WSJ - The Only Coach Who Can Stop Gronk: His Own

bbobbo · Jan 21, 2016

slightly over-the-top praise for belichick, but nice to read positive stories about the patriots:

The Only Coach Who Can Stop Gronk: His Own

“I look at it every week and I say: ‘Why doesn’t anyone do what Belichick did to me?’ said Tony Gonzalez, considered the greatest tight end of all time, now an analyst for CBS Sports.

Rival players and coaches are in awe of Belichick’s knack for taking tight ends out of the game. Gonzalez said no one was more effective at minimizing his impact than Belichick, whose Patriots face the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday. When star tight end Jimmy Graham, then with the Saints, came into Foxboro in 2013 with a four-game 100-yard game streak, the Patriots held him to zero catches and zero yards—the first time in NFL history that such a streak was broken up with a zero-catch game. Last Saturday, Travis Kelce, the Chiefs’ star tight end, was held to 23 yards just one week after getting 128 yards on the Texans in the wild card playoff round.

Since 2000, only three teams have allowed fewer touchdowns to tight ends than the New England Patriots, according to Stats LLC.

“A lot of defensive coordinators are dumb and they outthink themselves. It’s absolutely incredible,” said Rodney Harrison, the former Patriots safety who is now an analyst for NBC Sports. “You know there is one guy who you can’t allow to score a touchdown at the goalline, and you are putting a strong safety or a linebacker on him. It’s dumb and it’s why you see so many coaches get fired.”

Harrison said Belichick first showed glimpses of his talent for taking out tight ends when he was tinkering with the Patriot defense in the early 2000s. “He changed the game,” Harrison said. Belichick moved Eugene Wilson from cornerback to safety and used Harrison in coverage, which allowed the team to stay in their base defense (and not add extra defensive backs) while defending against formations with three wide receivers and a tight end.

Belichick hasn’t strayed much from that philosophy. Current safety Devin McCourty has played cornerback as well, and strong safety Patrick Chung is adept at covering tight ends, something Harrison said is crucial, albeit relatively simple. “[Other coaches] want to come up with some crazy elaborate scheme, but you aren’t taking away their No. 1 priority. Harrison said. “I see it each and every week.”

kevin clark of the WSJ seems to like the patriots. he also wrote that earlier article about brady's games of catch:

Look Out! Tom Brady Wants to Play Catch

i wonder if he's friendly with gonzalez. or maybe he sat down for a long interview with him and is stretching that into a couple of different articles.

NYCPatsFan · Jan 21, 2016

Nice one, thanks for the link!

I might be wrong, but thought Tony also praised us (and BB) when he was on Inside the NFL a few weeks back. Maybe there was an extended version of it? I think that particular segment focused on the TE and Tony graciously acknowledged that Gronk was the one along with most on the show.

(Brandon Marshal in his usual anti-Pats stance refused to admit the truth, but he did a great act by insisting that Tony was the greatest.)

WSJ - The Only Coach Who Can Stop Gronk: His Own

bbobbo

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NYCPatsFan

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