Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the link

[supafly]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

This is a common practice. My boss' son was a wide receiver for UCLA back in the late 90's. Big kid and fast too. Made a career out of jumping from team to team pretending to be Randy Moss.

I'm sure that other coaches have attempted to do the same thing, but when you have that much success, you tend to get the bigger WSJ articles written about you

 

[PP2]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

Huard wasn't nearly as good of a quarterback as Manning was in 2004 but he still helped the team by simulating him.

I bet his shoulders were sore the next day from all that flapping.

 

[borg]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

Here is a great article from the Wall St Journal as it pertains to Belichick's moves made on the practice squad to help simulate real game players. It proves that he continues to be a step ahead in his use of all 61 slots, and provides an insight on why they so often change.

It was the reason why we brought in Orton a couple of weeks ago, as his 6'3" frame is exactly the same as Demarius Thomas. It would seem that Belichick was indeed thinking ahead a bit in terms of us moving ahead of IND and facing DEN in the conference championship.

Another move was the decision to bring in Sam McGuffie right at the end of the season, who was an exact clone for RB Jamaal Charles at 5'10" 200 lbs. It is interesting to hear of all of the reasons why fans believe that some of these players can be the "next big thing" here, but the reality is that their stay will probably be a short one more often than not.

Ian originally posted a link to the article yesterday on the home page, so he gets the credit here. I was concerned that such a great view on this practice may not get the attention that it deserved, and that it may get lost in the shuffle. Enjoy!

Why Bill Belichick Really Is a Mad Scientist - WSJ.com

If McGuffie is "an exact clone" of Charles, why do 1696 players make it on 53 man rosters but not McGuffie?
As far as practicing against a tall WR....why just pack a little plaster of paris on top of the helmet of a short statured WR who actually has receiving skills? Or have the WR carry around one of those paddles the coaches wave in front of the QB?
Does BB get lauded for the foresight of using two-ply TP as well?

 

[MassPats38]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

If McGuffie is "an exact clone" of Charles, why do 1696 players make it on 53 man rosters but not McGuffie?
As far as practicing against a tall WR....why just pack a little plaster of paris on top of the helmet of a short statured WR who actually has receiving skills? Or have the WR carry around one of those paddles the coaches wave in front of the QB?
Does BB get lauded for the foresight of using two-ply TP as well?

I'm not sure if you're being humorous here.

The fact that a player can mimic certain characteristics for purposes of game planning does not make him a starting, NFL caliber player. Practice squad players likely do not possess the entire skill set of All Pro players, or they would be playing in the NFL. This is comparable to boxers, when preparing for an upcoming opponent, sparring against heavier, stronger opponents to prepare for size and strength, or smaller, quicker boxers to prepare for speed. That doesn't make the sparring opponents world champions in their own right.

As for the recommendations, feel free to submit them to BB but not sure how those expand the reach of the receiver or make the defensive backs aware of that reach. You may as well suggest having them run on stilts. Probably as valid a suggestion.

The article lauds BB's foresight and attention to detail. Given all the former players who praise him for the level of coaching in contrast to other coaches, if there is another team out there that works at this level, feel free to offer examples.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

I'm not sure if you're being humorous here.

Nope, he's being snarky. Borg is the king of the Trolls and it really burns his ass that Belichick would be getting any praise anywhere. If you pay attention you will see that he has absolutely no interest in ever talking about football and only pops his head out from under the tunnel to take snarky little cheap shots like the one he posted here.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

If McGuffie is "an exact clone" of Charles, why do 1696 players make it on 53 man rosters but not McGuffie?
As far as practicing against a tall WR....why just pack a little plaster of paris on top of the helmet of a short statured WR who actually has receiving skills? Or have the WR carry around one of those paddles the coaches wave in front of the QB?
Does BB get lauded for the foresight of using two-ply TP as well?

You must be so bummed out that the Patriots made it to yet another AFCCG.


Oh well, maybe they will finally falter next year?



Oh wait, no they won't, they will be significantly better next year and one of the significant favorites to win the Super Bowl.


Sucks for you.

 

[MassPats38]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

Nope, he's being snarky. Borg is the king of the Trolls and it really burns his ass that Belichick would be getting any praise anywhere. If you pay attention you will see that he has absolutely no interest in ever talking about football and only pops his head out from under the tunnel to take snarky little cheap shots like the one he posted here.

I try to assume the positive. If not, then the post is just plain silly.

Wall Street Journal does offer some impressive articles on coaching. I recall a few recently that have demonstrated some fairly impressive research atypical of the typical article these days that tries to fire off quick facts labeled as articles.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

I try to assume the positive. If not, then the post is just plain silly.

That makes sense, however in borg's case the track record is longstanding and very familiar, whenever the opportunity arises he pops in and makes snide comments about the team, players, and Belichick. If something good happens he is nowhere to be found and he has never engaged in any kind of constructive discussion about the team. I have wondered at times if he actually is Borges, because his negativity towards the team and desire to see Belichick and the Patriots fail is unwavering, and his consistency in being wrong about them is every bit as remarkable.

 

[supafly]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

If McGuffie is "an exact clone" of Charles, why do 1696 players make it on 53 man rosters but not McGuffie?
As far as practicing against a tall WR....why just pack a little plaster of paris on top of the helmet of a short statured WR who actually has receiving skills? Or have the WR carry around one of those paddles the coaches wave in front of the QB?
Does BB get lauded for the foresight of using two-ply TP as well?

Understanding that your comment is nothing more than a bait attempt, and that anytime you see anything positive about Belichick you have to question it, I'll bite...

There are plenty of things that they've done to help to simulate game settings and/or specific players strengths on PS'ers, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have the knowledge of the scheme/playbook + overall talent combo down pat to necessarily make it as a starter here either.

I don't think any of us know if Sam McGuffie will see any kind of reasonable chance on the starting roster, although we can assume the odds are low based on many factors. The idea of Belichick replicating his size, height, weight, and almost exact speed certainly can't hurt though, and if you'd honestly question if we don't utilize our practice squad players in a much better manner than the high majority of all other NFL teams, you obviously have no idea how things work here.

Belichick gets much more out of his practice squad than the majority of other teams, that is without question. Those 8 spots that change like the wind throughout the season are very important.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

If McGuffie is "an exact clone" of Charles, why do 1696 players make it on 53 man rosters but not McGuffie?
As far as practicing against a tall WR....why just pack a little plaster of paris on top of the helmet of a short statured WR who actually has receiving skills? Or have the WR carry around one of those paddles the coaches wave in front of the QB?
Does BB get lauded for the foresight of using two-ply TP as well?

Clearly not exact clones but I'm responding because I think its a common misconception that great NFL players have rare measurables. It's entirely possible for a player to have the exact size and speed of Charles, or T.Y. Hilton, or for that matter any other player and not be any good at football.

Of course those things matter but they are just one piece of the pie. Take for example a deep threat WR. Simply being fast or tall or both is not exceptionally rare. What's rare is to be fast and have the ability to glance back at a ball and quickly judge where it will land. The receiver may be 20 or more yards short from where the ball will land when it's first thrown. They then have to adjust their speed and direction to have it hit them in stride and then have to make that catch (knowing that they right afterward they may get hit so hard is like running full speed into a brick wall). So they also have world class hand and eye coordination.

Jerry Rice was never the fastest, or strongest but he is still the best. Even so called freaks like Moss or Calvin Johnson would get smoked by Usain Bolt who is also 6'4. And I'm sure Usain would make more money if he could be C. Johnson, but he can't and it's not because of any measurables.

So I'm sure these "clones" are not the real thing but I'm sure they assume that if the clone can get behind the defense- even he then misses the ball that their is value in practicing that way. You can just assume the real thing would catch the ball. One of the many ways to simulate a great player. I remember reading how they let a DE start a step closer to simulate going against a great DE.

 

[supafly]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

I remember reading how they let a DE start a step closer to simulate going against a great DE.

They do this all the time. They'll have a WR line up a yard or two beyond the LOS to help to prepare themselves for speedier WRs like Mike Wallace.

As far as your thoughts on the PS players and their skill sets/lack thereof, I think we're also making a big assumption that these players "need" to do things like catch the ball etc in the practice settings (as you mentioned).

There are plenty of drills and practice situations where the opposition doesn't necessarily have to do anything more than a handful of individual drills to help to prepare our guys for certain strengths and traits. In other words, they don't need to have Randy Moss' skills in more ways than just physical appearance along with some physical traits such as coming off the LOS, or something to that effect. Obviously, if these guys had 1/4 of the skills as Moss or Jamaal Charles, they'd likely have been discovered by now. That doesn't mean that they can't replicate some other strengths that may be seen on gameday.

 

[SoCal Pmen]

Re: Belichick simulating opposition (Wall St Journal article)--Thanks to Ian for the

Once again Belichick is playing chess while the competition is playing Tecmo Bowl