The Bill Belichick thread

[CheeseMonkeys]

I've seen threads for everyone else on the Pats but I don't think there is a thread to show our love for Bill Belichick. This organization wouldn't be so special if we didn't have Bill. He is a football genius the way he stockpiles draft picks and acquires all the right players and doesn't waste too much money. He thinks about the future and not just today and that is why the Patriots will be a team to fear for many more years. Discuss.

 

[signbabybrady]

Only one thing needs to be said


IN BB WE TRUST

 

[Nikolai]

I have never had a problem saying In Bill We Trust.

Some Pats fans hate hearing IBWT, and loathe the idea of saying it. I guess it's because they don't want to admit that someone could be smarter than they are, but Bill is the football version of the Godfather and Beethoven mixed together. We need to work on an immortality drug to keep him around....and the rest of us too, I guess.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

He's simply the best. No, he's not perfect, but he's much better than anyone else, and by a wide, wide margin. There's no one else in his class right now.

 

[PatsFanInVa]

There are a lot of ways to measure how outstanding TFB is.

One way of measuring how outstanding BFB is, is that he went 11-5 without Tom Brady.

There are two possibilities:

1) 2008 was an outlier. Matt Cassell was (another) lucky pick of a backup quarterback. The Pats took lemons and made lemonade, in part because of BB's efforts, and in part because of luck we cannot hope to replicate.

2) 2008 was an indication of what happens a few years down the road. I think (2) is more likely. There are a great number of indicators in favor of my preference for (2). To wit:
- "Rebuilding" projects that take years in "post-great" jail for teams like SF or Dallas seem to be happening "within-dynasty" for the Pats (although to be fair, SF had an enviably long run)
- The Cassel experience
- The Pats' cap management excellence
- Recent draft success
- The fact that NE's stars tend to dim outside of Foxboro (usually Brady-attributed.)

If (2), then perpetual dominance.... something I can see happening with BB at the helm, even post-Brady. He's had that key piece for 10 years. I don't think (as most here seem to) that Brady is the sine qua non of the modern-era Patriots. That title goes to Bill F Belichick.

 

[Bella*chick]

He's simply the best. No, he's not perfect, but he's much better than anyone else, and by a wide, wide margin. There's no one else in his class right now.

Yes, this exactly. He is a special coach, a once in a lifetime coach. I'm glad it's my lifetime.

 

[borg]

If Belichick became a free agent coach after the season, and he decided to hold an open auction for his services, what kind of crazy money would some of the billionaires throw at him?
Another scenario: BB writes an all inclusive manual,"How to Run and Coach a NFL team" and decides that he only wishes to sell 5 manuals at auction...how much?

 

[DarrylS]

Yes, this exactly. He is a special coach, a once in a lifetime coach. I'm glad it's my lifetime.

Could not agree more, there have been endless diatribes on whether BB or TB is the star of this team.. and could one have achieved success without the other??.

IMO BB saw what he had in Brady and made the choice over Bledsoe.. and the story began. Made many difficult choices.. BB also figured out systems to maximize the the play of the individuals and to mold it into Championship Teams..

Belichick also begot Dimitrof and Pioli..

 

[RobertWeathers]

If Belichick became a free agent coach after the season, and he decided to hold an open auction for his services, what kind of crazy money would some of the billionaires throw at him?
Another scenario: BB writes an all inclusive manual,"How to Run and Coach a NFL team" and decides that he only wishes to sell 5 manuals at auction...how much?

He could name his price in both instances.

 

[djd8960]

If Belichick became a free agent coach after the season, and he decided to hold an open auction for his services, what kind of crazy money would some of the billionaires throw at him?
Another scenario: BB writes an all inclusive manual,"How to Run and Coach a NFL team" and decides that he only wishes to sell 5 manuals at auction...how much?

Belichick wrote a "How to be a Head Coach in the NFL" for Josh McDaniels as a Thank You for not interviewing during the 2008 season when everyone was calling. JM should have studied it a bit harder...

 

[dalero]

If Belichick became a free agent coach after the season, and he decided to hold an open auction for his services, what kind of crazy money would some of the billionaires throw at him?
Another scenario: BB writes an all inclusive manual,"How to Run and Coach a NFL team" and decides that he only wishes to sell 5 manuals at auction...how much?

He all but wrote that book for RAC, Rat, JM, and Weis and they all failed miserably.

 

[Patspsycho]

If Belichick became a free agent coach after the season, and he decided to hold an open auction for his services, what kind of crazy money would some of the billionaires throw at him?
Another scenario: BB writes an all inclusive manual,"How to Run and Coach a NFL team" and decides that he only wishes to sell 5 manuals at auction...how much?

At this point, I doubt it is about the money for him. He knows he would not enjoy the same kind of working relationship that he has with Kraft, which is a very understanding and complimentary one.

Granted a lot of owners will throw the word "autonomy" at BB, but it is still a word, and most of the owners will inevitably put their finger in the pie at one point or another. How can they not? It's their team and they bought it, just like you want to occasionally drive the fancy car you bought, not let a race driver drive it all the time just because it's his profession and he knows how to do it better than you do.

 

[RayClay]

I've seen threads for everyone else on the Pats but I don't think there is a thread to show our love for Bill Belichick. This organization wouldn't be so special if we didn't have Bill. He is a football genius the way he stockpiles draft picks and acquires all the right players and doesn't waste too much money. He thinks about the future and not just today and that is why the Patriots will be a team to fear for many more years. Discuss.

So that's the guy. He's doing a real good job, it's about time he got mentioned.

 

[djd8960]

Belichick wrote a "How to be a Head Coach in the NFL" for Josh McDaniels as a Thank You for not interviewing during the 2008 season when everyone was calling. JM should have studied it a bit harder...

Oops... sorry, the 2007 season.





Josh McDaniels takes Bill Belichick's lessons into Sunday showdown - Jim Trotter - SI.com



Still, perhaps the most important lessons McDaniels learned came in February 2008, two weeks after the Patriots' quest for an undefeated season ended with a 17-14 loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLIII. When the coaches returned from a two-week break, Belichick called McDaniels into his office and handed him a five-page, typed report on what it takes to be an effective coach and have a winning organization.

"I had been talking to Bill for a few years about being a head coach, and after I didn't do any interviews during the bye week in the '07 playoffs he said, 'I will help you in any way I can to get you ready for all the other things that go into the job,'" McDaniels said. "Just being around him every day was going to help me from a football standpoint because I could see what he did and how he did it. But he was saying he would help me with some of the things that you won't really get a chance to witness or understand or become knowledgeable about until you're in that position.

"I remember when we first came back after our break, that very first day, that very first morning, he brought me into his office and he gave me five pages, typed, of all the topics and things that he felt like I needed to be educated about to become an effective head coach. I'm thinking to myself, here he's got 10 or 12 days where he can do whatever in the hell he wants to do -- we've just come off a season where we were 16-0 and lost in the Super Bowl -- and the very first day back he gives me this? That was kind of like my bible."

During the 2008 season, the men met for an hour here, 30 minutes there, until they had addressed every point in the report. From there McDaniels developed 60 to 65 questions of his own that he carried into job interviews with Cleveland and Denver earlier this year.

"When you say where did the questions come from, it was Bill's background," McDaniels said. "He had been a head coach in Cleveland and New England, he was a coordinator in a number of different places, and he understands the salary cap, free agency, the draft, contracts, all that stuff. He gave me as much of that information as I could possibly ask for -- and then he gave me a whole bunch of information that I never would have asked for. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything."



Read more: Josh McDaniels takes Bill Belichick's lessons into Sunday showdown - Jim Trotter - SI.com

 

[Nikolai]

He all but wrote that book for RAC, Rat, JM, and Weis and they all failed miserably.

Well, you can't write a book on creative thinking and a predisposition toward innovation. That's something you're either born with or a mental paradigm that needs to shift. Very few coaches in the NFL have it, and two of those had their teams practicing together this summer.

 

[CheeseMonkeys]

So that's the guy. He's doing a real good job, it's about time he got mentioned.

RayClay, I'm starting to hear that New York accent again.

 

[seven]

If Belichick became a free agent coach after the season, and he decided to hold an open auction for his services, what kind of crazy money would some of the billionaires throw at him?

My buddy worries about everything, I got him going by suggesting
a Jerry Jones type might just offer BB 100 Million.
Jones has just dropped 1500 million on a building,
which has become a very nice place to lose in.
Most of em hate losing, already have large expenses.

The main objection to Jones, we finally agreed, was not money and value.
It was that Jones would not give up control, or still believes
too much in three or four star players as an answer.

The thing is, BB really is in a class of one right now,
it would absolutely change the direction of any franchise.
Is he worth it?
Would he accept?
Who would turn down 100 million?

150 million?

Great, Now I am worried about it...

 

[RayClay]

RayClay, I'm starting to hear that New York accent again.

You don't know me well enough to slander me like that. I was wearing a "Yankees Suck" T-Shirt before you were born, possibly. Unless you remember Bill Lee and Thurmon Munson, that is.

If the first tight end you remember was Tony Romeo, then I apologize.

That Belichick guy is no Mike Holovak, that's all I'm saying.

 

[RobertWeathers]

So that's the guy. He's doing a real good job, it's about time he got mentioned.

Puleze. We all know Ernie Adams is the real Dark Lord of the Sith.

 

[JMarr]

Oops... sorry, the 2007 season.





Josh McDaniels takes Bill Belichick's lessons into Sunday showdown - Jim Trotter - SI.com

When the coaches returned from a two-week break, Belichick called McDaniels into his office and handed him a five-page, typed report on what it takes to be an effective coach and have a winning organization.

"I had been talking to Bill for a few years about being a head coach, and after I didn't do any interviews during the bye week in the '07 playoffs he said, 'I will help you in any way I can to get you ready for all the other things that go into the job,'" McDaniels said. "Just being around him every day was going to help me from a football standpoint because I could see what he did and how he did it. But he was saying he would help me with some of the things that you won't really get a chance to witness or understand or become knowledgeable about until you're in that position.

"I remember when we first came back after our break, that very first day, that very first morning, he brought me into his office and he gave me five pages, typed, of all the topics and things that he felt like I needed to be educated about to become an effective head coach. I'm thinking to myself, here he's got 10 or 12 days where he can do whatever in the hell he wants to do -- we've just come off a season where we were 16-0 and lost in the Super Bowl -- and the very first day back he gives me this? That was kind of like my bible."


Read more: Josh McDaniels takes Bill Belichick's lessons into Sunday showdown - Jim Trotter - SI.com

LOL. McDaniels "I didn't do any interviews during the bye week of the playoffs." What a trooper. Man you gotta respect a 30 year old asst. coach who wants props for doing his job.

Belichick's and McDaniels' personalities and overall outlook couldn't be more different. It wouldn't surprise me if BB was truly happy to see McD go out on his own. Maybe he really did want to send Bowlen's team back to the dark ages, and gave Josh a [very long] blueprint on how to do it