Bill Drunk On His Own Kool Aid?

[Iron Helmet]

Lets get one thing straight. I am a Patriots fan. However, this does not blind me to what I see on the weekends, and trying to call it like I see it.

I am still at a loss for words as to why Bill B. is handing the wheel of a well oiled machine comprised of personnel he has been assembling since he got here to a kid who hasn't played since high school. To me this is almost insulting to all the players that "play for less" to be a part of this organization in order to win. Soooo, I can only come up with 2 possibilities:

1. Billy B is drunk on his own Kool Aid, and thinks he can use a "plug and play" philosophy because its all his "system" that has resulted in the Pats success, not the players; or

2. Matt Cassel does things in practice that make them all go ooo, and aaah...stuff that we, as fans, cannot see...

I am starting to lean towards 1, however, I am willing to wait it out, as Billy B has earned that much and then some.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

1. Billy B is drunk on his own Kool Aid, and thinks he can use a "plug and play" philosophy because its all his "system" that has resulted in the Pats success, not the players; or

I doubt it, because Belichick himself has admitted at times that his system has failed his players (e.g., the first Rams game in 2001).

 

[letekro]

Lets get one thing straight. I am a Patriots fan. However, this does not blind me to what I see on the weekends, and trying to call it like I see it.

I am still at a loss for words as to why Bill B. is handing the wheel of a well oiled machine comprised of personnel he has been assembling since he got here to a kid who hasn't played since high school. To me this is almost insulting to all the players that "play for less" to be a part of this organization in order to win. Soooo, I can only come up with 2 possibilities:

1. Billy B is drunk on his own Kool Aid, and thinks he can use a "plug and play" philosophy because its all his "system" that has resulted in the Pats success, not the players; or

2. Matt Cassel does things in practice that make them all go ooo, and aaah...stuff that we, as fans, cannot see...

I am starting to lean towards 1, however, I am willing to wait it out, as Billy B has earned that much and then some.

3. There are no quality vets available with experience in this system and Cassell is the best of the sorry bunch we have.

 

[D-Money]

I wonder what type of Kool Aid flavor?Seriously, i think he is a complex guy who likes to prove people wrong.I expect him to stick with Cassel and try to prove a point and it could be a costly one.

 

[apple strudel]

Hurrr. He's never stated that the system results in anybody's success. He's said that you need to get the types of players that fit the system you run. Totally different things. They're good fits and play well in this system.

I think he thinks the players on the roster are the best option right now, probably because of their familiarity with the system. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[SVN]

I wonder what type of Kool Aid flavor?Seriously, i think he is a complex guy who likes to prove people wrong.I expect him to stick with Cassel and try to prove a point and it could be a costly one.

on the contrary ,he doesnt wait for things to fall apart or to prove anyone , he will do what is good from his point of view. i personally disagree he is like that. fans want him to show frustration and give sound bites and replace the QB and make wholesale changes to prove he is doing something but he wont , therefore he is labeled as arrogant and other things.

 

[BelichickFan]

I'm not fan of Cassel but I think Belichick knows he can't get a QB who will win games 38-35 so he's stuck with Cassel and hoping for better defense than yesterday. We need to win games 20 - 17 or the like.

 

[BradyToMoss]

Drink up...........

 

[DisgruntledTunaFan]

Lets get one thing straight. I am a Patriots fan. However, this does not blind me to what I see on the weekends, and trying to call it like I see it.

I am still at a loss for words as to why Bill B. is handing the wheel of a well oiled machine comprised of personnel he has been assembling since he got here to a kid who hasn't played since high school. To me this is almost insulting to all the players that "play for less" to be a part of this organization in order to win. Soooo, I can only come up with 2 possibilities:

1. Billy B is drunk on his own Kool Aid, and thinks he can use a "plug and play" philosophy because its all his "system" that has resulted in the Pats success, not the players; or

2. Matt Cassel does things in practice that make them all go ooo, and aaah...stuff that we, as fans, cannot see...

I am starting to lean towards 1, however, I am willing to wait it out, as Billy B has earned that much and then some.

When it comes to key players going down, the same can be said for alot of teams as well. How would the Cowboys fare if Romo goes down? How would the Eagles fare if Westbrook goes down? How would the Chargers fare if LT goes down? How would the Colts fare if Peyton goes down? How would the Broncos fare if Tom Nalen goes down? How would the Saints fare if Drew Brees goes down?

Pt being that say all you want about how Bill B should have added depth at QB et al. There's just some players you just can't replace b/c not only of their talents they bring onto the field, but also the wide range of intangibles they bring as well.

I think the Pats will be fine in the long run, and this game was prolly nothing more than an anomaly. But was just pointing something out before you throw people under the bus.

 

[muzz]

We may just find out how the Eagles will do without Westbrook, Buckhalter did OK in his stead yesterday.
SD is struggling right now, and LT is doing nothing because he's banged up.


Everybody Drink!!!

 

[SHOWTIME15]

you got to blame belichick for a number of things:

1. poor coaching in the super bowl

2. not getting a veteran backup QB over the last few seasons

3. poor coaching in yesterday's game.

4. giving too much leeway to mcdaniels

 

[Wax Frog]

[passes around some cool forehead compresses]

 

[MoLewisrocks]

3. We watch football on TV weekends and slop up equally uninformed media bloviations all week, while Bill has the courage of his convictions based on 30+ years in the league and 20+ years running his systems and 8 seasons as a HC here with a .750 overall winning percentage when it's all said and done. He took just as much heat for Bledsoe/Brady on a .500 team through week 10 that season as he is for Brady/Cassel on a .667 team in week 3 this season. It took most of his enlightened critics until the end of the 2003 season and post season to admit they were wrong and he was right. This time fans should know better than to behave like reactionary kneejerks but some of us will never learn...

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

BB has been consistent all along, big win or the rare big loss. I'm glad for the even-keel approach, though some can call it kool-aid drinking. I think it adds perspective to why he is a sucessful coach. You just can't panic about one awful effort.

I posted this in another thread buried by all the doom and gloom, but this ain't Kool-Aid, it is the truth:

Last year, last week, yesterday all don't matter. Momentum is a myth. There are no points added or taken away from the scoreboard by expectations of what you should or should not do today based upon what happened at any point in the past. If you play better, execute better, have more people going their job, make fewer mistakes, and you put yourself in position to win against anybody. If you don't do those things, you put yourself in position to lose against anybody. Then whatever you do today doesn't matter in the next game, because on that day the same factors are involved. Each game is its own entity.

Don't cry about what you don't have, what a bad break you got, how a ref could have done this or that, or how someone got hurt unepectedly. It simply "is what it is" and you play with what you have. If everyone involved does their job, then history shows that the team will be in a position to win.

A key group of people who must "do their jobs" is the coaching staff. Now they have two weeks to determine how this team can get better, to determine just who among the players is not doing their job, and to find if someone else out there can do their job better. My guess is that when it comes to personnel changes at QB, the answer is unfortunately "no" but when it comes to strategies about what the current QBs on our roster are asked to do, the answer is a big "yes".

Bottom line: victories are not cheap, they are hard, every one of them has to be earned by superior effort and execution. That is true no matter who the opponent. There are no gifts and no God-given rights to victory. You have to outwork and outplay someone to take it away from them, and most often they have a lot of people who are talented, well-motivated and also working very hard to try to take it away from you.

 

[Pats726]

you got to blame belichick for a number of things:
1. poor coaching in the super bowl

Coaching in the Super Bowl?? Where did he get outcoached there?? THAT is a large stretch...and you are in the minority you really believe that...that's the same type of garbage heard since...HARDLY true....most of what I have heard about that is totally untrue..the team almost won teh game.. there wa sno being outcoached..outplayed? yes..but not outcooached.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

you got to blame belichick for a number of things:

1. poor coaching in the super bowl

2. not getting a veteran backup QB over the last few seasons

3. poor coaching in yesterday's game.

4. giving too much leeway to mcdaniels

1. He screws up once in every 18 or so games I can live with that rather than the alternative...

2. He had veteran backups prior to last season but they could not run this system and they either leave because they still want playing time as starters or the age out quickly and you've wasted valuable resources on them.

3. He admits that which is more than you can say for the other 15 who lost (and several who won in spite of it).

4. I guess that explains the undefeated 2007 season and making the playoffs in 2006 with a no name offense and making the playoffs in 2005 with an offense and defense decimated by injuries...

Honest to God, some of you deserve to have to live through a couple of seasons with Herm Edwards or Marvin Lewis or Brian Billick or Norv Turner or RAC or some other highly touted HC'ing mangenius....

 

[DaBruinz]

Lets get one thing straight. I am a Patriots fan. However, this does not blind me to what I see on the weekends, and trying to call it like I see it.

I am still at a loss for words as to why Bill B. is handing the wheel of a well oiled machine comprised of personnel he has been assembling since he got here to a kid who hasn't played since high school. To me this is almost insulting to all the players that "play for less" to be a part of this organization in order to win. Soooo, I can only come up with 2 possibilities:

1. Billy B is drunk on his own Kool Aid, and thinks he can use a "plug and play" philosophy because its all his "system" that has resulted in the Pats success, not the players; or

2. Matt Cassel does things in practice that make them all go ooo, and aaah...stuff that we, as fans, cannot see...

I am starting to lean towards 1, however, I am willing to wait it out, as Billy B has earned that much and then some.

How GRACIOUS of you to say that you are leaning towards Bill Belichick being a complete idiot who believes all the hype that the media creates around him, but that you aren't 100% sure.

Let me know when this "well oiled machine" actually takes the field. Because, the O-line hasn't. And the Defense, as a whole, took yesterday off.

Why is it that people like yourself have to pre-empt your posts with this half-arsed justifications that you are a fan who "isn't blinded to what you see on the weekends." What I've found so far is that the fans who make that claim are blinded and don't actually put the entire picture together. Nor do they understand how the parts work together.

You mention this "well oiled machine" but, I have news for you, this team hasn't been a "well oiled machine at any point this season. It wasn't there in game one before Brady went down. And its hasn't been since then. The O-line has been average at best. Other teams seem to have figured out a way to blunt the zone blocking that the Patriots have tried to install. Yet people like yourself ignore that. And you ignore that the games are won and lost in the trenches. And yesterday, both the O-line and the D-line got their arses handed to them.

BTW, if you were so well informed, you'd know that Cassel has played football since High School. He spent his college years as the back-up to Palmer and Leinhart. He put enough pressure on Leinhart that Carroll came out and said it came down to a coin flip. That he could have just as easily gone with Cassel over Leinhart. You saying that he hasn't played and that its an insult to other players is actually an insult to every player on that team and a slap in the face to Belichick.

Now, that being said, Cassel is a back-up QB. Back-up QBs are supposed to not lose games for the team. Cassel has done that. As much as any of us might not want to admit it, the game was over before Cassel threw the pick. Because the defense was getting man-handled. And the Offensive line was offensive. It was extremely inconsistent in both its run-blocking and pass blocking. Tom Brady could have been back there and the results would have been pretty much the same.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

BB has been consistent all along, big win or the rare big loss. I'm glad for the even-keel approach, thoug some can call it kool-aid drinking. I think it adds perspective to why he is a sucessful coach. You just can't panic about one awful effort.

I posted this in another thread buried by all the doom and gloom, but this ain't Kool-Aid, it is the truth:

Last year, last week, yesterday all don't matter. Momentum is a myth. There are no points added or taken away from the scoreboard by expectations of what you should or should not do today based upon what happened at any point in the past. If you play better, execute better, have more people going their job, make fewer mistakes, and you put yourself in position to win against anybody. If you don't do those things, you put yourself in position to lose against anybody. Then whatever you do today doesn't matter in the next game, because on that day the same factors are involved. each game is its own entity.

Don't cry about what you don't have, what a bad break you got, how a ref could have done this or that, or how someone got hurt unepectedly. It simply "is what it is" and you play with what you have. If everyone involved does their job, then history shows that the team will be in a position to win.

A key group of people who must "do their jobs" is the coaching staff. Now they have two weeks to determine how this team can get better, to determine just who among the players is not doing their job, and to find if someone else out there can do their job better. My guess is that when it comes to personnel changes at QB, the answer is unfortunately "no" but when it comes to strategies abou what the current QBs are asked to do, the answer is a big "yes".

Bottom line: victories are not cheap, they are hard, every one of them has to be earned by superior effort and execution. That is true no matter who the opponent. There are no gifts and no God-given rights to victory. You have to outwork and outplay someone to take it away from them, and most often they have a lot of people who are talented, well-motivated and also working hard to try to take it away from you.

F'ing outstanding post. Post of the year for overall perspective as far as I'm concerned. :rocker:

 

[DaBruinz]

you got to blame belichick for a number of things:

1. poor coaching in the super bowl

2. not getting a veteran backup QB over the last few seasons

3. poor coaching in yesterday's game.

4. giving too much leeway to mcdaniels

1) Ok. I don't think anyone has said otherwise. Not sure why you feel the need to re-hash it.

2) What "veteran" QB could they have gotten that would be able to run this system? Seriously. Please enlighten everyone to this amazing QB you know.

3) Yesterday's game went well beyond poor coaching. The players were pitiful as well. From Randy Moss down to Ray Ventrone.

4) How do you know how much leeway he's given McDaniels? Are you in the meetings? Didn't think so.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

3. We watch football on TV weekends and slop up equally uninformed media bloviations all week, while Bill has the courage of his convictions based on 30+ years in the league and 20+ years running his systems and 8 seasons as a HC here with a .750 overall winning percentage when it's all said and done. He took just as much heat for Bledsoe/Brady on a .500 team through week 10 that season as he is for Brady/Cassel on a .667 team in week 3 this season. It took most of his enlightened critics until the end of the 2003 season and post season to admit they were wrong and he was right. This time fans should know better than to behave like reactionary kneejerks but some of us will never learn...

Great post! I think this must serve as a sticky!