Are you smarter than Bill Belichick?

[Michael]

To those who think they know as much or more than BB, what the hell are you doing not making millions coaching in the NFL or at least college?

 

[BennyBledsoe]

I don't think he's perfect but I would hope someone almost exactly twice my age who's spent more than half their life coaching football would know more than I do.

If not, that's pretty pathetic.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Of course I know more about football than BB. My Madden team is awesome...

I kid, I kid.

I do think that people are a bit unrealistic in their expectations. 3 Super Bowls will do that I suppose. BB has made mistakes, and will continue to make mistakes. Everyone does. But I think, more than most coaches, he is willing to re-assess and re-think things.

He's a lot different coach than when he took over the Cleveland Browns. And he's a lot different coach today than his first few seasons in New England. He's grown, changed, made mistakes along the way, but I think he's getting better.

So I don't like when people think pointing out some of BB's mistakes proves he's a horrible talent evaluator or a horrible coach. The simple truth, which most of us forget, is that he is human, and he will make mistakes. With hindsight, it's easy to look back and point out anyone's shortcomings and errors. But overall, compared to all of the other coaches out there, I'll gladly take our guy.

 

[bucky]

I disagree with that. I think people are so upset about this season is because the fact the Pats have Belichick and the expectations are so high every year. With Belichick, we all expect that the Pats will win the Super Bowl and anything else is failure.

If Pete Carroll or someone else was coaching this team and the Pats didn't have the success they had in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2007; people would be satisfied with a 10-6 season and winning the division. Expectations would be far lower without Belichick and his three rings.

I don't see how anybody could be satisfied with a season that ends with your team getting blown out at home in the first round of the playoffs.

Or when you have one of the greatest QBs of all time and end up going 10-6.

Or when you get outscored in the second half of 10 of your games.

Or being 4-4 in your last 8 regular season games.

Or when your team goes from being in the Superbowl, to going 11-5 and missing the playoffs without your star QB, to going 10-6 and losing in the 1st round.

Those are all Pete Carroll-like trends and I don't think too many people on this board would be "satisfied" with it.

 

[Kontradiction]

I don't see how anybody could be satisfied with a season that ends with your team getting blown out at home in the first round of the playoffs.

Or when you have one of the greatest QBs of all time and end up going 10-6.

Or when you get outscored in the second half of 10 of your games.

Or being 4-4 in your last 8 regular season games.

Or when your team goes from being in the Superbowl, to going 11-5 and missing the playoffs without your star QB, to going 10-6 and losing in the 1st round.

Those are all Pete Carroll-like trends and I don't think too many people on this board would be "satisfied" with it.

For one reason or another, there are quite a few people on this forum that are satisfied with that result. I'm not one of them. This team has a lot of work to do.

 

[Deus Irae]

I disagree with that. I think people are so upset about this season is because the fact the Pats have Belichick and the expectations are so high every year. With Belichick, we all expect that the Pats will win the Super Bowl and anything else is failure.

If Pete Carroll or someone else was coaching this team and the Pats didn't have the success they had in 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2007; people would be satisfied with a 10-6 season and winning the division. Expectations would be far lower without Belichick and his three rings.

When Carroll came in and took over for Parcells, nobody I know, and I mean nobody, was satisfied when he went 10-6 in his first year. Most of my friends wanted him fired after his first season.

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

I don't see how anybody could be satisfied with a season that ends with your team getting blown out at home in the first round of the playoffs.

Or when you have one of the greatest QBs of all time and end up going 10-6.

Or when you get outscored in the second half of 10 of your games.

Or being 4-4 in your last 8 regular season games.

Or when your team goes from being in the Superbowl, to going 11-5 and missing the playoffs without your star QB, to going 10-6 and losing in the 1st round.

.

Maybe because some of us were fans before 2001. One person posted last year was BB's worst year as a coach of NE, that is flat out false --- it was 2000, he went 5-11.

How can I be satisfied? Easy -- I was a fan in 1990.

 

[Deus Irae]

Maybe because some of us were fans before 2001. One person posted last year was BB's worst year as a coach of NE, that is flat out false --- it was 2000, he went 5-11.

How can I be satisfied? Easy -- I was a fan in 1990.

I've been a fan since the 1970's. I, too, was a fan in 1990. I wasn't satisfied with last season.

 

[Kontradiction]

Maybe because some of us were fans before 2001. One person posted last year was BB's worst year as a coach of NE, that is flat out false --- it was 2000, he went 5-11.

How can I be satisfied? Easy -- I was a fan in 1990.

If you're satisfied with playing mediocre football, blowing second half leads all season, then getting badly blown out by a team playing without a starting quarterback in the first round of the playoffs (at home, no less), then all the power to ya. I was around in 1990, but was only 5 years old so I don't remember those days. However, I do remember the mid to late 90's and worse teams than this one. I was not, in the least bit, satisfied with last season. In my opinion, if you are satisfied with anything less than a Super Bowl as a fan, then you probably shouldn't be watching football.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Pete Carroll never won a superbowl here. Never even went to one. Bill took us to 4 in the 10 years he's been here, and we won 3 and were within 2 minutes of winning them all. No other team in the salary cap era has come close to that.

If Belichick is the one who brought in the players that aren't good enough to get to the QB, how is it not his fault?

Because selection isn't an exact science and I don't know how some of you came to the conclusion that it is. Bill is always quick to remind us that until a player is evaluated within any system it's just an educated guess he will be able to play in it. And even if he can, that's no guarantee he will because **** happens. Guys lose focus, guys skills diminish - some gradually and some as if they hit a freakin' wall. Guys get hurt and some develop durability issues. Some talk a good game and when push comes to shove you find out they're full of it. Some guys are products of another system or the talent that surrounds them or the lack of talent they face in college. Others, while less impressive, turn out to be football players - the glue that binds talent into teams. No way to predict how most selections will turn out. So you make the best decisions you can for the football team based on your experience and the information at your disposal and hope everyone holds up their end or lives up to their potential or or is at least competent enough and willing enough to do some damn job well enough to contribute. And if your lucky for every guy who doesn't there will be a guy who does and occasionally another who exceeds your expectations. It all balances out over time.

Kind of like the cap. Belichick's been doing this at a high level for 30 years. 2009 is akin to what Miguel characterizes his cap #'s as, a snapshot in time. And it's based on what he can gleen from secondary sources because he doesn't have any inside information or first hand knowledge of what contracts entail or teams are thinking. No one on an internet message board or media blog or radio station knows what the hell is going on beneath the surface as this team attempts to construct a roster and teambuild for each season.

To criticize something you can't possibly understand, let alone to do so as adamantly as some here and in the media do, says more about the critic than it does about the object of their criticism. Ditto the entitled fans Belichick's genius helped create who have become as a result frontrunners. They lost sight a while ago of what being an NFL fan entails let alone guarantees... No one is saying you have to be satisfied or happy with not winning it all every season, just that you should be realistic and appreciate than no team does and no team has won more in this decade, and in the case of some of you your lifetime as an NFL fan (Kontra).

 

[upstater1]

I don't think he's perfect but I would hope someone almost exactly twice my age who's spent more than half their life coaching football would know more than I do.

If not, that's pretty pathetic.

You could add Methusalh's age to Rip Van Winkle's and multiply that by 100 and then add the combine ages of everyone on this board, and we wouldn't know as much as Belichick.

That's because we'd be bored. We'd stop after 100 years.

 

[Deus Irae]

Because selection isn't an exact science and I don't know how some of you came to the conclusion that it is. Bill is always quick to remind us that until a player is evaluated within any system it's just an educated guess he will be able to play in it. And even if he can, that's no guarantee he will because **** happens. Guys lose focus, guys skills diminish - some gradually and some as if they hit a freakin' wall. Guys get hurt and some develop durability issues. Some talk a good game and when push comes to shove you find out they're full of it. Some guys are products of another system or the talent that surrounds them or the lack of talent they face in college. Others, while less impressive, turn out to be football players - the glue that binds talent into teams. No way to predict how most selections will turn out. So you make the best decisions you can for the football team based on your experience and the information at your disposal and hope everyone holds up their end or lives up to their potential or or is at least competent enough and willing enough to do some damn job well enough to contribute. And if your lucky for every guy who doesn't there will be a guy who does and occasionally another who exceeds your expectations. It all balances out over time.

The man who picks the players is responsible for picking the right players. If he screws it up, he's the one on the hook. The fact that the Patriots had no middle push on passing plays, and the fact that the team could almost never get any pressure without bringing the blitz, are two things for which Belichick is completely to blame. It's not the fault of the players that they aren't good enough as a collective group. It's the fault of the GM who thought they were.

Kind of like the cap. Belichick's been doing this at a high level for 30 years. 2009 is akin to what Miguel characterizes his cap #'s as, a snapshot in time. And it's based on what he can gleen from secondary sources because he doesn't have any inside information or first hand knowledge of what contracts entail or teams are thinking. No one on an internet message board or media blog or radio station knows what the hell is going on beneath the surface as this team attempts to construct a roster and teambuild for each season.

And yet you tell us all, in post after post, what Belichick is thinking, doing, feeling, eating, drinking, singing while in the shower, etc... You probably speculate on this sort of stuff more than anyone else on the board, yet you're posting this.

To criticize something you can't possibly understand, let alone to do so as adamantly as some here and in the media do, says more about the critic than it does about the object of their criticism. Ditto the entitled fans Belichick's genius helped create who have become as a result frontrunners. They lost sight a while ago of what being an NFL fan entails let alone guarantees... No one is saying you have to be satisfied or happy with not winning it all every season, just that you should be realistic and appreciate than no team does and no team has won more in this decade, and in the case of some of you your lifetime as an NFL fan (Kontra).

No, it really doesn't tell you much about the critic at all. And the notion that people can't understand what's happening is just asinine.

 

[bucky]

Maybe because some of us were fans before 2001. One person posted last year was BB's worst year as a coach of NE, that is flat out false --- it was 2000, he went 5-11.

How can I be satisfied? Easy -- I was a fan in 1990.

I'm the one who said it was BB's worst year here. I was not talking about the record. I was talking about his performance as a coach and head of football operations - his personnel decisions, in-game coaching decisions, coaching staff, how much he got out of the players that were here. Plenty to critique in all those areas. Plain and simple, this team underachieved.

And by the way, I've been a Patriots fan since Ron Meyer was here. And the only coach I respected as much as BB (and still do) was Parcells. But at this point, you gotta call them as you see them. I think if you gave BB some truth serum, he would tell you he had a bad year.