In Bill We Trust no more?
New England Patriots stunning loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl 42 has caused some fans to unleash their fury at head coach Bill Belichick who, in their minds, came up with a weak game plan, coached the game poorly and didn’t make the right adjustments (by some fans I mean the ones I heard call and write in to the Dennis & Callahan show on WEEI yesterday morning - I’m not totally weasly).
I largely disagree with those fans. Now, one can certainly question the wisdom of going for it on fourth and thirteen from the 31-yard line instead of kicking a field goal. But otherwise Belichick handled the game more or less the same way he’s handled almost all other games this season. Other than going no-huddle against Indianapolis Colts in the second half Belichick mostly let his players execute the same schemes until they worked. Now, the schemes changed a bit as the season wore on. For example, the formation with two tight ends off-set from the line of scrimmage went out of fashion after the tight-end position was thrown into flux by injuries to both Ben Watson and Kyle Brady. Kevin Faulk’s role increased after Sammy Morris was placed on injury reserve. While the Patriots used a lot of different formations they mostly used one running back, one tight end (often in a wide or tight slot) and three wide receivers. In some of the close games in the final stretch of the season I wished for more four-wide formations, but Belichick generally stuck with Watson and that always worked until Super Bowl. In games where the offensive line struggled with pass protection they always figured it out in time to set up the winning score.
And it came very close to working in that game, too. Patriots defense had four opportunities to end the game on the final drive and also missed a golden opportunity to put the Giants in a fourth and long situation when they failed to sack Eli Manning.
There’s no coach I’d prefer over Belichick. In Bill I Still Trust.
We’re moving on. 2008.
