Bill Belichick Is Always The Key To Beating New England
By Erik Lambert
Listen. This isn’t going to be a popular opinion, but Tom Brady is not the reason the New England Patriots are great. Bill Belichick is.
Of course Brady is a future Hall of Famer who’s earned everything he has. At the same time it’s fair to wonder how he might’ve survived without Belichick. Over time it’s become clear that the Patriots head coach is by far the best of his generation and maybe the best in modern history. Only Don Shula has had a greater sustained run of success in the Super Bowl era and he still falls three rings short of where Belichick sits.
The Patriots have had one losing record in during his entire tenure and that was his first year in 2000. Since then their worst finish was 9-7. They haven’t won fewer than 12 games since 2009 and haven’t finished short of the AFC championship since 2010. It’s an absurd amount of success. So how does he do it? Sure, part of it is him being a brilliant mind but it goes beyond that. Belichick simply outworks and out-prepares his counterparts consistently.
An assistant coach put it best about the workdays.
"“The 20/20 deal. Twenty hours a day for 20 grand a year. And it wasn’t exactly 20 [grand] yet.”"
Belichick is tireless in his pursuit of snuffing out weakness
More from NFL Mocks
- NFL Draft: Ranking the top signal callers of the 2024 NFL QB Class
- 2024 NFL Mock Draft Journal: Cardinals, Falcons tank for USC QB Caleb Williams
- Patriots News & Rumors: Ezekiel Elliott talks fun in Foxboro; Mills to Packers?
- Fantasy Football: 5 reasons Colts QB Anthony Richardson can be a top-end option
- Packers’ Lukas Van Ness will make a Lambeau leap into the NFL in 2023
They say it takes a certain kind of crazy to play the game of football. That’s true. It also takes a certain kind of crazy to coach it. People never understand how much of a character Belichick is. He’s unique. Special. It’s evident in his insatiable love for the game. That is the only way he can possibly justify working grueling 20-hour days do film study and preparation. Then again it’s not hard to see why players give their all for him. They see he’s working as hard, if not harder than anybody else.
Therein also lay the great secret to beating the Patriots. People always talk about matching Brady and stopping him. They don’t bother to realize New England wins with complete team efforts. Believe it or not there are those handful of games that Brady is off and the offense can’t score. Yet the Patriots win anyway. Why? Belichick finds ways to adjust.
It’s not about another quarterback outdueling Brady or a defense crushing him. It’s about another coach outperforming Bill in the chess match. Look at all of the Patriots’ biggest defeats throughout his run. In 2006 against the Colts? Tony Dungy was head coach and he’s in the Hall of Fame. Losing the Super Bowls in 2007 and 2011? That was against Tom Coughlin, another relentless worker and disciple of Bill Parcells just like Belichick.
Those men won with motivation and preparation. That’s how to beat New England. It’s no coincidence almost every Patriots victory looks like the opposing team beating themselves. That’s because Belichick knows how to expose their lack of preparation in some capacity. There are few coaches in the league up to that challenge.
Until one comes along who is? New England won’t be relinquishing that crown.