Belichick is also not afraid to think outside of the box, to break the bounds of conventions if that helps. ...
No disrespect to the story, which is great - "let the wind be the receiver." But this is one of a number of moments, as you say, demonstrating a point that BB has mastered, i.e., apparent arrogance (AKA, treating each situation, each form of preparation, each opponent... as what it is.)
This dovetails with the never-too-high, never-too-low ethos, the almost fawning evaluation of upcoming opponents, etc. First of all, he knows that if we are thinking about the "idea" of how good we are, we aren't. That's an illusion and a distraction. Whatever the other guy does well, he can destroy us with, if we do not diagnose it and counter it methodically and intentionally.
He must find it a little funny when other coaches talk about how they play with emotion and fire etc. etc. etc. and they don't want to tamp that down... er okay, thank you for the tell, first off, and secondly, how are you thinking through what you've prepared for the next situation if you're flexing because you hit a runner 2 yards in the backfield?
Another BB point I love (sort of a segue) is that information is a resource. Every scrap. He doesn't give it away for free, and he doesn't let it go to waste when he gets access to it, and I
so don't want to drag cameragate into it LOL.
He practices awareness of the information and resources at his disposal (not all of which are players on the field), and depriving the opponent of information and resources, which takes the
form of many of the habits and traits we are talking about.
Every team is different, every season is different, every game is different.
And every situation, your options are exactly what they are -- not what everybody else has done, not what some talking head's chart says... your options are what they are.
By the way, another of the million examples thereof... Back when we had Grahambo and Ben Watson on the same team, I thought we were going to go TE crazy.. and we ended up convinced we needed them to block more than catch. I then thought no no no, this Hernandez/Gronk draft does
not mean we're going TE crazy... And the rest of the league had pretty much the same idea. There was Hernandez, Witten, Gonzales, everybody else? 300 yards, 3 TD.
After drafting that position seemingly every draft, they finally got the pull on the draft slot machine they wanted. They got that skill set combination, and did not hesitate to ride it for insane production or look back. Badda bing badda boom, a new day dawns of catching TEs.
1 more: "Hey nobody else is eating up the skills we need for a 2 gap 3-4 D, let's do that." "Richard Seymour is too tall to play tackle and is a waste of a draft pick" --Wrong Borges.
We were one of maybe 3 teams playing a 3-4 base D back during that first dynasty... but there's more copying in the NFL than at Kinkos, so I imagine about a third of the league is all about the 3-4 now. Meanwhile... the prominence of 3-4 is far from absolute for the Pats now.
I got kind of out there I think.
I meant to say, other coaches seem to do what they think they have to do. BB does what he think gives the team the best chance to win, FU if you disagree. I even think he might respect Pete Carroll for not running Marshawn Lynch in that SB. Unfortunately for Carroll, BB had had the team practice that very rub route.
Que sera sera
