Content Post Belichick may be out to prove he is still the best coach...

[Sean Pa Patriot]

I know alot of people are upset at how the team has not made many moves.. I felt this offseason with the labor uncertainty it was not going to be a big splash in the offseason... But something crossed my mind, with all the attention that Ryan is getting in NY with how he can coach people up, maybee Belichick is feeling I bet a good draft that gets us 3-4 starters, and I could prove that you dont need to make a big splash in FA to be the best coach... Its a thought, just like how Manning made those no name recievers household names, Brady will do the same with Tate and Eldeman.. I dont know, this might be his thinking, so we shall see.. I think next week at this time, we should have some awnsers to some questions, but we might not get all the awnsers to this offseason till sept...

 

[fgssand]

I know alot of people are upset at how the team has not made many moves.. I felt this offseason with the labor uncertainty it was not going to be a big splash in the offseason... But something crossed my mind, with all the attention that Ryan is getting in NY with how he can coach people up, maybee Belichick is feeling I bet a good draft that gets us 3-4 starters, and I could prove that you dont need to make a big splash in FA to be the best coach... Its a thought, just like how Manning made those no name recievers household names, Brady will do the same with Tate and Eldeman.. I dont know, this might be his thinking, so we shall see.. I think next week at this time, we should have some awnsers to some questions, but we might not get all the awnsers to this offseason till sept...

Now now, don't start thinking positive in this group these days......the only time that happens is during 14-2 seasons while we are in the middle of a deep playoff run leading to a superbowl victory.

I do think BB wants to add to his legacy though without question and his actions really back up what he says........he will tell you every single decision made is in the best interest of the new england patriots football club and winning football games.

There is no way, in my mind, BB in the Brady era do not win more Superbowls, and winning it all THIS year would not surprise me at all.

 

[Krugman]

Locking up some players like Wilfork and Bodden was important IMHO,its way to early to pass judgement on who they should pick up etc.Lets wait a month or two....I like the idea of BB running the defence,should be interesting...the AFC east is tough this year.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

I know alot of people are upset at how the team has not made many moves.. I felt this offseason with the labor uncertainty it was not going to be a big splash in the offseason... But something crossed my mind, with all the attention that Ryan is getting in NY with how he can coach people up, maybee Belichick is feeling I bet a good draft that gets us 3-4 starters, and I could prove that you dont need to make a big splash in FA to be the best coach... Its a thought, just like how Manning made those no name recievers household names, Brady will do the same with Tate and Eldeman.. I dont know, this might be his thinking, so we shall see.. I think next week at this time, we should have some awnsers to some questions, but we might not get all the awnsers to this offseason till sept...

Sean me boy, if you mean that BB is on an ego trip and self absorbed enough to put his legacy and attempting to 'prove a point' ahead of moves he could make but would not do so for the team, then I'm deeply concerned and pessimistic. I don't think that's what you meant but it could be taken that way.

I'd prefer to think that BB has looked at the team's talent, assessed the young players, evaluated the FA opportunities, and then considered all the possible strategies. His conclusion appears to be that he can fill any remaining holes thru the draft where he has a target rich environment and add experienced role players through enemy teams' summer camp cuts. Pretty ballsy strategy. I hope it works. I'm nervous.

 

[IcyPatriot]

I think Belichick tries to be the best he can be in all 3 phases of coaching and GM'ing ... everyday.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I don't think that BB is 'holding back' just to bolster his own ego if that's what you're implying. I think it's more that this year's free agent class was rather poor because the uncapped year made many would-be free agents RFAs instead. And now BB is just sitting tight and waiting to make some deals on draft day before he makes any other big moves.

 

[captain stone]

Sean me boy, if you mean that BB is on an ego trip and self absorbed enough to put his legacy and attempting to 'prove a point' ahead of moves he could make but would not do so for the team, then I'm deeply concerned and pessimistic. I don't think that's what you meant but it could be taken that way.

I'd prefer to think that BB has looked at the team's talent, assessed the young players, evaluated the FA opportunities, and then considered all the possible strategies. His conclusion appears to be that he can fill any remaining holes thru the draft where he has a target rich environment and add experienced role players through enemy teams' summer camp cuts. Pretty ballsy strategy. I hope it works. I'm nervous.

As am I. If Bill has put his ego ahead of the best interests of the team, then shame on him and woe is us. I don't think he is doing that, at least not consciously. But why hasn't he hired NFL-experienced assistants, instead of Division 3 grad students with no credibility in an NFL locker room, to help him execute his vision & reduce his workload, exc. for Corwin Brown? Why didn't he promote Dom Capers to DC? Why hasn't he added anybody to the FO exc. for Floyd Reese? Why weren't experienced scouts like Matt Russell & Lionel Vital retained?

Enquiring minds want to know...

 

[JMarr]

See, I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that BB does have a bit of an ego, and especially after 2001, tends to think he can get 'more out of less' than other coaches. It's entirely possible that the main reason he loaded for bear at WR after the 2006 Reche Caldwell disaster was because his franchise QB was so damn pissed that he couldn't see straight.

 

[Mosi Moose]

I don't think that BB is 'holding back' just to bolster his own ego if that's what you're implying. I think it's more that this year's free agent class was rather poor because the uncapped year made many would-be free agents RFAs instead. And now BB is just sitting tight and waiting to make some deals on draft day before he makes any other big moves.

Agreed. And I think that he also does want to get "younger" at certain positions and the draft is the best way to do that. Additionally, I do think that in the back of his mind he knows he's going to have to pay TB12, so if given the choice of signing a big time free agent (Peppers) or extending a player after a trade (Boldin, Marshall) he would rather take his chances over the next few years with TB12 still in Foxboro and surrounding him/the team with some young talent via the draft. At least that's what I've been telling myself this whole offseason

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Every head coach has 'something to prove' to thier team that they are capable of producing a championship caliber team so why is Belichick any different than the others?

What he has accomplished in the past will not be forgotten,he is a HOF coach even if the team stinks it up the next year or two,Belichick has nothing to prove nor do I think he really cares being labeled 'best coach'..that stuff is for kids,
its championships he is more concerned with,even if his team wins a title after going 9-7 and sneaking in at a #6 seed.

If there are really any coaches that 'need to prove something' its coaches like Andy Reid,Wade Phillips and Mike McCarthy who have had thier team in contention for the past few years or more only to come short of its goal.

 

[Rob0729]

I don't believe this ego thing one bit. For years, the media and fans have been making this argument. It was "Belichick wants to prove he can win without Weis and Crennel", "Belichick wants to prove he can win without coordinators", "Belichick wants to prove it is the system and not the players". This guy isn't Steve Spurrier (who came to the NFL for two reasons - the boatload of cash that Snyder gave him and to prove to the world that they were wrong and the Fun N Gun offense can be successful in the NFL).

I truly believe Belichick makes moves or lack there of to make this team better. Maybe not the current year, but he seems fairly egoless in that vein since he gets beaten up for a lot of moves. You can argue that some of these moves are the wrong moves and you are probably right for a lot of them.

If Belichick was truly making decisions for his ego, he would be constantly trying to win today. He is one ring from tying Chuck Knoll's record for the most rings by a coach (I think his next Super Bowl appearance he would hold the record for most appearances by a head coach). He is two rings away from holding the record by himself.

If you look around the league, there are only about 6-10 teams that have made any significant additions this offseason (I count Jets, Dolphins, Ravens, Bears, and Redskins being the only real ones to make big additions). That means there are about 22 to 26 teams that have been about as active as the Patriots this offseason and many of them are in worse shape than the Pats. Some like the Steelers you can argue are worse than they were when free agency started. I think Belichick didn't make any big moves this offseason because the general concensus was that there weren't many to make.

Personally, I was wrong. I thought the Pats would make some moves this offseason. I misjudged the market. I didn't think players like Peppers would get what they did. I also expected more veterans to be cut (although there could be a wave after the draft when teams fill needs with draft picks). Based on the market and what some players went for, I don't really think Belichick is wrong by not going after some of the players. There were a few I thought they should have made the effort harder to acquire (Derrick Mason, Larry Foote, Andre Davis come to mind), but I can see why they sat out of the Peppers, Marshall, Boldin (at least to a point) etc. sweepstakes.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

As am I. If Bill has put his ego ahead of the best interests of the team, then shame on him and woe is us. I don't think he is doing that, at least not consciously. But why hasn't he hired NFL-experienced assistants, instead of Division 3 grad students with no credibility in an NFL locker room, to help him execute his vision & reduce his workload, exc. for Corwin Brown? Why didn't he promote Dom Capers to DC? Why hasn't he added anybody to the FO exc. for Floyd Reese? Why weren't experienced scouts like Matt Russell & Lionel Vital retained?

Enquiring minds want to know...

Because this is the way he's always operated? He trains his own staff in his own system. What good would it do to hire outsiders with little to offer beyond name recognition value...other than to placate guys like yourself who think former failures elsewhere would make better choices here? He'd have to re-train those guys and it's often harder to teach an old dog new tricks than it is to train your own pups well from the get go. For some reason guys he trains are in demand. Go figure. Even scouts, some of whom aspire to be more, just like coaching staff and FO personnel do. Josh got his shot as a HC and Russell is now his college scouting director. Dimetroff got his shot as a GM and Vital is now his assistant director of player personnel. Everybody can't stay or they end up resenting you as Parcell's underlings often did. You seem to want Bill to retain everyone he started and trained on the one hand and stop training the next generation whose names and faces don't yet register on your Q ratings list on the other in favor of names you do know...That's not a BB problem, it's a Captain Stone problem.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

...

I'd prefer to think that BB has looked at the team's talent, assessed the young players, evaluated the FA opportunities, and then considered all the possible strategies. His conclusion appears to be that he can fill any remaining holes thru the draft where he has a target rich environment and add experienced role players through enemy teams' summer camp cuts. Pretty ballsy strategy. I hope it works. I'm nervous.

I agree with your assessment, but I think I'd put the "conclusion" just a little differently. I think he's going into the second year of a two or three year process to realign some parts of the team and rebuild others. I'm not "nervous" because my definition of "works" might be different than your's.

I look at it in the light of NFL history. The Pats went to five Conference Championships and four Super Bowls in seven years and then lost Tom Brady at the beginning of 2008; like many, I feel the Pats were primed and pissed to make another run that year, and almost did despite TB's injury.

The only other teams to have had runs like that (Steelers and Cowboys in the 70's, Niners in the 80's early 90's and, to a lesser extent, Raiders in the '70s--"lesser" because they couldn't turn their trips to CG's into trips to SB's) all needed decades to get back to the SB and only the Cowboys attained prominence again at the SB level, winning three of four in the 90's; the Niners have never come back, the Steelers are a mixed story, but took a long time to get back in serious contention.

My point is simple: taking a few years to make another run while Tommy is still QB is not out of the question, but history says it will be difficult, so I think Belichick is proceeding as well as possible, though not without some errors. Let's be patient and let's hope that 2011 isn't a strike year, as I see a lot of this coming together then.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

This ego thing is merely a convenient perception born of frustration because most fans and mediots don't grasp what he's doing, and how could they be expected to, but they don't want to admit they don't nearly have a sufficient grasp of the game at the level he's managing it because, after all, they've been watching it from the outside for years...

 

[tobias funke]

Anquan Boldin argued with his offensive coordinator on the sideline during an NFC championship game that his team won, because he was not getting enough playtime.

This is the guy we're upset because Belichick didn't trade for?

 

[neuronet]

He's not trying to prove he's the best coach, he's just trying to be the best coach he can be. Man counting the days until we have something real to discuss.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

If you look around the league, there are only about 6-10 teams that have made any significant additions this offseason (I count Jets, Dolphins, Ravens, Bears, and Redskins being the only real ones to make big additions). That means there are about 22 to 26 teams that have been about as active as the Patriots this offseason and many of them are in worse shape than the Pats. Some like the Steelers you can argue are worse than they were when free agency started. I think Belichick didn't make any big moves this offseason because the general concensus was that there weren't many to make.

And each of the teams you cite are under sufficient pressure to make something happen THIS season for good reason. The JETS are trying to sell PSL's in a recession to a fanbase that has been disappointed for 40 seasons and counting. The Dolphins have been floundering for a decade and are three seasons into a Tunabuild...few of which last much longer. The Ravens, for all Ozzie's accolades, haven't won in a decade despite their ferocious defense anchored by a LB who isn't getting any younger. Lovie and Angelo are clinging to their jobs by their fingernails after squandering a once mighty Bears defense in it's prime, and the Redskins goes without saying...

Why fans here would point to these franchises and say wahhhhhh, why can't we be more like <whichever>, is beyond me.

 

[Rob0729]

As am I. If Bill has put his ego ahead of the best interests of the team, then shame on him and woe is us. I don't think he is doing that, at least not consciously. But why hasn't he hired NFL-experienced assistants, instead of Division 3 grad students with no credibility in an NFL locker room, to help him execute his vision & reduce his workload, exc. for Corwin Brown? Why didn't he promote Dom Capers to DC? Why hasn't he added anybody to the FO exc. for Floyd Reese? Why weren't experienced scouts like Matt Russell & Lionel Vital retained?

Enquiring minds want to know...

First, how do you know any of the assistants Belichick promoted have no credibility in the lockerroom. Mangini was popular and respected in the lockerroom. So was McDaniels. Word is both Pepper Johnson and Matt Patricia are very respected by the players.

Second, the Patriots are far from the only team that promote from within rather than hiring experienced assistants. In fact, the three most successful teams of the decade (Colts, Steelers, and Patriots) usually promote from within rather than hire from the outside. The Steelers have a trend of rehiring old assistants, but overall most of the empty coordinator and even in the Colts case head coaching positions were filled in house.

Third, who is to say Dom Caper would have been willing to use the Patriots' defense if he was the coordinator. Caper comes from the one gap, blitzing Pittsburgh defense which is almost as different from the Pats' 3-4 as many 4-3 defenses. Was Belichick willing to completely revamp his defense to accomodate Caper? Was Caper willing to coach the Pats' defense?

Fourth, the Pats do not block their scouts from taking better positons. Matt Russell with the Eagles scouted three players who they actually drafted (he was their Western Region scout): DeSean Jackson (who was a no brainer where they drafted him), Winston Justice (a bust as a second round pick now a back up), and Michael Gibson (no longer with the team).

Fifth, as for the front office, Floyd Reese has 33 years in the NFL including 13 seasons as the Titans' GM. Why would you need to add more people than him. You got the seasoned veteran training the young gun Nick Casserio. The 2009 draft was arguably the best Patriots draft in years. Why is the front office in question at this point. Let's see how the 2010 draft goes because the combo of Reese and Casserio at least from the draft standpoint gets high marks for the first year.

 

[Metaphors]

I know alot of people are upset at how the team has not made many moves.. I felt this offseason with the labor uncertainty it was not going to be a big splash in the offseason... But something crossed my mind, with all the attention that Ryan is getting in NY with how he can coach people up, maybee Belichick is feeling I bet a good draft that gets us 3-4 starters, and I could prove that you dont need to make a big splash in FA to be the best coach... Its a thought, just like how Manning made those no name recievers household names, Brady will do the same with Tate and Eldeman.. I dont know, this might be his thinking, so we shall see.. I think next week at this time, we should have some awnsers to some questions, but we might not get all the awnsers to this offseason till sept...

I'm not sure it is that complicated...

- You mentioned the labor situation. If you assume that there will be football in 2011, there will be a new labor agreement, there will be a cap and the cap will be around a 2009 level (all reasonable assumptions) then that is a major consideration. With the new deals given out this year and pending deals to Brady, Mankins and a potential top 10 pick in 2011, having a bunch of talented 2nd round picks on rookie deals gives some nice financial flexibility.

- Apart from the money, it is clear that Belichick has made a talent decision about the 2009/2010 draft classes. He obviously sees them as being loaded with talent that translate well to the Pats. While he is loading up on players from these draft classes, they will need roster spots, practice opportunities and gameday snaps to develop. Why draft them and bury them on the bench or just have them running scout team plays?

- I like Reiss for dispensing information but find his opinions/insights not as useful...but I think he is 100% right on the mark when he discusses locker room chemistry in 2009. Not that it was bad, but it certainly seemed erratic and unfocused. And that is exactly how I would describe the effort on the field. I think Belichick would rather give himself a root canal than go through that again.

So I think Belichick has stayed out of the UFA/RFA/trade market for a variety of reasons. Cost/value wasn't ideal. The available players were loaded with character concerns that could be poison in the locker room. Flexibility to deal with 2011 labor situation. Deep and talented draft classes (may not come around again for a while). This is certainly not a "Win Now" mentality, but seems to me like it is an ongoing "Win Consistently" plan.

 

[Clonamery]

I'm not sure it is that complicated...

- You mentioned the labor situation. If you assume that there will be football in 2011, there will be a new labor agreement, there will be a cap and the cap will be around a 2009 level (all reasonable assumptions) then that is a major consideration. With the new deals given out this year and pending deals to Brady, Mankins and a potential top 10 pick in 2011, having a bunch of talented 2nd round picks on rookie deals gives some nice financial flexibility.

- Apart from the money, it is clear that Belichick has made a talent decision about the 2009/2010 draft classes. He obviously sees them as being loaded with talent that translate well to the Pats. While he is loading up on players from these draft classes, they will need roster spots, practice opportunities and gameday snaps to develop. Why draft them and bury them on the bench or just have them running scout team plays?

- I like Reiss for dispensing information but find his opinions/insights not as useful...but I think he is 100% right on the mark when he discusses locker room chemistry in 2009. Not that it was bad, but it certainly seemed erratic and unfocused. And that is exactly how I would describe the effort on the field. I think Belichick would rather give himself a root canal than go through that again.

So I think Belichick has stayed out of the UFA/RFA/trade market for a variety of reasons. Cost/value wasn't ideal. The available players were loaded with character concerns that could be poison in the locker room. Flexibility to deal with 2011 labor situation. Deep and talented draft classes (may not come around again for a while). This is certainly not a "Win Now" mentality, but seems to me like it is an ongoing "Win Consistently" plan.

Well stated, as usual.