Round Table: Has 2013 been Bill Belichick's best coaching performance?
Patriots owner Robert Kraft brought up an interesting point
during an interview yesterday: this might be the best coaching job of Bill Belichick's 14
season Patriots career. Despite facing a litany of injuries to key players
(Vince Wilfork, Rob Gronkowski, Sebastian Vollmer and Jerod Mayo to name a
few), Belichick has his Patriots at 13-4 and in the AFC Championship game for
the eighth time in his tenure.
"This is his 14th season with us but I really think
this might be his most outstanding coaching job," Kraft said on ESPN New
York Radio 98.7 FM. "The way these guys have stepped up, 'Next man up' so
to speak, has just been unbelievable.”
This got our staff thinking: has this been Belichick’s best
performance? Here are some of our thoughts:
Michael Hamm:
When history looks back at New England Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick, the 2013 NFL Season will be the gold standard of not only his tenure with the Patriots, but also for any coach for any team in any season - beginning with the manner in which he addressed the evil Aaron Hernandez issue before training camp and was able to virtually eliminate his connection to the team, to managing a roster disheveled by injury and heavy with rookies and veteran cast-offs.
In my mind, the only season that even begins to approach this one is the 2011 season, which started with a lockout shortened preseason and training camp, the emotions surrounding the death of team owner Bob Kraft's wife and ended with the smoke and mirrors magic act he pulled off in the injury-ravaged secondary to make it to the Super Bowl - and nearly win it.
Michael Hamm:
When history looks back at New England Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick, the 2013 NFL Season will be the gold standard of not only his tenure with the Patriots, but also for any coach for any team in any season - beginning with the manner in which he addressed the evil Aaron Hernandez issue before training camp and was able to virtually eliminate his connection to the team, to managing a roster disheveled by injury and heavy with rookies and veteran cast-offs.
In my mind, the only season that even begins to approach this one is the 2011 season, which started with a lockout shortened preseason and training camp, the emotions surrounding the death of team owner Bob Kraft's wife and ended with the smoke and mirrors magic act he pulled off in the injury-ravaged secondary to make it to the Super Bowl - and nearly win it.
Ned Brady:
Don’t get me wrong; this year has been nothing short of
incredible and I’m loving every second of the ride.
But, in my mind, it’ll be hard for Belichick to ever top the
2001 season. While there are plenty of reasons for that, I’ll stick to
Belichick making what is unquestionably the best decision of his coaching
career: choosing a game-managing, largely unproven backup quarterback named Tom
Brady over established NFL superstar Drew Bledsoe, despite Bledsoe’s $100 million contract.
Hindsight has made it difficult to remember how shocking
this decision was at the time. While the Patriots had improved with Brady under
center, he was still a largely unproven quantity, a back-up quarterback with
modest stats in less than a season of work. Not only was Bledsoe a three-time
Pro Bowler, but he was the face of the franchise, the quarterback who had
brought the Patriots back to respectability through the sheer strength of his
canon right arm.
It’s also important to remember who Belichick was at the
time. While he still had a reputation as a great defensive mind from his days
with the Giants, he was also a guy with a mediocre 41-55 career record as a head
coach going into that season. Having already been fired once, a decision of this magnitude backfiring
could very well cost him his job and likely any future opportunities as a NFL head coach.
However, Belichick had the gumption to follow his gut
instincts and make the right decision, not the easy one. Despite plenty of media controvery,
Belichick’s Patriots overcame the odds and a lack of talent (on paper), ripping off six straight wins to finish
the year with an unlikely playoff berth. Still, even after vanquishing the
heavily favored Raiders and Steelers, the clock was supposed to strike midnight for these valiant underdogs
when they played the Saint Louis Rams and their
superstar fueled “Greatest Show on Turf” offense in the Super Bowl.
Instead, Belichick came up with the perfect coda to his team’s
storybook season, coming up with a brilliant gameplan to stifle the seemingly
unstoppable Rams. While the defense largely propelled them to a win by holding the Rams to 17
points, the game ultimately came down to Belichick’s earlier decision to stick with
Brady that season. Going against the grain (or at least the advise of John Madden) one final
time, Belichick trusted his unheralded quarterback to drive down the field and set up a
game winning score. Brady did just that, Vinatieiri split the uprights, and a dynasty was born.
Belichick may have had better and certainly more
talented teams during his Patriots run, but he never did more with less than
with the 2001 Patriots. It was a season that not only exceeded expectations, but changed the course of the franchise. The Patriots haven't looked back since.
Conor Frederick:
2007 was the one of the best seasons in history statistically, if
not the best, at least until the Denver Broncos came along this year and
broke the records Tom Brady set that year. It was also the only perfect
regular season since the league expanded to 16 games. The Patriots
would win their first two playoff games, then lose to the Giants in the
Super Bowl.
I would argue that year was Bill Belichick's finest hour as a
head coach, despite losing out in the Super Bowl. Why? Because it takes
a special coach to keep his team from getting distracted. It takes
stern leadership to keep a team focused on the task at hand and not let
his team get carried away. And Bill Belichick provided that - he kept
his team focused on winning the next game, an attitude that took them to
the Super Bowl, and almost finished the season 19-0. The Patriots might
have finished out that season as champs if not for a lucky catch at the
end of the Super Bowl.
True, that team was loaded, but I think only Bill Belichick could have kept that team on the right track and lead them to a perfect season. There you have it. That's why I believe the perfect season was Belichick's finest hour as a head coach.
True, that team was loaded, but I think only Bill Belichick could have kept that team on the right track and lead them to a perfect season. There you have it. That's why I believe the perfect season was Belichick's finest hour as a head coach.
Mike Saver:
2008 - Can Bill Belichick's best coaching year really be one where the team didn't even make the playoffs?
It's certainly a candidate.
For
those that remember, the Patriots went 11-5 that year, normally good
enough for a trip to the post-season. Like the Arizona Cardinals this
year though, the Patriots were somehow on the outside looking in.
Anyway, what was impressive about that season was that it was the Matt Cassel Patriots at 11-5.
We
all painfully remember this one. Brady went down with an ACL tear in
the first game of the season. Matt Cassel, who hadn't started a game
since high school, had somehow found his way onto the roster. Now, he
was under center for the Patriots.
That was Cassel's last year as a Patriot, he ended
up being traded to Kansas City and was rewarded with a nice contract.
The past few years, we've seen what he can do. As a starter with the
Chiefs, Cassel's teams never won as many as that 11 games.
That right there is all you need to know about why
2008 may be Belichick's greatest year as a coach. He literally lost the
face of the franchise in Tom Brady, said "fuck it" and still ripped off
the type of season Cleveland Browns fans would give up their left nut
for.
Belichick not only had to survive the Brady loss Xs
& Os wise, but also he had a downtrodden locker room to deal with.
How do you keep those players motivated to win when they just lost their
future hall of fame starting quarterback?
The year showed a tremendous understanding of how to
lead a team and also may have been the ultimate example of putting your
players in the best situation to win based on their skill set. It's
something Belichick has been famous for, turning around the seasons of
old veterans by just asking them to do what they can do well.
In 2008, Belichick had to do that with the entire
offense, structuring it all around what Cassel could do well. And he did
it on the fly.
If most teams lost a hall of
fame starting quarterback like Tom Brady, it'd be pretty logical to
think they'd fall apart. There wouldn't be a want or even a know how to
win when dealt that kind of blow.
In 2008, the Patriots had both. All the credit in
the world goes to Bill Belichick and his staff, and that's why it may be
his best coaching year yet.
Which year do you think was Bill Belichick's best coaching performance? Let us know in the comments below!
Which year do you think was Bill Belichick's best coaching performance? Let us know in the comments below!
