Bill Belichick

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Yeah, too bad Mazz isn't still around to join in our celebration of Bill Belichick.

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This is why Bill is so good. He sticks to his convictions and does not check scared. Mike Reiss is right, if the Bills had scored to win the game, the criticism of Bill's game plan would have been off the charts.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Imagine, for a moment, what the reaction might have been on Monday night had the host Buffalo Bills scored a go-ahead-for-good touchdown against the New England Patriots on either of their fourth-quarter drives that advanced inside the red zone.

"What was Bill Belichick thinking?"

"Let Mac cook!"

"Why was N'Keal Harry back there returning punts?"

"The first coach to try to win a game without a quarterback."

"Is Belichick trying to send football back to a different era?"

Instead, after a 14-10 win in which rookie quarterback Mac Jonesattempted a franchise-record-low three passes in wind gusts of 40 mph, some are referencing a masterpiece by New England's coach; how his keep-it-on-the-ground strategy was a slice of game-planning brilliance.

In a sports media landscape filled with extremes, here's a thought: Could we possibly spot the football closer to the 50-yard line -- somewhere in the middle -- and appreciate what unfolded Monday by looking at it through a different lens?

This, as much as anything, was a reflection of Belichick's conviction to win games no matter how odd it looks. In some ways, it's the unconventional fourth-and-2 call from Indianapolis in 2009 all over again ... but this time with a better result for New England.

Again, consider the reaction in the aftermath had things not worked out. There is little doubt Belichick would have been crushed, like fourth-and-2, which is why some other coaches might be more apt to stay with the conventional thinking.

Not Belichick.

As his former receiver Julian Edelman tweeted late Monday night, there is an easy way to sum up why the Patriots threw just three passes.

Belichick’s outside-the-box approach also showed up in going for a 2-point conversion after the Patriots’ first touchdown -- a successful run by running back Brandon Bolden -- giving the team an early 8-0 lead.

Kicker Nick Folk said the Patriots determined before the game the 10-yard line was as far out as they would kick to the non-tunnel side because of the wind, which proved to be critical with the Bills missing a fourth-quarter 33-yard attempt to that side. In retrospect, had the Patriots not converted the 2-point conversion, the Bills might have approached their fourth-quarter drives differently.

Belichick detailed more of the Patriots' thinking on Tuesday morning, saying during his weekly interview on sports radio WEEI: "If it had been a different type of game and we had needed to throw there in the fourth quarter, we would have thrown. We were able to manage the game the way we did and that worked out all right for us."

Belichick sometimes references the book "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu as one in which he sees great lessons that apply to coaching, and you could make a connection with how he approached Monday's game. One tenet is to recognize strategic opportunities and not create opportunities for the enemy. In other words, playing it safe can sometimes be the smartest tack.

"The score definitely helped, no question about it," Belichick said. "If the situation had been different, we'd have to look at what that was. But the way the game played out, playing from ahead, and with the conditions being what they were, I thought we played a pretty good complementary game."

It's similar to what offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels referenced last week when he said of the offense: "Sometimes you have to understand what could have been in terms of worse scenarios to kind of appreciate how a possession ended the right way."

Some of that applies to the Jones-directed Patriots offense having 3 of 10 possessions result in points while going 2 of 12 on third down. But there is also room for improvement after a performance that would have had the second-guessers out in full force had a play or two gone in a different direction.

That's why, more than anything, what unfolded Monday night is best defined as bold.

And oh-so Belichick.
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www.espn.com

Patriots' win in Buffalo latest example of Bill Belichick's bold approach

The coach risked heavy criticism with a plan that featured three passes in Buffalo, a reflection of his conviction to win no matter how it looks.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
Phil Elliott said:
You don't need to be in market. He and Phil Perry have Tuesday and Thursday podcast "Patriots Talk."
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I'll watch that occasionally. I must have missed his mea culpa. Strangely, I heard Perry say Jones has a "below average" arm on the radio, pre game, Monday night. I couldn't believe it, since I consider Perry non-trollish and good.

I wouldn't put it past NBC to start to coach one guy to say one thing and the other to start playing another role of antagonist. Mac Jones's arm is good and will get better. There's nothing "below average" about it.
 
Roberto71 said:
This is why Bill is so good. He sticks to his convictions and does not check scared. Mike Reiss is right, if the Bills had scored to win the game, the criticism of Bill's game plan would have been off the charts.



www.espn.com

Patriots' win in Buffalo latest example of Bill Belichick's bold approach

The coach risked heavy criticism with a plan that featured three passes in Buffalo, a reflection of his conviction to win no matter how it looks.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
Click to expand...

I've expressed the belief here that Bill will sometimes risk a key loss in order to show his team something that they have to feel for themselves by actually doing and
one possible reason for the Runfest Monday night is that Bill wanted these guys to KNOW that they have the ability to out-physical an opponent and pound them into submission using
as radical a throwback game plan as that. Even when they know it's coming --- they can't stop us.

We aren't the only recent team to run that style, with Baltimore being really outstanding on the ground a couple of seasons ago, but we served notice on our remaining
opponents that they have to prepare to sell-out in the box or risk getting steamrolled. This takes up preparation time, may affect their personnel decisions and we can
use all the attention to counter.

Assuming the weather is fairly benign during the rematch, what do you think might happen if we went heavy play-action and let Mac operate?

I don't believe this sort of game plan will ever be used again in that way, but it was an interesting strategic move that'll be sure to help McDermott unravel a little bit more (possibly
completely) along with giving our other opponents something to burn the midnight oil over. Every Buffalo player sitting in a meeting this morning will be feeling like
their coaches let them down and the effects of that game won't be easy to just forget and move on from. And they get Tampa this week.

As usual, Bill plays places far more emphasis on the long game than anybody. Everybody else is just trying to get through the coming weekend.

I don't believe it was just the wind.
 
TyLawsPick6 said:
I'll watch that occasionally. I must have missed his mea culpa. Strangely, I heard Perry say Jones has a "below average" arm on the radio, pre game, Monday night. I couldn't believe it, since I consider Perry non-trollish and good.

I wouldn't put it past NBC to start to coach one guy to say one thing and the other to start playing another role of antagonist. Mac Jones's arm is good and will get better. There's nothing "below average" about it.
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In the universe of NFL starting QBs, Mac's arm is almost certainly below average. That doesn't mean it's not strong enough to do the job at an extremely high level, and it doesn't mean it won't be average or better when it is more fully developed. But this group has extremely strong arms, obviously, and there are a few outliers that skew the average higher than the 16th best arm would be. From the hip, I'd say Mac is probably in the 3rd quartile in terms of arm strength - in the #17-24 range. If he's smart and dedicated to developing his technique and body his ceiling is maybe in the #8-12 range, maybe a bit above average.

But as long as the arm strength is at or above a minimum threshold, it shouldn't be a limiting factor.
 
Flagg the Wanderer said:
In the universe of NFL starting QBs, Mac's arm is almost certainly below average. That doesn't mean it's not strong enough to do the job at an extremely high level, and it doesn't mean it won't be average or better when it is more fully developed. But this group has extremely strong arms, obviously, and there are a few outliers that skew the average higher than the 16th best arm would be. From the hip, I'd say Mac is probably in the 3rd quartile in terms of arm strength - in the #17-24 range. If he's smart and dedicated to developing his technique and body his ceiling is maybe in the #8-12 range, maybe a bit above average.

But as long as the arm strength is at or above a minimum threshold, it shouldn't be a limiting factor.
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I don't agree. If it was below average, he wouldn't have made a lot of the throws he's already made. Brady had the same knock back in the day, too. It's lazy analysis. You don't beat out 5 star recruits at Bama and win a title with a below average throwing arm.
 
The game is not decided on being able to throw 60 yard bullets or a 20 yarder at 65+ mph that the receiver actually worries about as it whizzing towards him anyway. Our receivers have already stated that they love the way Mac throws the ball so that's good enough for me. If, at the end of a game, you have to rely on being able to launch one 70 yards then you did the whole rest of the game wrong anyway.
 
TyLawsPick6 said:
I don't agree. If it was below average, he wouldn't have made a lot of the throws he's already made. Brady had the same knock back in the day, too. It's lazy analysis. You don't beat out 5 star recruits at Bama and win a title with a below average throwing arm.
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It's the reason (and perhaps the only significant reason) that he wasn't a 5 star recruit himself. His arm is plenty good enough. But in the group of, say, 36 NFL starters? He's not in the top half of that group. Many/most of whom were 5 star recruits and/or top 10 picks themselves.

You don't become an NFL QB with a below average throwing arm, so you're talking about one single attribute up against a pool of the extreme high-end on that specific attribute. Don't know what else to say. I guess we could go through a list of the starting QBs and you tell me where he ranks? 🤷

Look, as far as I'm concerned it's a badge of honor. Doing what he has done - already! - would be amazing if he had a lightning bolt attached to his shoulder. He's done it without that, relatively speaking. His arm is absolutely good enough to be wildly successful - it won't be a limiting factor. He's not post-surgery Pennington. But he's not Cutler, Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, Vick, Cunningham in terms of arm strength. He's just not. We saw one situation where that will impact him on Monday. Cutting through high winds is hard. Allen could do it because of arm strength and experience doing it. All available evidence points to Mac not being able to do so well/consistently. That doesn't mean he can't ever be successful in a windy game, and it doesn't even mean he couldn't do it later this year. It just means it's not a strength you want to lean and rely on.

Mac is amazing. That doesn't mean every single thing about him is amazing, or even above average. He doesn't seem to have any obvious fatal flaws, and he's off the charts on the things that matter most.
 
Flagg the Wanderer said:
It's the reason (and perhaps the only significant reason) that he wasn't a 5 star recruit himself. His arm is plenty good enough. But in the group of, say, 36 NFL starters? He's not in the top half of that group. Many/most of whom were 5 star recruits and/or top 10 picks themselves.

You don't become an NFL QB with a below average throwing arm, so you're talking about one single attribute up against a pool of the extreme high-end on that specific attribute. Don't know what else to say. I guess we could go through a list of the starting QBs and you tell me where he ranks? 🤷

Look, as far as I'm concerned it's a badge of honor. Doing what he has done - already! - would be amazing if he had a lightning bolt attached to his shoulder. He's done it without that, relatively speaking. His arm is absolutely good enough to be wildly successful - it won't be a limiting factor. He's not post-surgery Pennington. But he's not Cutler, Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, Vick, Cunningham in terms of arm strength. He's just not. We saw one situation where that will impact him on Monday. Cutting through high winds is hard. Allen could do it because of arm strength and experience doing it. All available evidence points to Mac not being able to do so well/consistently. That doesn't mean he can't ever be successful in a windy game, and it doesn't even mean he couldn't do it later this year. It just means it's not a strength you want to lean and rely on.

Mac is amazing. That doesn't mean every single thing about him is amazing, or even above average. He doesn't seem to have any obvious fatal flaws, and he's off the charts on the things that matter most.
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What about Phillip Rivers for example? The guy looked like he was in the middle of a shotput competition every time he threw. I was never a fan, but look at his career. Outside of his god awful postseason record and loserdom status, he had a nice productive career who knew how to throw based on his motion. I didn't think he'd make it, but he didn't have a strong arm.

I see Mac as an above average arm guy with room to make it a little better as he grows into his body. You want average? Kyle Orton. Teddy Bridgewater. Mark Sanchez. Guys like that.

When Mac needs to zip it in there, we've seen him do it. The ball to Bourne vs Dallas totally surprised the Cowboys secondary, for example. The dart he threw to Bourne for the TD vs Cleveland was a seed.

I am sorry, but Phil Perry is wrong. Below average basically means you can't succeed as an NFL QB week to week.
 
Flagg the Wanderer said:
It's the reason (and perhaps the only significant reason) that he wasn't a 5 star recruit himself. His arm is plenty good enough. But in the group of, say, 36 NFL starters? He's not in the top half of that group. Many/most of whom were 5 star recruits and/or top 10 picks themselves.

You don't become an NFL QB with a below average throwing arm, so you're talking about one single attribute up against a pool of the extreme high-end on that specific attribute. Don't know what else to say. I guess we could go through a list of the starting QBs and you tell me where he ranks? 🤷

Look, as far as I'm concerned it's a badge of honor. Doing what he has done - already! - would be amazing if he had a lightning bolt attached to his shoulder. He's done it without that, relatively speaking. His arm is absolutely good enough to be wildly successful - it won't be a limiting factor. He's not post-surgery Pennington. But he's not Cutler, Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, Vick, Cunningham in terms of arm strength. He's just not. We saw one situation where that will impact him on Monday. Cutting through high winds is hard. Allen could do it because of arm strength and experience doing it. All available evidence points to Mac not being able to do so well/consistently. That doesn't mean he can't ever be successful in a windy game, and it doesn't even mean he couldn't do it later this year. It just means it's not a strength you want to lean and rely on.

Mac is amazing. That doesn't mean every single thing about him is amazing, or even above average. He doesn't seem to have any obvious fatal flaws, and he's off the charts on the things that matter most.
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Good post.

I don't recall that Joe Montana had a reputation as possessing above average arm strength. He was able to have a modicum of success in the league.
 
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Arm strength is certainly overrated. He kind of reminds me of Chad Pennington before the shoulder injuries, from what I remember anyway, and he didn't have a great arm to begin with. Montana didn't have that great of an arm compared to his peers either, he did OK, and it's even easier to pass now.

Edit: I honestly didn't see TipRoast's post before mentioning Montana, great minds :)
 
TipRoast said:
Good post.

I don't recall Joe Montana have a reputation as possessing above average arm strength. He was able to have a modicum of success in the league.
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The experts are obsessed with arm strength. Accuracy and intelligence are more important imo. Who cares if someone can chuck a ball 90 yards if they can't hit the broad side of a barn, arm strength is useless. If you can't read a defense, arm strength won't help you. The experts, I take what they say with a grain of salt.
 
jaychamp said:
Arm strength is certainly overrated. He kind of reminds me of Chad Pennington before the shoulder injuries, from what I remember anyway, and he didn't have a great arm to begin with. Montana didn't have that great of an arm compared to his peers either, he did OK, and it's even easier to pass now.

Edit: I honestly didn't see TipRoast's post before mentioning Montana, great minds :)
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I agree with this.

Essentially, arm "strength" shouldn't be the main factor in determining whether an arm is any good. Mac's accuracy trumps guys that can whistle it over somebody's outstretched arms 50 yards downfield on any day ending in a "y".
 
1970Dart said:
The experts are obsessed with arm strength. Accuracy and intelligence are more important imo. Who cares if someone can chuck a ball 90 yards if they can't hit the broad side of a barn, arm strength is useless. If you can't read a defense, arm strength won't help you. The experts, I take what they say with a grain of salt.
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They're technically obsessed with whatever they can spin to attempt to make BB look bad.
 
Hawg73 said:
I agree with this.

Essentially, arm "strength" shouldn't be the main factor in determining whether an arm is any good. Mac's accuracy trumps guys that can whistle it over somebody's outstretched arms 50 yards downfield on any day ending in a "y".
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Yeah, but to say "below average" means the person has no idea what they are talking about when it comes to understanding what really is below average. Tim Tebow was below average for crying out loud.
 
Flagg the Wanderer said:
Mac is amazing. That doesn't mean every single thing about him is amazing, or even above average. He doesn't seem to have any obvious fatal flaws, and he's off the charts on the things that matter most.
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The whole post was excellent, but I'll comment on the above.

It's a simple fact. Nobody is perfect. I think we've all seen what can happen when people worship at the altar of a star football player and can't see the flaws that are a guarantee in every human being.

I don't ever want to see a cult built around our new QB, with all that entails, nevermind now-- when he's still figuring out how to be successful at this level. I want to cheer for the kid
and have other people cheering for him in a balanced way, but I'll admit there is a part of me that wants to defend him from the kind of cliche's that we've been hearing about how he can't do
this or that.

I suppose that's a sort of warning sign and going forward I'm able to see him for the kind of player he really is and not what I want to see.

For instance, he's handled everything with remarkable external poise, but sometimes I wonder if it's not a bit more chaotic inside his helmet. This is hard, what he's facing over the
next month and a half and what follows will be harder still. I'm trying to reel in the fantasy that he's going to go Superstar when there are a few hills yet to climb. Bad weather,
season length, better competition and, yes, much bigger expectations may yet be beyond his grasp. There is a ton of pressure on 10's shoulders.

I mean, I don't think he'll bonk out, but I can see the possibility of him struggling to keep it going as smoothly as he has thus far as a reality of life in the Show.
 
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