to the end of Super Bowl XLIX compiled on YouTube. Which got me thinking...

Every now and then it's nice to be reminded, out of the blue, that there was a moment during the lives of everyone here, when Mike Kensil went from gloating and celebrating the impending Beast Mode TD to losing his breath in anguish as Malcolm stole the ball and crushed his goddamn spirit. Ah, what I would give to have that Kensil slice of time on tape. My imagination will have to do.

Edit typos
 

GeorgeCostanza

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My imagination will have to do.

Edit typos
Until next year anyway :)

This thread title is so spot on though, and we are incredibly lucky as a collective fan base. Sometime in the not too distant future (202?), it's going to become "celebrating what was". So I'm planning on enjoying the shit out of the end of this ride. After that, who knows. The NFL will have a pretty big challenge holding on to some of us.
 

mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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I was just reading the draft chatter in another thread, and every person seems to be talking about backups.

It sucks that the Pats were stripped of their first rounder this year, but man...is there a single starting spot (okay, outside RB until Dion is ready) that's actually open?

In other news, ESPN Boston says today is both BB's bday and the Tom Brady pick anniversary. Does that make April 16 Pats Day?
 

NortheasternPJ

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Nov 16, 2004
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Quick article about Brady but really about NFL coaching. Some pretty high praise and harsh comments about some in the NFL.

 

mt8thsw9th

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Jul 17, 2005
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ifmanis5

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Wins like this just don't happen. With BB and what he has built, it happens. Almost so often we get used to it. Savor tonight. A battle and victory worthy of song.