As a student, historian, innovator, and the greatest practitioner of the game of football, Belichick might have had an epiphany after one of the most gut-wrenching losses of his career, the 2006 AFCCG. "The" Game might have finally forced him to realize that the game has passed him by, not as a person, but the style that had been the foundation of his long career: suffocating defense (that wins championship), QB who needs not be dazzling but smart enough to manage and not lose the game (a la Phil Simms and Hostetler), and journeyman receivers (Phil-who McConkey’s of the world).
What makes him great is his willingness to learn and adapt. He does not rest on his early claim to fame in defeating Montana and Rice, Kelly and Reed, and later Warner and Faulk, Manning and Harrison. He might have decided that after all, he no longer had an LT or Banks, nor the rule that allowed Jim Burd knocking out Montana, or Ty Law and Milloy harassing receivers.
Instead, he might just accept that he has a Montana, so he may as well adapt and find Rice’s of the world for his Montana. The results are Moss, Welker, and Stallworth. His praise of Moss:
(http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/11/20/moss_on_receiving_end_of_praise/)
must be the most effusive and sincere accolade that anyone can ever expect him to bestow upon his current players in public. Perhaps for the first time in his career, he knows what Walsh must have felt like and decides to play Walsh’s hand of cards. Probably in 30 yrs of his football coaching career, he has never had the joy of having receivers like Moss, and most of all, the Brady-Moss combination. The defense guru now has transformed into the offense swami. He has gone from trying to win 12-9 defensive battles to 56-10 crushing, and being accused of running up the score that he has always disdained in his early career.
How can a person manage to have both a defense game plan in the HOF, and the greatest offensive machine that will be in the HOF?
Can’t wait to read his magnum opus when he hangs it all up.
What makes him great is his willingness to learn and adapt. He does not rest on his early claim to fame in defeating Montana and Rice, Kelly and Reed, and later Warner and Faulk, Manning and Harrison. He might have decided that after all, he no longer had an LT or Banks, nor the rule that allowed Jim Burd knocking out Montana, or Ty Law and Milloy harassing receivers.
Instead, he might just accept that he has a Montana, so he may as well adapt and find Rice’s of the world for his Montana. The results are Moss, Welker, and Stallworth. His praise of Moss:
(http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/11/20/moss_on_receiving_end_of_praise/)
must be the most effusive and sincere accolade that anyone can ever expect him to bestow upon his current players in public. Perhaps for the first time in his career, he knows what Walsh must have felt like and decides to play Walsh’s hand of cards. Probably in 30 yrs of his football coaching career, he has never had the joy of having receivers like Moss, and most of all, the Brady-Moss combination. The defense guru now has transformed into the offense swami. He has gone from trying to win 12-9 defensive battles to 56-10 crushing, and being accused of running up the score that he has always disdained in his early career.
How can a person manage to have both a defense game plan in the HOF, and the greatest offensive machine that will be in the HOF?
Can’t wait to read his magnum opus when he hangs it all up.
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