Patters

Knowing how beloved BB is here, let me say that no matter what direction the Pats are headed in, BB is clearly one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. If he had not led the Pats to victory in 3 Superbowls, our expectations would not be so high and the challenges to his excellence by other teams would not be so great.

As great as BB is, he risks entering his declining years unless he accepts that football is evolving. As Bob Dylan said, "He who's not busy being born is busy dying." I think right now, BB's approach has several limitations:

Injuries. It's no secret that his approach to football always leaves the Pats with more injuries than other teams. After 5 years, it's more than coincidence that we suffer so many injuries. Perhaps we need a little more finesse and a little less hard hitting so that we can field more talent in any given game.

Paranoia. BB runs an insular organization. He's very secretive, doesn't bring in new blood to get fresh ideas, and believes everybody is expendable. While his approach worked for several years, it now appears teams have found ways to attack BB's system. Football like everything else evolves, and unless BB wants to be another Joe Gibbs, he better start paying more attention to what the "next" generation of coaches is doing. He should bring in people to challenge his thinking.

Holding grudges. For a guy who is a master of deception, his apparent anger at Mangini for trying to woo some Pats staff to the Jets is over the top. While that makes little difference to the Pats, this same kind of resentment may have cost us Branch, Vinatieri, and Law, and was certainly a double-edged sword in 2001 when he suspended Terry Glenn. This year, at least once he appears to have benched Gabriel, Dillon, and Seymour for parts of games. BB seems to personalize things in a way that's sometimes counterproductive. He needs to win the hearts of the players, but he's only won their minds.

Uninspired. There's no way that BB can light a fire under a team. He can make the best cerebral arguments in the world, but he's no Charlie Weis. BB brings intellect to the team; Brady brings charisma, but the team lacks someone to fire them up. BB knows his strengths, but I don't think he has a good grasp of his limitations.

While the Pats could still surprise us as they have before, the team appears tired, careless, and uninspired. Maybe BB is simply holding back, preparing all his weapons for the post-season, maybe the players can do it without BB as they did in Superbowl XLI, but based on the last few weeks I think we have every right to be concerned.

PATSNUTme

Thanks for the psycobabble, Patters.

I think you are right and BB should get the entire Bob Dylan song book and model the rest of his carrer after those words of wisdom. "My back Pages" would be an excellent guide to the rest of his life.

Michigan Dave

Pretty much all football coaches are paranoid. That's the reality of the game now. Also, I wouldn't put too much into "motivation", because at this level, the players are able to self motivate more than you would think, and for big games, what I've seen of Belichick has been impressive. The biggest myth in football is the "rah rah" lockerroom speech. This simply doesn't happen. The lockerroom is for adjusting the gameplan and correcting mistakes, and I think our coach is the best in the business at that. You show me a coach who's talking about "winning one for the gipper" in today's football, and I'll show you a coach who's getting canned for losing games.

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Patfandango

Respectfully disagree with the "psychobabble". I think BB does more to reinvent this team each year than any established coach in the NFL. I think we all lose sight of how difficult it is to win year after year in the NFL. The Steelers are a case in point. It is true that other teams are scheming better against us and with several BB disciples as competitors, their initimate knowledge of how BB thinks makes it all the more difficult. Yesterday, I think we tried to game plan to take Taylor out of the game. Saban compensated by rushing Roth.

I also don't think that the personal grudge thing is happening. The team sets avalue and doesn't exceed it. It is their business model and if anything, they don't let personal issues interfere with this mantra.

I agree with Michigan Dave that the motivational stuff is overrated and comes into play only occasionally. I can think of a couple of examples in previous years where BB has used this (e.g. the Super Bowl ring speech). Overall, the Pats recruit players that are highly coachable and don't rely on the Knute Rockne thing very often.

I don't think the Pats are holding back anything. Instead, they are a struggling team right now and we as afsd aren;t used to that happening in December. I'm hoping that they have the veteran presence to set things right, but it will be a challenge this year.

thomas144

There are so many appropriate lines from that song that I am posting the entire lyric as a public service:




Lyrics for: It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not fergit
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?

And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.



Incidentally, at Dylan's BU concert a few weeks ago, there was huge applause (at least among us old folks who know the lyrics) for "even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked."

MDD

While there is a grain of truth in each of your other points, this is one of the most common misconceptions ever about the guy.

Parcells is a "screamah". Howd' that work out for him yesterday?

SVN

BB has made mistakes this season but lets not make him the 'problem' now. He is the most innovative coach of this decade in my opinion and suddenly he is not like a fish out of water..
When ****** hits the fan , all the intelligence and ability of the coaches doesnt help...stuff happens..he will reinvent himself if he thinks it will help the team..

SVN

or for cowher all these yrs before last yr...

Michigan Dave

If anything, Belichick is a great asset now. There will be no panic, there will be no infighting, there WILL be an assessment of the mistakes that were made, and a plan to correct them. That is what we need.

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Mike the Brit

Great points, as always, Dave. I strongly agree that top athletes don't need a rah-rah screamer to motivate them (in fact, I don't think that most average ones do either). What really helps is when you go into the locker room at half-time and someone you trust says: this is what they're doing, and this is why we're not having success; if we do this, this and this, we'll win.

I think that yesterday brought home how deep the problems for this team are in a way that some people ("A win is a win") didn't want to accept after the Detroit game. And yes, while BB has done more than enough to have a free pass from me at least forever, it isn't just being a spoiled bandwagon fan to criticize the management of a team that was so clearly on top of the league a couple of years ago and now is so no longer.

But looking at the way in which the Patriots handled themselves in front of the press after the game, I was proud of them. No one made excuses; no one pointed the finger at anyone but themselves; even Ellis Hobbs, who had reasons to feel particularly disappointed, made it clear that he is a professional who accepts the decisions of the coach. You can be pretty sure that no one will be calling Ron Borges on his cell to whine about what is going on in the locker room.

Odd though it sounds, knowing how to lose is the best foundation for continuing to win. That is how Belichick has built this team.

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My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

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