Mike Lombardi - Sunday at the Post

[MoLewisrocks]

The National Football Post | Sunday At The Post

Some interesting notes, observations, and links to interesting reads.

I read last week that Vikings head coach Brad Childress said that he thought the Patriots were prepared to take Percy Harvin right behind them had the Vikings not selected him at No. 22. From my talks with people who know what NE was thinking, they indicated to me that the Pats were inclined to move down all the way in the draft, and if a few selected defensive players made it to them, they might stay and consider making the pick. New England did not like the first round of the draft for the past month and never had any intention of moving up, only down, which is what it did.

LEADERSHIP IMPROVEMENT IDEA…

From the University of Florida Football Coaching Clinic, which featured New England head coach Bill Belichick and former Bucs coach Jon Gruden. Here are notes from the clinic:

BILL BELICHICK NOTES

Get people in your program that you can trust. Have a strong core.
Coach the team every week.
§ 15-30 minutes every day talking about and showing the team what we are going to do to be successful.

There is no I in Team. There is an I in WIN. It is about individual performance. Everyone do your job.
Always start with special teams.
§ Ball handling.

§ No penalties.

Uses plays to show his players – your team, other teams.
§ Discipline and judgment.

§ Need to know right and wrong plays.

Expect and Demand.
How to stop players, plays, critical plays. What are we going to do? How are we going to defend it?
Is everyone trying to do what we ask them to do?
Emphasizing Fundamentals:
WR Coach tells the players two things each week:
1. Get open.

2. Catch the ball.

The Patriots do not beat themselves.
Your team has to be adaptable. Every team you play is different.
When putting in a play he asks these two questions:
1. What is the upside on this play?

2. Why are we running it?

And this:

ARTICLES YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THAT AREN’T WORTH MISSING…

I had a long flight to Los Angeles and bought a few magazines to read for the long journey. One magazine that caught my eye was Vanity Fair with Super Model and wife of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen on the cover. This article offers tremendous insight into the Brady-Bundchen relationship and why they’re both successful.

There is a link to the entire 4 page piece which mentions the fact that they had in fact not become engaged at Christmas or New Years, they'd actually been engaged for some time and she chose not to wear her ring to maintain their privacy...

Not to mention a totally OT link to a great Bill simmons article on the Celtics first round series thru game 6...

 

[Wax Frog]

Nice to see my long suspicion about designed-to-'morph' rosters confirmed in writing, via that adaptability note.

 

[mayoclinic]

Nice excerpt. I especially like the first line about getting people you can trust and building a strong team core. I assume it applies to players, coaches, scouts, executives, all the way through the organization.

We seem to be building a really strong core group of young players who will be leaders of this team for the next 5+ years. Guys like Mayo and Welker are phenomenal additions not just in terms of ability but in terms of mentality and leadership. I fully expect Patrick Chung to be another core guy.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

There is a link to the entire 4 page piece which mentions the fact that they had in fact not become engaged at Christmas or New Years, they'd actually been engaged for some time and she chose not to wear her ring to maintain their privacy...

Reading that article, I guess Brady became Gisele's binky.

 

[condon84]

Reading that article, I guess Brady became Gisele's binky.

This is the ultimate win for Brady!

 

[Canada's #1 Pats Fan]

Childress is an idiot! Plain and simple.

 

[Gwedd]

Childress is an idiot! Plain and simple.

Isn't the word "Idiot" just NFL slang for "Childress?" :singing: