Bill Belichick vs. Bruce Arians - style contrast

[Hammer of Thor]

Bill Belichick vs. Bruce Arians - style contrast

I thought this was quite interesting. From PFT Live today:
Bruce Arians: Week One loss to Patriots derailed our season

After the Patriots beat the Cardinals 23-21, New England went on to win the Super Bowl, while Arizona went on to finish the season a disappointing 7-8-1. Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said on the PFT Live podcast that he thinks the Week One loss sent the rest of the season spiraling out of control.

“I think the biggest reason was losing the opener on Sunday Night Football to the Patriots on that missed field goal,” Arians said. “That took a lot of swagger out of our football team, then we came back and lost to the Rams in another close game. We didn’t win the close games we had won in the past but it all goes back to that first one.”

Now of course, it's funny thinking about the Cardinals being 0-1 and having that break their season, when the Patriots were down 28 to freaking 3 in the middle of the 3rd quarter in the Super Bowl. But the swagger comment stood out to me.

From chapter 6 of Patriot Reign by Michael Holley, during the 2002 season (the 9-7 season after the miracle of 2001 and before the dominance of 2003/2004) -- part a speech Belichick gave to the team:

"I'll tell you one other thing too," he says. "I've read a couple of comments. Now, I don't spend a lot of time reading the paper. I really don't. But I do watch a little about what we say and what we think. I've seen a couple of comments here, some of the players talking about we need to get our 'swagger' back. Our attitude back..." ....

"You know what? We didn't have a 'swagger' last year. If you f*cking think about it, we didn't have a swagger. What we had was a sense of urgency, a sense of urgency about playing well, being smart, and capitalizing on every opportunity and situation that came our way.... It wasn't about a f*cking swagger. You can take that swagger and shove it up your ass, okay?"

I just thought the difference was quite striking, with the 2015 coach of the year in one corner, and the coach with the most Super Bowl rings in history on the other. This seems to tell me that Arians is just a front runner coach, who is decent with his schemes, but doesn't really know how to motivate his players, how to adjust when things don't go too well, and how to identify the actual problems. An average coach, basically.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Cards were soft as ****.

 

[qbno12]

First thing that comes to mind reading things like this is "wow that team is soft". It is actually the coach's responsibility to keep the team focused on goal ahead and getting them to play at a high level.
Our 2014 loss to Chiefs was as bad as it gets. BB mentioned how he saw his team fighting through it and showed toughness.
Arians has won a few games and is probably lucky to survive as HC for so long. He reminds me of Mike Singletary's season as HC of 49ers. He was constantly yelling at players and calling them out openly instead of keeping things in house. Arians is following the same path.

I understand losing a home opener in week 1 on prime time can be bad but good coaches find a way to turn things around. Also, Arians is not the first one to point out the week 1 loss. Ron Riviera did it last season after 2015 season when they lost SB and had to play in Denver in week 1.

In BB's own words "Coaches don't win the games. They lose them. Players win the games".

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Pete doesn't throw his players under the bus.....

 

[varjao]

I didn't follow anything about the Cardinals in this offseason, signings , draft, etc...I just know that insisting on Carson Palmer after the horrible season he had last year, this team is headed to an 8-8 and if Arians keep pointing fingers like this he won't survive the season.

 

[jah]

I'm probably starting to look like I have a personal vendetta against the guy, but...

Arians is a fraud (in this context meaning average NFL coach).

 

[PatsBoy12]

Bruce Arians: Is He Being Serious?

I'm sorry if this is a re-post, but I read this and I couldn't believe what I was reading. Is this guy serious? Moreover, he actually is openly saying this stuff? So much for mental toughness. Who needs that anyway?

Jimmy Garoppolo the reason for Cardinals' subpar 2016 season?

Appearing on the PFT Live podcast, Arizona coach Bruce Arians said the Week 1 loss to the Patriots was a major reason why.

“I think the biggest reason was losing the opener on Sunday Night Football to the Patriots on that missed field goal,” Arians said.

 

[jmt57]

It wasn't all that long ago that many (including myself) considered Arians to be the second best head coach in the NFL.


Obviously that was incorrect.

 

[Ivan]

Tough tough mindset. It's amazing they folded.

 

[sean10mm]

Yeah, saying a week 1 loss derailed your season is a self-own for a head coach. How is that even a thing?

Arians is kind of infamous for being inflexible and getting his quarterbacks sacked to death. If an Arians QB is sacked less than 40 times a year it's a miracle. Look at Big Ben's sack totals in what should have been the prime of his career, they're terrifying for the most part.

 

[Delicate Genius]

I think his Gatsby hat is squeezing his brain.

 

[borg]

1) Belichick rule #1: offer nothing
2) Belichick rule #2: make no excuses
3) Belichick rule #3: take all the blame

 

[Robdude]

I am not an Arians fans nor do I really know if he is a good coach or not. But, I think it is silly to kill him on the comments above. I mean he is giving an honest answer of when the season went bad. I read it as more of a reflection than an excuse and I imagine he is thinking about what he will do if this happens again (two hard losses to start the season).

BB is obviously the best coach pretty much ever so it isnt fair to compare anyone to him. They all will come up short.

It seems to me that this honesty will make Arians better in the future

 

[TB_Helmet]

Patriots: We crush your souls.

Seahawks still fighting each other about Malcolm Butler. Rams dynasty fell apart before it started. Houston varsity jackets become a laughing stock. So many other examples. Big Ben almost retired in the off-season. Now this.

We don't just beat you. We make sure you keep losing after we beat you.

 

[Ras-IR Dowling]

Patriots: We crush your souls.

Seahawks still fighting each other about Malcolm Butler. Rams dynasty fell apart before it started. Houston varsity jackets become a laughing stock. So many other examples. Big Ben almost retired in the off-season. Now this.

We don't just beat you. We make sure you keep losing after we beat you.

That's why Atlanta may be in for a letdown this year

 

[Wheelman]

Yes, he openly said this. If you check out the PFT article, there's a video with the interview he did. It's at the 9 minute mark. He was asked a question by Florio and he answered it. Only 20 seconds and then moved on to other unrelated questions.

 

[The Gr8est]

Somehow, the Pats were able to overcome an opening game loss to Buffalo 31-0, and still win the Superbowl.

Try again Bruce.

 

[meatface]

Bruce Arians is a guy who likes to blame everyone else when something goes wrong.

 

[jimnance]

Somehow, the Pats were able to overcome an opening game loss to Buffalo 31-0, and still win the Superbowl.

Try again Bruce.

And the season finale, the 31-0 beatdown of buffalo,is one my all-time favorite regular season games. I wanted that shutout so bad and you could see how bad the Pats D and BB wanted it,too. The Bills had been talking **** after the season opener. And of course,Tom "they hate their coach"Jackson.

 

[Deus Irae]

This is actually subtle for Arians. He usually would have gone with something like

"We were a little ****y, and too mentally soft, and losing to Brady's backup was all it took to get a lot of us to fold the tents.".