Virtual Belichick?

It is fun but difficult to don the virtual persona of Bill Belichick and view the Patriots from his eyes.

Lets look at the WR situation from his perspective.

Last year he had three established vets and a needed depth. The probelm was made more urgent when his deep receiver signed with the Skins for ridiculous money.

How did he address the problem? He had two developmental players; one with phenomenal physical skillls in BJ; one with size and speed in PK. Neither had developed yet. He also brought in a passel of veterans and tried to add depth that way.

PK never developed. BJ just didn't get it. The veterans he brought in including David Terrell, and TO's SF clone, showed why they were busts. He traded for Andre Davis and brought in tiny Tim Dwight. So when all was said and done, he had Branch, Givens and occasionally Dwight and Troy Brown, for all that effort.

This year Givens wanted more than a fair sized possesssion WR, without superior speed, was judged to be worth. He gave up on the developmental types. He let the older marginal vets, Davis and Dwight to leave.

He signed a former high pick who WAS developing untill injury intervened. Reche Caldwell could be the answer. But Bill thinks "Never depend on any ONE guy". He drafted a WR high who seem to have it all, hands, size, speed and apparently the mental qualities that BJ couldn't muster.

Belichick contemplates what he will have in 2006 and certainly 2007 and beyond at WR. Two young star WRs either of which is a true #1 type in Branch and Jackson, and a potentially solid young veteran fully capable of being a solid #2 and posssibly a near #1 as he was drafted in Caldwell. troy will add depth in 2006 and a newcomer will be added in 2007, or a PS type might shine like Givens did.

In the end Belichick thinks he will have three high quality WRs and will have substantially upgraded the position.

Re: Virtual Bellichik?

Nothing personal, but I feel embarrassed to see a thread title with the name of our head coach misspelled.

Can you edit it?

Re: Virtual Bellichik?

He SAID virtual

Re: Virtual Bellichik?

Lets look at the LB situation from Bill Belichick's viewpoint.

He has a complicated Defense that depends on intelligent and experienced LB play. His two-gap philosophy requires that they possess substantial size to take on Guards. Why? Because his Defense says stop the run.

First, Last, and Always, stop the run. Any opponent, including the good clubs cannot dictate the pace of a game without a balanced Offense. Deny the run and they become predictable.

Feel free to yield garbage passing yards. Keep the play in front of the Defenders and make the Offense march long distances with many plays without being able to grind successful yardage on the ground. Eventually they will mess up or yield a big play to stop these marches.

He has been lucky being able to import veteran LBs who could play. Cox, Phifer et cetera. But many teams are going 3-4 and sucking up the pick of the veterans he used to have to himself or share with Cower's Steelers. So he must find another source.

What can he trade off? The LBs can be slower. But for these slower men, to be able to play the Defense successfully, each slower player must have a smaller area of the field to defend.

How can they do this?

Only by discipline and anticipation. Discipline to cover their assignment and not adventure, and good coaching to get an extra step by recognizing the play before the snap is even given. Good diagnostic play-calling is a fundamental requirement. And he lost it with Tedy & TJ's loss.

The time to rebuild the LBing position started last season. It started with letting Phife retire. Unexpectedly TJ was forced into retirement. Tedy had a mini-stroke and was lost for half a season. Adding Brown and young Beisel could handle the Phife retirement, and Tedy's injury, but not TJ's loss as well. It took lots of experimentation to find that Beisel was eventually getting it but was not a play calling Mike man. TBC needed another year of experience, before he would be ready. Brown was done. Willie played well but only in spurts. The end for Willie started to show. Vrabel the future Coach, showed he could play inside and call plays,so he would be penciled in as Tedy's eventual replacement.

One of the three pleasant discoveries of 2005 was that the future Mike man after Tedy has been identified in Vrabel. Colvin's play was even more encouraging; he is fully back to what he was. Tedy came back non the worse but age is ticking.

Bellichik sized up the problem. He could draft a LB high, and probably would liked to have done so, but he wouldn't reach. The cupboard was bare by his pick, so he decided to upgrade the offensive skill positions. On Defense he could have brought in a couple of vets like Lavar Arrington or Donnie Edwards. O he could trade for someone like Cowart or Takeo, but he didn't.

Why?

I suspect that he judged the worst of the LB transition was behind him.

Beisel was broken in to the Defense. he struggled,got hurt but hung in and started to catch on. TBC showed possibilities for either future starting ability or certainly prime reserve capability. That made Chatham expendable to clear his way. He knows that any young player will need three or four years of learning to play his Defense so he drafted a possibility for tomorrow and focused on the youngsters he had. TBC, Beisel, Claridge, and Alexander.

Looking forward a few years his LB corps will be Vrabel as the inside Mike man and play caller. Colvin will be the prime OLB. Beisel and or TBC will be contributors and maybe Mincey and Claridge will be important players. New talent will be added next draft, but drafting and playing may be separated by a few years of occasional spot play, and patient teaching and learning.

Bellichik made no substantial changes because he had already in 2005 bit the bullet, and he judged that the situation was improving not deteriorating.

Comments?

Re: Virtual Bellichik?

Months ago, i may have been the first poster to surmise that BB felt that he held a "pat" hand at LB.
So that part i'm comfortable with.

But the larger smooth flow of everything being under control
at both positions
is more than i am comfortable believing.
They have to do damage control sometimes in Foxboro too, just like anywhere else.

(Not sure i made myself clear with this. Sorry.)

Re: Virtual Bellichik?

AzPatsFan said:

Lets look at the LB situation from Bill Belichick's viewpoint.

He has a complicated Defense that depends on intelligent and experienced LB play. His two-gap philosophy requires that they possess substantial size to take on Guards. Why? Because his Defense says stop the run.

First, Last, and Always, stop the run. Any opponent, including the good clubs cannot dictate the pace of a game without a balanced Offense. Deny the run and they become predictable.

Feel free to yield garbage passing yards. Keep the play in front of the Defenders and make the Offense march long distances with many plays without being able to grind successful yardage on the ground. Eventually they will mess up or yield a big play to stop these marches.

He has been lucky being able to import veteran LBs who could play. Cox, Phifer et cetera. But many teams are going 3-4 and sucking up the pick of the veterans he used to have to himself or share with Cower's Steelers. So he must find another source.

What can he trade off? The LBs can be slower. But for these slower men, to be able to play the Defense successfully, each slower player must have a smaller area of the field to defend.

How can they do this?

Only by discipline and anticipation. Discipline to cover their assignment and not adventure, and good coaching to get an extra step by recognizing the play before the snap is even given. Good diagnostic play-calling is a fundamental requirement. And he lost it with Tedy & TJ's loss.

The time to rebuild the LBing position started last season. It started with letting Phife retire. Unexpectedly TJ was forced into retirement. Tedy had a mini-stroke and was lost for half a season. Adding Brown and young Beisel could handle the Phife retirement, and Tedy's injury, but not TJ's loss as well. It took lots of experimentation to find that Beisel was eventually getting it but was not a play calling Mike man. TBC needed another year of experience, before he would be ready. Brown was done. Willie played well but only in spurts. The end for Willie started to show. Vrabel the future Coach, showed he could play inside and call plays,so he would be penciled in as Tedy's eventual replacement.

One of the three pleasant discoveries of 2005 was that the future Mike man after Tedy has been identified in Vrabel. Colvin's play was even more encouraging; he is fully back to what he was. Tedy came back non the worse but age is ticking.

Bellichik sized up the problem. He could draft a LB high, and probably would liked to have done so, but he wouldn't reach. The cupboard was bare by his pick, so he decided to upgrade the offensive skill positions. On Defense he could have brought in a couple of vets like Lavar Arrington or Donnie Edwards. O he could trade for someone like Cowart or Takeo, but he didn't.

Why?

I suspect that he judged the worst of the LB transition was behind him.

Beisel was broken in to the Defense. he struggled,got hurt but hung in and started to catch on. TBC showed possibilities for either future starting ability or certainly prime reserve capability. That made Chatham expendable to clear his way. He knows that any young player will need three or four years of learning to play his Defense so he drafted a possibility for tomorrow and focused on the youngsters he had. TBC, Beisel, Claridge, and Alexander.

Looking forward a few years his LB corps will be Vrabel as the inside Mike man and play caller. Colvin will be the prime OLB. Beisel and or TBC will be contributors and maybe Mincey and Claridge will be important players. New talent will be added next draft, but drafting and playing may be separated by a few years of occasional spot play, and patient teaching and learning.

Bellichik made no substantial changes because he had already in 2005 bit the bullet, and he judged that the situation was improving not deteriorating.

Comments?

Click to expand...

Excellent analysis. I was with you all the way up to Vrabel staying on the inside. He's the only guy who can replace Willie as a starter. Someone else is going to have to take the TJ role.

Re: Virtual Bellichik?

jczxohn1 said:

Excellent analysis. I was with you all the way up to Vrabel staying on the inside. He's the only guy who can replace Willie as a starter. Someone else is going to have to take the TJ role.

Click to expand...

Perhaps I did not maker myself clear. I do not beleive that Vrabel, 30, will be an ILB anytime soon, save for injury.

I tried to say that when Bruschii 33, gets old, in a year or three, Vrabel has been identified as an experienced starter who can diagnose and call the plays. In effect the defensive play-caller.

To do that job, you must be in the center of the field, so players on both edges can hear your calls. I meant to say that Bruschii's eventual successor is "Coach on the field", Mike Vrabel, circa 2008 or 2009.

AZPatsFan,

Excellent posts!!!

:eat1:

Great post AZ.

However, I too beleive MV will take Willies spot on the outside.

Re: Virtual Bellichik?

In a virtual view of the Linebacker situation, I said that 2005, not 2006, was the Year of LB Transition.

Right now the LB crew is Bruschii 33, Vrabel 30, Colvin 29, and Beisel 26, backed up by TBC 25, Claridge 23, Izzo 32, Don Davis 33, Gardner 29, Alexander 24, and rookies Mincey, Roach, and Woods.

Everyone says it old and lacks depth.

But lets consider Izzo 32, and Davis 33. Neither is actually a LB backup, although both have occasionally seen spot duties in a few plays. They are actually, ST and locker room leaders, Davis more so than Izzo.

If both players lost their ST jobs to say other ST specialists, Mitchell and Tebuckey, just how old would the line backing actually be? It would NOT change a single position about who would play, and who would actually backup as a Linebacker, but the LB corps would have one 33 year old and a single 30 year old.

The entire rest of the corps would be UNDER age thirty.

Now it might not be as talented as desired, but the top five or six, Bruschi, Vrabel, Colvin, Beisel, TBC, and Gardner are all multi-year veterans; all have actually started games in the League, and except for Gardner have experience in the Patriot system of Defense. Bt no one would say it is too old.

It is not inconceivable that either or both Izzo and/or Davis could be cut and replaced on their ST play. It might be more likely that Davis stays for his locker room leadership given that Willie has left, but its possible for both to make way for younger, faster legs on ST.