Bill Belichick: Dominance Among Peers

I'll never forgive Bill for not starting Brady opening day 2000.

shmessy said:

Once again, you ignore the pregame and the timing of communication with Rowe. That was a fundamental tenet of the New England Patriots for two decades. BB had a "moment" that night and wasted a roster spot that could have been used otherwise.

Whatever, you want to idolize. I admire, while still seeing the human warts of reality. Babe Ruth fought unnecesarily with his coaches, Hank Aaron couldn't hit knucklers, Shaquille O'Neal couldn't hit free throws, Larry Bird was slow. Greatness doesn't mean perfect.

Nick Foles torched the Pats and LeGarrette "not worth $1 million to us" rampaged for 90 yards. Had the Pats merely held that offensive greatness to 32 points that night, we (and the football world) are speaking, as you read this right now, about the chances for the Patriots of winning the 4th straight Super Bowl this year.

It is what it is.

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To say Rowe wasn't involve in any last-minute communication review when he practiced with the starters all week is pure conjecture on your part. To also assume Rowe wasn't involved in any last-minute communiction review is also conjecture. It's not like he sat in his hotel room while Gilly, Harmon and DMC were talking.

This isn't about protecting BB. This is about a player who let his team and coaches down. But let's blame BB....

...and to continue to brink up Branch is absurd. He was done and hadn't played in a month and a 1/2. He was awful.

shmessy said:

Branch, Britt.

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Cooked.

BB fails regularly as do all coaches every year except 1. I suspect that many who think this game is easier than it is will agree with your take. That's ok because I'm sure that Belichick wasn't happy with how things turned out. But he knows that you have to move on when it's next year. And that's part of his success. Turn the page.

robertweathers said:

.......This isn't about protecting BB. This is about a player who let his team and coaches down. But let's blame BB....
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Then. Why. Did. He. Dress. Him?

And have him pregame with the first unit?

Was it just a weird sense of humor on BB's part?

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Clonamery said:

Cooked.

BB fails regularly as do all coaches every year except 1. I suspect that many who think this game is easier than it is will agree with your take. That's ok because I'm sure that Belichick wasn't happy with how things turned out. But he knows that you have to move on when it's next year. And that's part of his success. Turn the page.

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So, to your point, he dressed a player he knew he would not put out on the field for the Defense under any circumstance instead of using 2 players who weren't good players for the team.

What was Jordan Richards' excuse?

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shmessy said:

Then. Why. Did. He. Dress. Him?

And have him pregame with the first unit?

Was it just a weird sense of humor on his part?

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It was misdirection. Can't say hours and days in advance Malcolm wasn't playing.

robertweathers said:

It was misdirection. Can't say hours and days in advance Malcolm wasn't playing.

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He was misdirecting Rowe, by not even telling him until 5 minutes to game time? Gotta keep him guessing?

Bob, you're reaching here.

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shmessy said:

He was misdirecting Rowe? Gotta keep him guessing?

Bob, you're reaching here.

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The Eagles. He knew Malcolm wasn't going to play. No need to blast it all over.

robertweathers said:

The Eagles. He knew Malcolm wasn't going to play. No need to blast it all over.

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Genius!

You have a point. That was GRANDMASTERY! The Eagles were so fooled. It definitely held the Legendary Foles/Blount back from posting a FIFTY BURGER in that case.



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shmessy said:

So, to your point, he dressed a player he knew he would not put out on the field for the Defense under any circumstance instead of using 2 players who weren't good players for the team.

What was Jordan Richards' excuse?

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He seemed too emotional to play. But I was never a professional athlete so that would be a guess.

There is no excuse for Jordan Richards (though he is currently employed).

Clonamery said:

He seemed too emotional to play. But I was never a professional athlete so that would be a guess.

There is no excuse for Jordan Richards (though he is currently employed).

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Jake Bequette handed off to him the compromising pics.

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shmessy said:

Genius!

You have a point. That was GRANDMASTERY! The Eagles were so fooled. It definitely held the Legendary Foles/Blount back from posting a FIFTY BURGER in that case.



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What else is he supposed to do? Send Peterson an email on Tue saying Malcolm was sick and hes running with the 2nd teamers? Ensuring your opponent isn't aware your starting CB went into the tank is smart.

Malcolm appreciates you blind support.

mosslost said:

The SB 49 non-timeout was a brain fart by BB, one of his only major in-game Brain farts. He just got bailed out.

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Disagree. He said Seattle looked confused. It's like a Baseball manager. You go with your instinct against the books sometimes. He had confidence in his D too. If BB calls timeout, the Seahawks likely re-collect themselves and audible out of the play call that will live in infamy.

shmessy said:

Well, benching a dressed and ready Butler in SB 52 comes to mind........I still want an explanation for that. If you weren’t going to play him, don’t dress him. They could’ve used Alan Branch to help stop Blount (whom BB deemed not even worth $1.1 million the prior offseason) from putting up 90 yards that game.

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Did you even watch Branch play that season? Of course you didn't. You spent all your time listening to clickbaiters and then making new threads with clickbaiter content.

shmessy said:

Yeah? Why did he dress him for the game? Butler was practicing drills with the first team defense on the field before the game. Rowe wasn’t told anything about replacing him until 5 minutes to kickoff. You are basing your reasoning on a belief that “something will come out in the future”. BB simply had a sudden hissy fit. The explanations that leaked out about a bad week of practice don’t match up with the objective fact time sequence before the game.

BB has won far more games for this franchise that is historically fortunate to have had him than he has lost. But make no mistake, he took this one away.

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Even if we go with the premise Butler plays, that doesn't guarantee a Pats win. There were four other key plays that stuck out to me:

1. Cooks and his bizarre leap. Simply an amateur move from a guy who has lost two straight SB's now. That set the tone for some missed opportunities offensively in the 1st half.

2. Brady drops the pass to him. Hit him in the hands. Even he admitted it needs to be caught. He catches that ball 99 times out of 100.

3. Gost. Nough said. His missed XP is the reason the Pats would've had to go for 2 at the end.

4. Brady strip sack. The bottom line is there were 2 minutes left. Brady had the ball. Mason screwd up too. But this play essentially ended the game.

BB shares some of the blame. But doesn't deserve most of it. It just wasn't meant to be. But the Patriots likely get their doors blown off in SB 36 with any other coach on their sideline. And there's zero chance the Rams are held to 3 points with a coach other than BB on the sidelines.

Jercules said:

He runs the entire operation too. He's more like a CEO than a coach.

God bless Brady, but had it been Brees, or Manning, or Rodgers + Belichick, the Pats would still have rings. I don't think you can say the same had it been Brady + Dungy, or Coughlin, or Carroll...

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I didn't want to give you a big ole red X, but I can't agree with this. The perfect storm of BB, TB12 and even the imperfect RKK is the secret to our success. BB didn't do much as a head coach until he got Brady and his unstoppable will to win, and RKK's release of the reins.

Edit - and I do agree that benching Malcolm Butler for the Super Bowl was the biggest, worst mistake of BB's career, but I'm all argued out on that point.

Sicilian said:

I'm giving you an "agree" so you know I mean this in good nature: But are there any other traumatic moments you'd like to resurface right now? Jesus...

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These are the plays BB gets crucified for most. I was trying to explain his possible reasoning.

Clonamery said:

Cooked.

BB fails regularly as do all coaches every year except 1. I suspect that many who think this game is easier than it is will agree with your take. That's ok because I'm sure that Belichick wasn't happy with how things turned out. But he knows that you have to move on when it's next year. And that's part of his success. Turn the page.

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And he did a darn fine job of it in 2018 too. Coaching is absolutely the top reason for winning last year's Super Bowl. Was BB's finest hour.

Jercules said:

He runs the entire operation too. He's more like a CEO than a coach.

God bless Brady, but had it been Brees, or Manning, or Rodgers + Belichick, the Pats would still have rings. I don't think you can say the same had it been Brady + Dungy, or Coughlin, or Carroll...

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My problem with this logic is that Peyton Manning was always a choke jobber coward going back to college. He's flat-out not making the comebacks in Super Bowl 49 or 51, he's not winning tight games in 36 or 38 or 53, that's stuff that's just not happening in any kind of alternate reality you can imagine. He played like garbage in both of the Super Bowl winning playoff runs he had, so maybe the 2004 team carries him over the finish line? Just hand it to Clock Killing Corey and pray I guess.

With Rodgers it's less drastic, but he's basically never made a comeback against a team that finished with a winning record. He just turns turtle to keep his stat line clean so it's somebody else's fault when they lose. They might have won 1-2 games in blowouts with Rodgers though.

Honestly I can see it more with Brees, at least he actually played well in every game on his on Super Bowl run, and has better excuses (mostly consisting of appaling defenses) for only having 1 ring.

Pat the Pats Fan said:

Of those, how many would have benched a first pick, $100M QB for a 6th round pick.

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Um, I know one who wouldn't bench a first-round pick for an astronomically superior in every way experienced proven 5th round pick