Wouldn't have it any other way...

[NJPatsfan26]

Having Bill Belichick as our coach, I wouldn't want any other coach in charge of the Patriots. With the way he handles the media, to the way he handles himself during games, he has and will always amaze me with his style. So here's to all that is Bill Belichick and to many more great seasons with him.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Just stumbled on this very insightful commentary and while checking to see if it had already been posted I though what better thread title for it anyway.

Word of caution - it's from an ESPN commentator. But you find the most insightful things at times in the unlikliest of settings.

Think of Bill Belichick, and the Dobie Gillis sweatshirts, and think of New England's win yesterday. Now think of its loss the week before, and of everything you've heard and read about it since, and about how crazy or sane "The Decision" was, and about the jittery New Age of Belichickian Recklessness it must usher in, and about how rolling the dice on fourth-and-2 and coming up craps maybe means he's lost his mud or he's lost his mind, but that it All Must Somehow Mean A Very Great Deal To Those Of Us Who Think And Write And Derive Deep Meaning From The NFL.

OK.

Because the Belichick we almost never see or hear about -- the riverboat high roller in that well-cut suit of shantung silk, all id and appetite and with a smile like new money -- is as much a part of those sideline decisions as the 200-gig risk/reward processor we've been taught by convention and the failed imagination of American sports writing to expect.

But this is America at the turn of the 21st century, which means that we love science -- except when we disagree with science. We love numbers -- except when we disagree with numbers. We love risk -- except when we disagree with risk.

In fact, for a nation that engineered its fortune on risk and ingenuity, America remains weirdly schizophrenic and unconvinced by the assertions of either its guts or its science.

The problem is not that we as a species are in possession of these two sets of conflicting faculties, intuition and cognition, but that after a thousand human generations we have yet to reconcile them.

Thus it becomes the bedrock premise of bad sports writing -- both old-skool and new -- to mock what we do not understand, and to condemn what we cannot ourselves embrace. To question decisions we have no stake in, and to second-guess everything except ourselves.

To question decisions like the one Bill Belichick made that weekend -- and made again last weekend and will make again next weekend and hundreds of times every weekend thereafter until the day he retires -- is to admit a kind of childlike egocentrism about outcomes.

You need to win?

You can't afford to lose?

That's not about Bill Belichick.

That was never about Bill Belichick.

That's about you.

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots' fourth-and-2 call against the Indianapolis Colts isn't open to question, unless we question ourselves first. - ESPN

 

[oldskool138]

What prompted the creation of this thread?

 

[Kontradiction]

What prompted the creation of this thread?

BB's aura of awesomeness.

 

[fair catch fryar]

Great article posted by Mo Lewis Rocks. I for one, wanted him to punt, but wasn't second-guessing the decision because I still believed that regardless of whether Manning started on his own 30 yard line or the Patriots 29 they would've scored. What still fries me is the BS and predictable pass-interference call in that quarter setting one of Indy's earlier TD's and the spot of the ball after the 4th & 2. That being said, BB is in a class all by himself and after watching what has become another enjoyable train-wreck of a Jets season, I'm thankful that much more for the Krafts, BB, and Tom Brady and knowing all too well what rooting for a dismal franchise is like...ala...the Patriots of the late 80s -mid 90s.

 

[oldskool138]

BB's aura of awesomeness.

Random adulation. Got it.

 

[blackglass3]

I swear to God I had a dream the other night that Bill Belichick was fired for the 4th and 2 call and it made me question if I still wanted to be a fan of the franchise.

 

[Ghost of Ben Dreith]

What prompted the creation of this thread?

I'm guessing its his being in NJ and subject to the televised games of the Jesters along with watching their donut covered with bacon eating coach go through another crying jag after another Jester loss makes him realize how lucky he really is being a Patriot fan. Kinda like having the tornado skip your house while taking out houses all around you.....you are thankful it wasn't you.....although that might be a poor analogy since in the tornado case, you would be extremely worried about the pain inflicted upon your neighbors whereas no Patriot fan gives a Ratgini ass about any problems inflicted upon the Jesters.

On another note, they had the donut covered with bacon on a Criminal Minds episode last night......and I gotta say.....I am really tempted to give it a try....

 

[Patspsycho]

Thus it becomes the bedrock premise of bad sports writing -- both old-skool and new -- to mock what we do not understand

If this doesn't describe that punka** Shanknancy perfectly, I don't know what does.

 

[brady et al fan]

What prompted the creation of this thread?

I don't know but its a good vibe and a sentiment all Pats fans share. It will be a sad day when BB goes and I can't imagine what this team will be like when he leaves. I still remember scratching my head when Kraft was willing to give up (was it a 1st rounder?) for tampering to bring in BB. He knew what he was doing and has done a great job keeping out of Bill's way ever since. We are lucky indeed.

 

[DarrylS]

I don't know but its a good vibe and a sentiment all Pats fans share. It will be a sad day when BB goes and I can't imagine what this team will be like when he leaves. I still remember scratching my head when Kraft was willing to give up (was it a 1st rounder?) for tampering to bring in BB. He knew what he was doing and has done a great job keeping out of Bill's way ever since. We are lucky indeed.

Do not think he will ever really leave, he has found his niche in the world, when he leaves the field he will still be involved in sometype of advisory capacity.... heard that there is a plan in the works to change the name of Foxboro.. to Belichickboro..

 

[bostonia3333]

The time will come where Pats get their 4th SB trophy and BB runs out of challenges here.

Dallas will step in and offer BB 15 million dollars per year to be coach/GM of the franchise. It's not out of the question he could follow Parcell's route and try to instill success or create a dynasty with another franchise. Parcells almost won 2 titles with 2 different teams---BB could see this as another challenge and try to become one of the few coaches to do this.

 

[patriots pam]

The time will come where Pats get their 4th SB trophy and BB runs out of challenges here.

Dallas will step in and offer BB 15 million dollars per year to be coach/GM of the franchise. It's not out of the question he could follow Parcell's route and try to instill success or create a dynasty with another franchise. Parcells almost won 2 titles with 2 different teams---BB could see this as another challenge and try to become one of the few coaches to do this.

I'd think the opportunity [with the Pats] to get a 4th and then a 5th to be the coach with the most SB wins is a pretty damn good challenge, don't you? Barring an event that I won't even dare type, there should be time to try and get that done during the TFB era, no?

 

[MoLewisrocks]

The time will come where Pats get their 4th SB trophy and BB runs out of challenges here.

Dallas will step in and offer BB 15 million dollars per year to be coach/GM of the franchise. It's not out of the question he could follow Parcell's route and try to instill success or create a dynasty with another franchise. Parcells almost won 2 titles with 2 different teams---BB could see this as another challenge and try to become one of the few coaches to do this.

Little Bill is nothing like Big Bill in that respect. It amazes me that folks here don't see that after the last decade. He loves teaching, like his parents, and he knows that the only thing harder than getting to the top is staying there. Legacy matters to him, but not remotely in the same way as Tuna. Tuna is a control freak. Tuna's is more ego driven. He needs a new challenge and a new contract every couple of seasons because the grind gets to him. What he does is all amout him. And he'll even work with people he doesn't like or who have competing egos to match just for the shot to polish his own ego in the process.

What Bill does is about "us". This organization is Bill's legacy. (Which is why he wouldn't remain with the JESTS.) Much as it is Krafts and Brady's. None of them will leave here for a new challenge because the challenge remains making this franchise one for the history books. They embrace the grind. They will each continue to do what they have been doing since the day they got here until they can't do it anymore for whatever reason.

When Bill leaves it will be because coaching at this level has lost it's luster and he's done all he could have ever hoped for or imagined - and he wants more time for his family. (Ditto this for his QB I think too.) Then he will likely write and maybe even go to the college ranks where he can get re-energized about teaching and elevating some heavily academic program (my guess Navy) to the national level. Anywhere he went he'd be a recruiting bonanza, but my guess is he'd love to do it with a core of intelligent and disciplined kids like he'd get handed at the naval Academy. When he was a kid and Steve was coaching there those player-cadets like Staubach were his idols.

College coaching is a lot different lifestyle let alone when you eliminate the recruiting BS. And he could also continue to groom the next generation of his coaching tree branches. And still have quality time to spend with his kids and their kids.

 

[TruthSeeker]

The time will come where Pats get their 4th SB trophy and BB runs out of challenges here.

Dallas will step in and offer BB 15 million dollars per year to be coach/GM of the franchise. It's not out of the question he could follow Parcell's route and try to instill success or create a dynasty with another franchise. Parcells almost won 2 titles with 2 different teams---BB could see this as another challenge and try to become one of the few coaches to do this.

I think you don't understand BB if you think that he is like Parcells in always looking for a totally different challenge.

Parcells likes to start from mediocre, build to very good or great and leave.

BB likes to develop a system and a team and run it. He doesn't leave; he was fired from Cleveland and made it clear he likes it here in NE. Why wouldn't he? He has a great owner and has a great team that he built and can continue to shape in whatever way he wants.

I see practically zero chance of BB leaving only to go to another NFL team simply because he's tired of what he's build in NE. That's not who BB is; that's who Parcells is.