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People are going want to fire belichick because they long to see successful people fail so they can feel more content with their miserable lives.
I think the most reasonable answer is that Legarm Newton acted mature and professional and earned respect and opportunity while Stidham acted like an immature child and never gained any confidence or trust.
Everything counts.
Dear Sir, I am compelled to thrown down my glove and challenge you to a duel. Comparing Belicik to Fisher is an insult that cannot go un-challenged
He has the highest win/loss percentage and most playoff victories in Texan's history. What he did to revive Penn State after the worst scandal in the college's history was nothing short of amazing. He worked with Saban in Alabama... he's the front runner for the job IMO and we should want him.
I am probably a weirdo, but I have really enjoyed the last three seasons of NEP football. I enjoy seeing the team building and the different approaches that BB has tried. I don't need my favorite football team to win a SB, Hunt trophy or a playoff game to enjoy the season. In some ways it is refreshing to not have the GOAT QB and be expected to win a SB every year. Like I said, I'm kinda a weirdo for feeling this way, but it is what it is. Just a football team that I fell in love with in 1975 and I will always find ways to enjoy their season.
Why would you rather be the Rams? This team has better talent and a better coaching staff than the Rams. Also, sucking in the NFL doesn't seem to lead to anything.
I disagreed with not doing what he could have to keep Brady and would have ridden that until the wheels came off. At the same time, it’s not like he did it when Brady was 38. And Brady lasted just three more seasons and solidified his legacy by doing what he did in Tampa.
He gave him an 8 million dollar raise and a 2 year 70 mill extension. Brady asked that the years be voidable and that the franchise tag be waived, while he was allowing Miami to tamper during the investigation.
Brady was given this leeway, he asked for his free agency and got it. Ultimately he was the one who chose to leave and was correct to do so. It was the best move for both player and team.
That's a thoughtful, self-aware post. You always want to win, but were my 30+ years of fanhood pre-Brady/Belichick a waste? No, all the seasons that were in the muddled middle, even the "collapse" seasons, had meaning of their own.
I like that you enjoy analyzing the team building aspects that BB seems to be employing. I gather a lot of those types of opinions about this team through all the fans on this board and then latch on to the info that seems most logical and intelligent to me. The people on this board are my cheat sheet. I really don't have the desire/time to do it myself and I enjoy the extreme differences each fan expresses when analyzing the Patriots (although some posters have definitely frustrated me over the years). I guess my point is (if there is one), I don't feel comfortable determining other people's fandom and I don't really care as long as people are being somewhat respectful to each other when expressing their fandom. It is just a football team that we follow as a form of entertainment and there is very little effect it should have on our day-to-day lives (excluding the game that shall not be named..lol...that still bugs me). Can't wait for TC to start.That's a thoughtful, self-aware post. You always want to win, but were my 30+ years of fanhood pre-Brady/Belichick a waste? No, all the seasons that were in the muddled middle, even the "collapse" seasons, had meaning of their own.
That said, a few things...
- I think we always and habitually overvalue offense over defense, and passing over everything else. And I think in the current world of the NFL, every fan can parrot his sports radio faves and say "it's a passing league," and that covers the why of it. I don't think BB buys it, which is staggering, given that he had a 2-decade ride along with the GOAT. But that said, maybe it proves something if he diminishes the primacy of the position.
- I think that BB is always after whatever contrarian big game he can land. He likes being ready for, and making hay from, secular trends. You can see that from the '21 spending spree. I think it was successful enough... he bought much of the roster for a couple to a few years on deflated cap dollars. But the main thing is, it shows he likes thinking of a way that thinking gives him an edge, especially a way nobody else is going after
- I think this is part of his view of the post-Brady Pats and the post-Brady league. Think of the caponomics if "okay" is good enough in the passing game, when you can devote resources to the defense, the o-line, and the running game. I think he knew he had to feed Brady receivers for as long as he has a Brady, and if a Mac Jones becomes a Brady he'll do it again. But while he's NOT Brady, BB is going to build defense and try to come up with some way for the budget RB stable to excel.
- This also comports with observations of one of the big collapses last year... trying to install an outside zone blocking scheme. He tried to make a radical change that I think was meant to unlock explosive plays at the RB position.
- Side-track: also consider the caponomics of running back by committee. The whole league discovered that 3 RBs gaining 800, 700, and 500 yards respectively, plus TDs and receiving numbers to match, was just as good as one bell cow with a 2000 yard season. Fantasy football guys can laugh and say we got nothin'. Real life is that we are usually top third of the league in running numbers. We didn't invent RBBC, but I think BB was a fan and we were probably influential in it, given that the conventional wisdom in the 90s was that you needed "triplets," a star QB, RB, and WR, to be able to succeed at the SB level.
- Back to 2022: Unfortunately he had a QB coach coaching the O-line (even worse comedown because he was doing it in the wake of Scar,) and he had a DC playing OC. (You tell me wtf that was.)
- But the main thing is... doesn't the change to blocking scheme also look like a move you make if you are moving some emphasis to the run game, from the passing game? Or one of you Xs and Os guys check me on this... what could the OZB (outside zone blocking, not ounce blitz) scheme do for a passing game?
QB thoughts.
This is Mac's low-key hot-seat year. Next year is the holy-crap, do-we-have-to-admit-failure? year. He remains cheap for now. Does he return to a trajectory we'd expect given his rookie numbers? If so, all the doom-and-gloom bets are off. I'm enough of an optimist to see the Patriots in the playoff hunt come December. But I would also not be surprised if Jones is just broken forever. Not everybody has the temperament we've gotten used to at the QB position. Mac's been undercut by coaching in NE. No idea how he'll process that.
I don't think we really know what we've got with him. You want the game to slow down for him... hell, I don't know how that was going to happen given last year's chaos. Honestly. Brady never had to face that much internal ineptitude. I somehow think Brady woulda coulda done more with that situation, but he's the GOAT. We're not hitting that lottery again. And don't forget, he left specifically because he was sick of the "situation" in NE, that is, not enough to buy him the primo targets. He had to go somewhere stocked to make his later years worth it. And good for him - his interests diverged from ours. He got what he needed for his final chapter, an optimal shot at "the next one."
Main takeaway, I think the merry-go-round of super-overvalued passing emphasis appears to be in BB's sights. You have to pay the QB an inordinate amount if he's any good. Then you have to pay WRs an inordinate amount. You also have to put up with the nonsense from the WRs who are head cases, sorry, redundant phrase, they're all head cases. I mean, Terry Glenn, she was pretty good. Man. BB was even ahead of the curve with the whole pronouns thing, but I'm pretty sure that's something people are supposed to apply to themselves...
I think he'll roll with whatever results he does or does not get, but BB thinks a team starting from scratch is best served going defense first, with a fair passing game (it can't actively stink,) and a good running game, but a great running game through a standout individual back is a luxury we can't sustain.
So anyway, yeah, I always find stuff to get interested in too... would love to see progress this year, but I'm with you. Being a fan in bad years makes the good years better. The guys who jumped on the bandwagon in 01 and jumped off around 06, and the ones who jumped off and bought Tampa gear, don't know what they're missing.
They coulda been Patriots fans... they weren't, not really. They were fan-adjacent
I really thought the defense was a great example of "team building". That unit was a huge building block for this year. Also, this is probably a weird concept to think about as a positive, but I fell the terrible line play may have really helped with Mac's development going forward. the game was speeded up a siht ton and he was forced to read defenses better, mainly for self-preservation. I'm not saying it was intentional, but I am hoping it pays dividends this coming season. Humans tend to learn hard lessons through mistakes, there were lots of mistakes last year and based off of BB's track record I have faith in him to correct many of them going forward. Always an optimist/homer...it will always be my preferred way to enjoy my sports teams.
