Bill spoke about Chad at length on WEEI yesterday. I know some of you won't listen to WEEI because they are all morons and homers, so with ESPN and Felger and their self proclaimed intelligent kneejerk anti-homer intelligent pseudo objectivity driven bashing now lost to you you probably have nothing to listen to but each other.
Despite being prodded by guest host Steve Old Time Baseball rocks Buckley to dish the dirt on Chad, all the only true players coach in this league kept reiterating is that if anyone made a mistake, and that's debatable, it was him. That's one of the things I truly respect and admire about Bill - he never stoops to dissing players to save his own ass or curry media favor. Said Chad worked as hard as anyone on the roster over the last 3 years and made significant improvement every season. There were just other players ahead of him on the roster based on their own hard work and experience and particular skill set. He talked about how ST play and versatility can make a difference, and how some players have the mental as well as physical versatility to play multiple positions whether that is on offense and ST or offense and defense or even within an offense. Said some like Ventrone are able to take advantage of opportunities like playing on a practice squad that others might not have because of their situation and use that time to increase their potential value in a system predicated on it. While other players are only comfortable and excel in a more limited and specific role. He said he believed that Chad will play and quite possibly very well in another system that is better suited to utilize his strengths.
Deion Branch came out of the second round, too and was deemed a reach as I recall by all the talking head experts. Turns out his strengths are quite different than Jacksons and he was a perfect fit for this system and it's QB. His mental acuity far exceeds his physical gifts. That fit this system. Hasn't fit one with a former Farve backup at the helm. Go figure - Holmgrem must be a moron not to have realized that. Belichick did which was why he reluctantly let him go. He knew that player was worth more here yet not nearly worth what a system he would not fit was willing to pay him. Ditto Givens. That forced an adjustment that only allowed us to make the AFCC that season, but it also led us to Moss, Welker and Gaffney which over the long haul will probably pay dividends considering Givens and Branch can't either get on or stay on the field as impact players 2 years removed from here.
Bill Parcell's is such a genius he hasn't won a ring since the 80's. He is pretty good at identifying draft talent, although sometimes in the new NFL he can't get it to play for him. Nor can he get along with managements for more than a couple of seasons. And of course he does tend to wear blinders when it comes to his guys. Some of whom it turns out can only play for him (Glenn) while others can't play for even him (Bledsoe) and effectively negate all that drafting prowess. Then there is that little matter of other whole set of personality quirks he comes packaged with...
Bill Polian is still a drafting genius even though his 2007 3rd round DT quit football after one season and he can't pick a FA to overpay who doesnt bite him in the ass to save his soul. His genius is as rooted in luck as skill as anyone's. 0 for 4 with Buffalo, ground floor build with expansion perks in Carolina, and the #1 pick in a draft with Manning. Didn't hurt that Dungy became available just as his first choice as HC in Indy was having a failure induced nervous breakdown, either...
Nobody here ever claims that Bill Belichick is perfect. Just that he's the best in his business by a country mile. And on that basis everything he does has earned the benefit of the doubt even while it can't all always work out because it never does for any NFL organization. This one has the best overall track record in the league over the last several seaons by the only truly objective measure. Championships and games won. And they've managed to accomplish that while mining talent from a self determined limited talent pool.
Persistently arguing against that rationale just underscores how self absorbed and "thick" some here truly are.
