Metaphors
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Re: Belichick said he had "misinterpreted" NFL rules-true or bs?
I actually think this situation is a culmination of frustration built up over the last couple of years. Take a look at the situation in total and it kinda makes sense.
The Background
Belichick is a coach in the traditional sense...relying on teaching, preparation and intelligence to put his players in the best position to win. He has the dedication and work ethic, but he needs to control information to maximize his chances of winning.
The Environment
The policies of the NFL work exactly counter to Belichick's nature: they want coaches (including assistants) and players to be accessible to the media and they want to have a level playing field on the amount and type of information teams can gather.
The no video policy is especially galling to him. Belichick wants as much information as possible from every game (including games of upcoming opponents) to use as material for preparation. He doesn't have the time or inclination to do film study during the game or at halftime...and he certainly wouldn't trust an underling to make gameplan changes with video he hasn't seen. So the NFL is telling him that he has to have limited information (same as his opponents) for future preparation...even though he is not doing anything sneaky or underhanded to get the information.
As a quick aside, there is more to gather about watching opposing coaches besides "stealing signs". Are they slow to get signals in? Maybe we should go no-huddle. Do they change signals after we show our offensive formation? Maybe we should do a quick shift before the snap. And so on. All perfectly legitimate observations that he can't make during the game and broadcasts won't show him later. Now back to my ramblings...
The Hypocrisy
So Belichick is already frustrated that the league policies are aligned against him. Now he sees other organizations pulling underhanded tactics (Milloy/Branch tampering, players secretly wired for sound, overheated domes, etc.) and the league ignores it or calls it "gamesmanship"...while he gets crap for trying to gather information. Now Belichick is frustrated and his ego makes him ripe for picking a fight with the league. In fact, the memo sent out days before the game may have sent him over the edge.
The Miscalculations
Belichick knew sending out a camera guy would be a violation of a policy he didn't agree with, but he was going to make the league either stop him (and stop the other teams' "gamesmanship" as well) or let him coach the way he wants. That is all fine and dandy except he may 3 miscalculations:
The Bottom Line
This incident was a "perfect storm" of past events, silly policies, big egos, a league's image problem and a lazy, sensationalizing media. Everyone (except the media) lost in this affair. The only positive that can be hoped for is that all of the "gamesmanship" that drove Belichick to a bad place will stop or be punished with equal severity. If not, this whole mess would have been for nothing.
I actually think this situation is a culmination of frustration built up over the last couple of years. Take a look at the situation in total and it kinda makes sense.
The Background
Belichick is a coach in the traditional sense...relying on teaching, preparation and intelligence to put his players in the best position to win. He has the dedication and work ethic, but he needs to control information to maximize his chances of winning.
The Environment
The policies of the NFL work exactly counter to Belichick's nature: they want coaches (including assistants) and players to be accessible to the media and they want to have a level playing field on the amount and type of information teams can gather.
The no video policy is especially galling to him. Belichick wants as much information as possible from every game (including games of upcoming opponents) to use as material for preparation. He doesn't have the time or inclination to do film study during the game or at halftime...and he certainly wouldn't trust an underling to make gameplan changes with video he hasn't seen. So the NFL is telling him that he has to have limited information (same as his opponents) for future preparation...even though he is not doing anything sneaky or underhanded to get the information.
As a quick aside, there is more to gather about watching opposing coaches besides "stealing signs". Are they slow to get signals in? Maybe we should go no-huddle. Do they change signals after we show our offensive formation? Maybe we should do a quick shift before the snap. And so on. All perfectly legitimate observations that he can't make during the game and broadcasts won't show him later. Now back to my ramblings...
The Hypocrisy
So Belichick is already frustrated that the league policies are aligned against him. Now he sees other organizations pulling underhanded tactics (Milloy/Branch tampering, players secretly wired for sound, overheated domes, etc.) and the league ignores it or calls it "gamesmanship"...while he gets crap for trying to gather information. Now Belichick is frustrated and his ego makes him ripe for picking a fight with the league. In fact, the memo sent out days before the game may have sent him over the edge.
The Miscalculations
Belichick knew sending out a camera guy would be a violation of a policy he didn't agree with, but he was going to make the league either stop him (and stop the other teams' "gamesmanship" as well) or let him coach the way he wants. That is all fine and dandy except he may 3 miscalculations:
- NFL security took the camera/tape. I imagine he expected the camera guy to get ejected from the game at worst.
- Goodell leaked information to the media. This allowed the question of league integrity to become front page news. Belichick has too much respect for the game, the Patriots and Robert Kraft to want that to happen.
- The punishment involved a first round pick. Draft picks are gold to Belichick. The worst he could have expected as punishment would have been a 3rd (Denver's punishment for salary cap violations). The combination of Goodell's temperment, the environment in sports overall and the media frenzy combined to result in a penalty that has to be killing Belichick right now.
The Bottom Line
This incident was a "perfect storm" of past events, silly policies, big egos, a league's image problem and a lazy, sensationalizing media. Everyone (except the media) lost in this affair. The only positive that can be hoped for is that all of the "gamesmanship" that drove Belichick to a bad place will stop or be punished with equal severity. If not, this whole mess would have been for nothing.
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