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Fascinating NYT Patriots article: How Belichick Wins With Spare Parts

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Not quite sure how I missed this article from a few weeks ago but it is a definite must-read. The author put together a formula to determine the average draft slot of offensive players for each Super Bowl winner and 2010 playoff teams. 

The results? The three Super Bowl winning Patriots teams had three of the bottom four rankings. This year’s 2010 Patriots had by far the lowest score of the twelve playoff teams. So in a nut shell, the average Patriots offensive players are drafted far lower than any other good team in the NFL. And before you point this out as the reason they haven’t won a Super Bowl in the last six seasons let’s remember that this offense was light years better than everyone else in the regular season. So remember to temper your criticism through that. 

As the Patriots add more high round picks in 2011 they should only get more talented, and hopefully even harder to stop.

Here’s how they sum the 2010 Pats up…

The Patriots led the N.F.L. in points scored. They threw the most touchdowns passes. They committed fewer turnovers than any other team since the adoption of the 16-game schedule. They ranked second in rushing touchdowns and in net yards per pass attempt. And yet, as we’ve described, they are almost entirely powered by late-round and undrafted players. So how does Belichick turn an offense that appears marginal on paper into a dominant unit?

Tom Brady is the obvious reason, but New England’s offense has been less explosive with more talented teams during the Brady era. Even though Brady’s probably playing the best football of his career right now, the offense’s success is about more than the quarterback. Conventional wisdom would suggest that Belichick is both a master of the draft, finding gems with late-round picks, and a fantastic coach in the truest sense of the word, able to turn young men into elite players with his tireless attention to detail.

I’d argue it goes a step further than that. The Patriots, for the first time in the past few seasons, have regained a level of organizational clarity that few teams can match. When Scott Pioli and Belichick built the championship Patriots teams at the beginning of the decade, New England consistently added “their guys,” players who fit the Patriot profile. With the drafting of Hernandez and Gronkowski, and the re-acquisition of Branch, to go along with Welker and Brady, the Patriots are back to finding players who, first and foremost, fit their system. Green-Ellis, Woodhead and Branch wouldn’t succeed on a lot of teams, but Belichick knows exactly what he wants out of every roster spot and only looks for players who possess those traits. And that’s a big secret of his success.

Nick Saban’s Belichick-influenced defensive philosophy

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I found this quote a while back on the great site SmartFootball.com. Saban was Belichick’s coordinator when he was in Cleveland so surely this philosophy is largely influenced by BB. First here’s Chris from SmartFootball’s background on Saban:

Saban has been coaching defense – and coaching it quite well – for decades. But there is no question that the defining period of his coaching career was 1991-1994, when he was Bill Belichick’s defensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns. Just knowing that tells you a great deal about Saban’s defense: he (primarily) uses the 3-4; he’s very aggressive, especially on passing downs; he wants to stop the run on first and second down; he’s not afraid to mix up schemes, coverages, blitzes, and looks of all kinds; and, most importantly, he is intense and attentive to detail, which is the hallmark of any great defensive coach.

Now here is Saban’s defensive philosophy in his own words:

[Our] philosophy on first and second down is to stop the run and play good zone pass defense. We will occasionally play man-to-man and blitz in this situation. On third down, we will primarily play man-to-man and mix-in some zone and blitzes. We will rush four or more players versus the pass about ninety-percent of the time.

“In all situations, we will defend the inside or middle of the field first – defend inside to outside. Against the run, we will not allow the ball to be run inside. We want to force the ball outside. Against the pass, we will not allow the ball to be thrown deep down the middle or inside. We want to force the ball to be thrown short and/or outside.

“… Finally, our job is to take the ball away from the opponents’ offense and score or set up good field position for our offense. We must knock the ball loose, force mistakes, and cause turnovers.Turnovers and making big plays win games. We will be alert and aggressive and take advantage of every opportunity to come up with the ball … . The trademark of our defense will be effort, toughness, and no mental mistakes regarding score or situation in any game.”

A study in Patriots playoff loss hoodies

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I’m definitely a superstitious person. Once I find a good game day schwag combo I try to stick to it. That’s why I was even more shocked when we lost to the Jets this year and I was in a shwag combo that had not lost all season. 

Someday I wish someone (and it will probably be me) will put together a game by game record of every hoodie ever worn by BB, but today we look at the hoodies that have been worn for the last five playoff losses.

First up is this one from the 2005 AFCDG against the Broncos. Notice the sleeves are still pretty long and the complete absence of a hat.

Next up we have the 2006 AFCCG loss to the Colts. Again no hat, but it looks like BB was really starting to take the sleeves up a notch. Maybe it was because it was so hot in the Colts dome?

Here we have the Super Bowl 42 one. Or as I like to call it the “red alert” hoodie because the second I saw it I felt uncomfortable with the choice. The sleeves are cut off practically to a short sleeve sweatshirt and that is one piece of fashion I’ve never seen before. I don’t know why BB chose this one, but I’m sure it ended up burning on the floor after the most disappointing team sport loss of the last decade. This could possibly be the most infamous of all BB hoodies.

After a playoff absence in 2008 BB returned with the old faithful grey hoodie and the 50th anniversary throwback pom hat. I had bought this same hat specifically to wear for the playoff game so you can probably imagine my joy when I saw BB had it on too. It was a nice touch, a tribute to the team’s Pat Patriot past, while also keeping his signature look. We went down together that day…

Finally we have this past season’s loss to the Jets where we have the new incarnation of the hoodie. I’m not sure if old grey has been retired but clearly the blue hoodie is now the go to of choice. I really felt good after seeing he had chosen this one for the game. But alas, we sucked and lost.

So what does it all mean? That there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason or correlation between the hoodie and the team’s performance. Especially when we take a look at the playoff winning hoodies which will be coming along in part two tomorrow…

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Here’s Belichick at practice today and he’s wearing my favorite hat. Last year I had bought one of those hard to find 50th anniversary pompom hats just for the playoffs. Imagine my delight when it just so happened that BB was wearing it for the Ravens game as well! Yeah, and then the game unfolded like a total disaster from the first snap. So I’m kinda hoping he doesn’t wear it Sunday. I know I won’t be.

What we need is for him to go Storm Shadow again:

https://www.patspropaganda.com/heres-belichick-at-practice-today-and-hes/

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leftyargonaut:

I created this for NESN Daily tonight, hyping up the Showdown between Rex “The Belly” Ryan and Bill “The Brain” Belichick. Inspiration for the design came from seeing The Fighter recently, and by looking at some retro boxing posters from the 50s-60s.

https://www.patspropaganda.com/leftyargonaut-i-created-this-for-nesn-daily/