Things I will miss about BB

[The Gr8est]

1. Bill had the military mentality: try to make the right decisions, but, above all, make sure that everyone is following orders from above.

2. He would listen to others he respected (Ernie -- maybe Charlie, RAC, Josh).

3. He put his ego last and never took public credit for the triumphs.

4. He didn't play silly ra-ra games. His motivational speech was "Do what I tell you and you'll win. Don't and you'll lose."

5. He never blamed players in public and, if there was a problem in the locker room, he dealt with it privately -- ruthlessly, but privately.

6. His greatest coaching season, in my view, was 2013. Just imagine what it does to a locker room to have one of the players arrested for murder. And yet he kept the team together and playing hard so that it got to the AFCCG.

7. He was the greatest Xes-and-Os coach of all time, both in scouting and planning and in gameday adjustment.

Obviously, at some point his judgement deteriorated and his willingness to listen to others. The McDaniels-to-Patricia/Judge story is just a terrible example of someone with absolute authority whose ego got out of control.

But BB was the GOAT, no question.

BB and Brady were so dominant that the league had to invent infractions, or exaggerate lesser ones, in order to try and bring the Pats back to the pack.

Fans of other teams were happy to have it happen.

I remember once late in the dynasty, I was at a grocery store wearing my Brady jersey, and the cashier was wearing a Packers jersey.

She made a plaintive comment to me “why don’t you guys let someone else win sometime”?

That really was the greatest compliment that you can get, because she was clearly frustrated.

THAT is how good our dynasty was.

Has the league EVER done that to another team?

 

[PatsFan2]

I've missed the Great Bill Belichick for some time, not the Nixonian, post Brady Belichick that had everyone walking on eggshells. That Bill was too busy having lieutenants that carried the message instead of having quality coaches to do the job. GM Bill failed Coach Bill in so many ways.

I'll miss Bill that essentially came up with a defense that pitched a shut out in the super bowl vs the Rams. I'll miss the Bill that had his team the most prepared in the NFL week in and week out. I'll miss the Bill that coached the two greatest players on either side of the ball, who made sure that special teams made a difference. I'll 100% miss the Bill that could take some jamoke out of working a toll booth on the Mass Pike and make him a difference maker in the secondary.

I won't miss the Bill that made offense an afterthought, that spent way too much time on specials when the NFL tried to do away with special teams, and the Bill that absolutely refused to draft talent at WR.

At this point, I am happy with everyone from that era sitting back and telling the stories. Have Tirico or Rich Eisen interview the lot of them. Ready to move forward with young people and fresh minds.

 

[jlu52]

Bill got old, plain and simple. There's a reason the NFL isn't populated with 70+ year old coaches. Even if one retains their mental acuity,
processing and reaction times slow way down. Bill was a great GM when he was staffed with hand picked sharp lieutenants, he was lost when they left to run their own teams, he never adequately replaced them. He was truly a great coach, period.

 

[Clonamery]

Things I Will Miss About BB turns into Things I Will NOT Miss About BB, Let's See What the New Regime Can Do and All Sorts of Farts and ****stains.

Well done once again to those with no self-control.

 

[signbabybrady]

Why must people do this? Can't we just ask what we miss about Bill and have a different thread for Mayo.

I don't think there are many on here who like Bill more than me. Plenty are equal. But even as much as I like Bill I'm excited about Mayo as a coach. To put it simply I think he has a good combination of Xs and Os and leadership especially for the new breed of children.

 

[signbabybrady]

What I miss about BB:

1) first has to be the winning and singular focus on winning. That's all that mattered.

2) His Xs and Os. No one knew the game like him and this was easily his biggest strength.

3) He was humble. Always gave credit to his players. In the later years his pride for the accomplishments of his team got misconstrued as ego but he was always a hoodie guy and nothing changed that.

4) Relentless. Whether it was the week of a big game or an April OTA he was always working towards the ultimate goal. Maniacal/obsessed with football and it never stopped with him.

5) respect. The respect that he had for the game and his players and the respect that he commanded from his team. Maybe not the media but I'll miss that too for unintentional humor.

 

[TheRainMaker]

There may be threads this season missing Bill even more.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Mayo not Maye

My mistake, I misread it. But I haven’t seen any “ red flags” with Mayo either. That doesn’t mean anything, because he hasn’t coached a game yet, but I still don’t know what he’s referring to.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Bill got old, plain and simple. There's a reason the NFL isn't populated with 70+ year old coaches. Even if one retains their mental acuity,
processing and reaction times slow way down. Bill was a great GM when he was staffed with hand picked sharp lieutenants, he was lost when they left to run their own teams, he never adequately replaced them. He was truly a great coach, period.

The other thing that tends to happen to the 70 year old coaches is that they lose out to the younger head coaches for the up and coming young assistant coaches and coordinators so their staffs tend to get stale with retreads.

 

[0818NePa]

Everything. Except for his maniacal narcissistic ego.

 

[captain stone]

Recently watched the movie about the US beating the Rooskies in the 1980 Olympics. The coach's style time and again reminded me of BB. Great flick. Woulda been even bettah if I understood the wacky sport of hockey.

Compared to football or balls & sticks, hockey's not that complicated, especially since the two-line offsides rule was eliminated... Now if they could just allow icings to be whistled as soon as Peter Puck crosses the goal line...

 

[PancakeBlockPaul]

I’ll miss the pressers. For reals.

 

[rkarp1]

Bill the HC still had what it takes. Bill on the sidelines and in the locker room always gave the Pats an edge. every little edge counts. the difference between wins and losses is that little edge.
as posted above, Bill the GM did Bill the HC no favors.

 

[Hyped]

Comments:

01.) Nice walk down memory lane there, @rainmaker. Yup, Grier killed the Patriots more than Carrol did.

02.) I'll definitely miss BB's no nonsense approach to press conferences, not being worried about his in game clock management, being assured that adjustments were made at half time, being assured that we had a good game plan prior to kick off, and knowing that he would maximize the talent we had on the field. And I agree...his GM-ing is what did him in...mainly.

03.) It was time for a change given that BB only had maybe 3-4 more seasons left in the tank and we were bringing a new QB in on a 5 year rookie deal........I have great hopes for Mayo. But yeah...I need to get used to how open he is with the media after two decades of BB running a tight lipped ship....

 

[borg]

1) 'In Game' management

If stat nerds created a W.A.R (wins above replacement) stat for 'game day' NFL coaching, Bill likely would have a handful of 2+ W.A.R seasons, maybe a 3 or 3+ as well, especially back in the early dynasty years when Bill was on an extended heater and could do little wrong.
Half time adjustments, 2-minute drill clock management, exploiting rule loopholes, deferring kickoffs, telling Willie when to "fake" an injury, timeouts, etc etc etc.

My biggest worry regarding this new coaching regime led by a neophyte coach is that not only will Mayo & Co not add any game day value, but their game day coaching will negatively affect the win totals......a negative W.A.R.

Think early years 'Andy Reid clock management'

 

[Zuma]

 

[mister clyde]

3. He put his ego last

Yes, like when he realized in training camp that making Patricia OC was stupid and brought in a qualified coordinator instead of an inept lickspittle.

 

[Mack Herron]

Is this another sign of aging?

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Compared to football or balls & sticks, hockey's not that complicated, especially since the two-line offsides rule was eliminated... Now if they could just allow icings to be whistled as soon as Peter Puck crosses the goal line...

I have no idea whatsoever what these statements mean. Hockey is like cricket to me.

 

[Zuma]

Is this another sign of aging?