Why hasn't the Patriots' philosophy caught on in the NFL?

Usually when someone is successful, other people try and copy it. Like, when Apple introduced the iPhone, a bunch of other manufacturers soon introduced similar phones.

In football that doesn't seem to apply. The Patriots have been successful, but nobody is copying their philosophy:

- The Patriots have had success with a smart pocket quarterback. Do teams copy that? Not at all. Every team seems to want a quarterback as big, strong and fast as possible.

- The Patriots have had success with a complex offense based on timing and reads. Does anyone copy that? Almost nobody.

- The Patriots have had success hiring players who want to win, not chase statistics. Does anyone else copy that philosophy? Not to my knowledge.

- The Patriots have had success hiring a head coach with a profound understanding of football, rather than a cheerleader. Does anyone else copy that? Almost nobody - owners all want the Hollywood coach who makes a lot of moving speeches and is "good with players".

- The Patriots have success not paying ridiculous contracts, but focusing on team strength. Again, nobody, or almost nobody, seems to even try to copy it.

I'm not saying every team should be a clone of the Patriots. But why doesn't some other team at least try to adopt some of the philosophy that was successful over nearly two decades for the Patriots?

It takes commitment, a lot of it. It also takes a lot of brains and a rethinking of how a football organization is run, not to mention a completely different approach to games.

I think the biggest reason why it doesn't happen is because coaches are worried about the hot seat. They don't want to "take the chance" on implementing a new paradigm and have it blow up in their faces. Also, there are stories like that of McDaniels; not understanding why it worked here when he went to Denver.

But when you run things like that, the day-to-day grind is dull to watch. We don't often get the sexy draft picks, sexy signings, or all the hot press. As you alluded to, coaches want the good optics, because it will help them keep their jobs just a little longer.

And don't forget the role TFB plays in it. This is a superstar, GOAT player, and he SUBMITS to the system. How many players have commented that was a large part of getting them to buy into the "Patriot Way" when they walked through the doors?

This is kinda scattershot, but those are my thoughts.

I've always thought it was odd myself. Everyone likes to denigrate the Pats success. Dink and dunk, no name skill players with little talent, bend but don't break defense with more no name players. Oh and they're cheap and never pay anyone either. You'd think it would be easy to replicate if you listned to them.

K. Dog said:

- The Patriots have had success with a smart pocket quarterback. Do teams copy that? Not at all. Every team seems to want a quarterback as big, strong and fast as possible.

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Tom Brady is 6'4 and listed at 225 pounds. He isn't exactly small. And Tom is faster now than he was in college

I think the simple answer is there are not a lot of pocket passers coming out of college. So if you want a smart pocket QB that takes years of grooming... by which time you are fired because your QB couldn't perform.

Not to mention that the ideal is obviously a smart pocket quarterback who is as big strong and fast as possible. So basically Tom Brady's mind in Cam Newton's body...

K. Dog said:

- The Patriots have had success with a complex offense based on timing and reads. Does anyone copy that? Almost nobody.

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Probably because such an offense is hard to run. See the Gronkless 2013 Patriots offense. And that is with Tom Brady running it. Imagine that offense with a less QB... not pretty.

K. Dog said:

- The Patriots have had success hiring players who want to win, not chase statistics. Does anyone else copy that philosophy? Not to my knowledge.

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To be fair its a lot easier to get players who want to win come to the Patriots than say the Cleveland Browns

K. Dog said:

- The Patriots have had success hiring a head coach with a profound understanding of football, rather than a cheerleader. Does anyone else copy that? Almost nobody - owners all want the Hollywood coach who makes a lot of moving speeches and is "good with players".

- The Patriots have success not paying ridiculous contracts, but focusing on team strength. Again, nobody, or almost nobody, seems to even try to copy it.

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The Cleveland Browns have over $100m in cap space.

I think the issue is simple and can be broken into a couple of parts. First, and most importantly, it requires the coach and the GM to have absolute confidence in their job security for five or more years where the incentives line up for long run sustainability and personal interest. That is a very rare set of circumstances under the best of circumstances. If a franchise wants to copy the Patriots they have to their first hire(s) right so that the five year shadow of the future is credible. If they hire a promising candidate who is obviously flaming out by year 2, their ability to credibly promise a five year leash the next time around is gone.

Secondly, there are alternative methods to success in the NFL (Steelers, Broncos, Seahawks, Packers) all have demonstrated systems that have produced results in the past 12 years.

I think an important factor in the Pats' success is that Belichick won that surprising Superbowl early in his tenure, and that gave him the leverage he needed to be able to really implement his system. He could build draft stock for 'down the road' a bit, because he wasn't worried about getting fired. He could cut/trade/waive popular players because he knew the owner had his back. And he had the QB he needed who set the example for working hard, being humble, and buying in to the coach's system 100%.

Those circumstances are hard to duplicate, kind of a perfect storm.

Its not that easy... the philosophy has been the same for the past 17 years now however the patriots as an organization and team has evolved. Teams can't just start thinking like BB and game planning. We are talking about a ton of tenure and experience that backs up the philosophy the Patriots have evolved after almost 2 decades.

What teams out there have had a starting veteran QB and future hall of fame head coach? Its hard to build a team/philosophy when coaches are changing left and right and QB shelf lives are not nearly half as long as run with the patriots.

In addition, what works for Patriots might not work for others. Russell Wilson isn't a pocket quarterback like Brady, and they have been almost as successful in the last several years. Always playoff condenters, 2 SB's (1 win.)

I don't think there is an exact science to success. You can have it in many ways. The Patriots way cannot be replicated when their foundation is based off of a head coach and QB (both HOF) working together for 17 years.

Many have tried to copy the Pats (think 3-4 personnel when that was the Pats and why the Pats moved away from that). They just don't have all the ingredients to do that effectively.

The team has to have a Brady for one, and that is a major issue. From skills to salary demand, he is unique.

Also, I believe the coaching is very compartmentalized, with only Belichick seeing the whole picture. As such, coaches and personnel folk leave with components of the whole, but not the whole plan. I don't believe that is by design, but rather because Belichick is himself uniquely capable of that level of detail while others focus on their specific areas of concern. He trains coaches, and I don't get the sense any coach has complained he has some secret stash of information that causes them to enjoy less success as a head coach, but I doubt he is able to cart the whole group around with him while he works as they would not be doing their respective jobs, which are individually time consuming.

How many head coaches are on the sidelines working with groups? How many QBs are the self-improving freak you see in Brady? How many head coaches can diagram a Navy play they saw over 50 years ago? How many GMs can lose major talent and remain at a playoff level with their understanding of the capabilities of individual components of the team and how to morph talent to fit systems and vice versa?

To quote a song, these are the good old days. Some day we may see a world without Belichick and/or Brady and understand their contributions completely, but for now enjoy the ride.

The Patriots philosophy requires those at the top to keep their egos in check. It is a rare skill these days, especially "at the top".

Because owners have egos and think they know better than their egotistical GM's who think they know better than the coaching staff. They think it's sufficient to just hire a few guys who used to coach for New England, but in reality it needs a super strict regime and culture, enforced equally, sans emotion or sentiment and that just won't happen elsewhere.

Galeb said:

The Patriots philosophy requires those at the top to keep their egos in check. It is a rare skill these days, especially "at the top".

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This is another thing as well. You never have success when you have a showboat star of the team. OBJ comes to mind immediately. I can just imagine how much those big egos hinder a locker room.

Not to sound like a homer but we have one of the best players in NFL history, and calling TB12 humble would be an understatement. You see all these hot shots that are specks of dust in the NFL and their mouth/attitude is bigger than what their plays are worth. You can't have more than one chef in the kitchen. Head coaches need to get a grasp on their players and run their teams like it is a business.

Obviously lots of things at play have to work right.

i'm going to say the owner and Gm/Coach have to be on the same page and committed to the same outcome. I think all owners want to win, but not all of them act that way. How many times do owners allow a team to overpay for a talent in order to "fill the stadium".

The other part is coaching. BB (GM Bill) can identify those traits he sees in players and understands how they will work within his system. He finds people who are coachable and committed to improving. He knows how to give information in efficient chunks so the players can understand their role and has other players who are smart enough to understand how it all works together.

K. Dog said:

Usually when someone is successful, other people try and copy it. Like, when Apple introduced the iPhone, a bunch of other manufacturers soon introduced similar phones.

In football that doesn't seem to apply. The Patriots have been successful, but nobody is copying their philosophy:

- The Patriots have had success with a smart pocket quarterback. Do teams copy that? Not at all. Every team seems to want a quarterback as big, strong and fast as possible.

- The Patriots have had success with a complex offense based on timing and reads. Does anyone copy that? Almost nobody.

- The Patriots have had success hiring players who want to win, not chase statistics. Does anyone else copy that philosophy? Not to my knowledge.

- The Patriots have had success hiring a head coach with a profound understanding of football, rather than a cheerleader. Does anyone else copy that? Almost nobody - owners all want the Hollywood coach who makes a lot of moving speeches and is "good with players".

- The Patriots have success not paying ridiculous contracts, but focusing on team strength. Again, nobody, or almost nobody, seems to even try to copy it.

I'm not saying every team should be a clone of the Patriots. But why doesn't some other team at least try to adopt some of the philosophy that was successful over nearly two decades for the Patriots?

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The reason that things are working so well right now is because we have the GOAT at QB and HC. They can't copy that.

I think the problem with pocket QBs now is that college coaches finally figured out that they had a better chance of keeping their job if they won games instead of developing pro style QBs. I don't follow the college game much but it looks like there are more runners than passers at QB.

Developing a winning attitude and hiring FAs who want to win can only happen after a team wins. There will always be players who want the most money and not the most wins though.

I totally agree that the financial aspects of the team should be possible to copy. As brilliant as Ernie and Bill are at finances there are plenty of people who should be able to handle NYFL finances.

I also think that another factor that works in our favor with the NYFL is their good old boys method of hiring HCs and their lack of patience with HC's.

Maybe someone mentioned it but the Patriots don't let players hang around and get old and unproductive either.. By now players coming to the Pats should know that and not have it a big surprise when they aren't signed or are traded.

And Seattle hasn't been successful because of Russel Wilson. Not at all. They won because of the defense.

It makes me laugh when people call Brady a system QB. He's been the QB for 15/16 years and yet nobody copies their offensive system. The fact is other QBs aren't aren't smart enough to read a defense so quickly and so accurately as Brady while knowing all the different route options the receivers have.

Future Hall of Famer Reggie Wayne played with Manning, who many erroneously call the most cerebral QB, for many years and the Pats system was too difficult for him. Chad Johnson too. If it's that difficult for experienced receivers, think how difficult it is for the QB who needs to know the route for every receiver while also facing a pass rush. Brady is just special.

On defense, the Pats game plan more for their opponents than anyone else. Most teams just try to do what they do as well as possible with maybe a minor adjustment for their opponent. Why? Because it's too difficult to change up a defense so much. Belichick is just ahead of other coaches in game planning and coaching his players to be able to execute his plans.

We have the smartest QB and coach in the league, probably in league history. The gap is so wide that no one else has been able copy them after watching them dominate for 16 years while all the other parts of the team have turned over many times. We are lucky to be Pats fans.

Also, it's easier for other teams to label the Pats as cheaters rather than admit they aren't smart and capable enough to do what the Pats do.

Cause other teams don't have Tom Brady. That is the simple answer. BB is able to do the things he does cause of having Brady. Without him none of it would work.

The Patriots philosophy imo is a tad overrated. I think it is a very good one but it has a lot of issues with it and if you replace Brady with any other QB it falls apart.

Hard to ask your players to take less when your QB won't. Also you need a QB to get it done without true elite weapons and win with his mind. Easier said than done.

The other coaches don't have the IQ level and commitment belichick does. It sounds harsh but it's true.

It's because most teams are run in a way that appeases the most fans and gets fluff pieces written in the media

I think there are a few coaches who if given a PROPER chance, could actually implement their full system with all of their own players and create a successful culture, but most owners and GMs don't have the patience to see that all unfold over the course of 5 years

It's also because most of these owners are just rich businessman and their NFL team is just another item in their portfolio... they want to make splashy free agent signings and draft picks to get fans and media excited and talking about their team to make sure every seat is filled on game day.. beyond that, they really don't care (Tampa's owner Glazer is a perfect example)

The number of players on both sides in this Super Bowl who had played for the Browns was amazing. I swear you could take a team of recent ex-Browns and make the playoffs.

JJR4884 said:

This is another thing as well. You never have success when you have a showboat star of the team. OBJ comes to mind immediately. I can just imagine how much those big egos hinder a locker room.

Not to sound like a homer but we have one of the best players in NFL history, and calling TB12 humble would be an understatement. You see all these hot shots that are specks of dust in the NFL and their mouth/attitude is bigger than what their plays are worth. You can't have more than one chef in the kitchen. Head coaches need to get a grasp on their players and run their teams like it is a business.

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That's true, but I was referring more to coaches and front office folks.