Most of all, radically different from any NFL coach but extremely similar to a championship stakes poker player, Belichick’s gameplan is determined 100% by the variables of a given encounter as opposed to a strategy concocted in a vacuum. Other teams you hear constantly discussing what “their style of football” is, or “we do what we do.” It’s rigid, and unchanging. If somebody solves it, they lose. Belichick, conversely, devises strategies week to week which are fluid and constantly changing. It’s not just about feeding the ball to one player, it’s about isolating your greatest strength against their greatest weakness, whatever that may be, and ruthlessly exploiting it until someone finds an adjustment. If defenses have an answer for Gronkowski but not Deion Branch, then Branch’s targets increase monumentally until a defense compensates to adjust. Once they do, New England has an answer for that as well.
And in response to the idea that Spygate gains unfair advantage, that’s poker playing 101. You always have to be looking for new ways to create or manufacture an edge, grey area or no. To think he’s the only one of this mindset is ludicrous. Otherwise, we’re forced to believe nobody in the NFL is taking HGH or steroids. Everyone wants edge, and everyone is after it, no matter how sanctimoniously you want to view the Spygate issue as a fan of a 7-9 team. They didn’t fight to 7-9 fairly; they ended up at 7-9 using unfair edges nobody heard about, and failed to overcome the deficiencies their team possesses.
To be fair, Belichick’s moxie with playcalling and strategy is largely a byproduct of his job security. There is no risk so great he can take on one play that will cost him his job. Whereas other coaches feel, and correctly in many cases, that one failed attempt in defiance of conventional football wisdom may cost them a job. Only a handful of organizations and coaches have enough job security to attempt strategies without fear of immediate removal. The Steelers are a fantastic example of this. They hire a guy and stick with him forever. Rather than hiring head coaches almost at random, and creating a revolving-door situation which often creates upheaval within a system forever, they find a guy they really want, let him run the show as he sees fit and allows him to build a program. Why is this such a radical concept in the NFL? Tomlin’s Super Bowl win solidifies his place as head coach for years to come, but it wasn’t necessary with their organization, because they believed in him, as any team undergoing painstaking lengths to find the right guy by all rights should. Random trial and error, plainly stated, is for assholes.
Nonetheless, Bill Belichick, a toast to you sir. You understand the game is about high percentages, exploiting the weaknesses your opponents present to you, and the long run. Moreover, you keep the nuances of your strategy, or at least your way of thinking as tightly bottled up as is humanly possible given the number of press conferences the job requires you to endure. Hunches and gut feelings are worthless, and pale in comparison to a mathematically provable edge. Keep it up, and I look forward to seeing whether or not your edge is so great you can win yet another ring despite lacking virtually any elite players on the defensive side of the football. You can play on my roll (well, rather the other way around, hopefully) any time you wish. Cheers.
