Bill Belichick Enters Another Elite Club
By David Fleming
Belichick’s career win/loss percentage: .626. Switzer’s career win/loss percentage: .633. So, they are pretty comparable there.
But that's exactly what's happening Monday after Belichick's rather odd, and uncharacteristically panicky, decision to go for it on fourth down deep in his own territory cost the Patriots a win in Indy Sunday night.
I’m not sure what was particularly panicky about it. A pointless quote might help clear things up.
Norm Chow, the offensive coordinator for UCLA, once told me: "Anybody can just say, 'Hey, let's go for it!' But real coaches get a feel for the game, their own team and the situation and they just know, instinctively, when it's the right time to take a risk."
There we go. Fleming is usually good for at least two pointless quotes per article, so I’m expecting another one. Also, I like that his authority is an assistant coach of a college team that is 5-11 in conference during his tenure.
Look, Bill Belichick is, maybe, the best coach ever in the NFL. In fact, currently, I'm not even sure there's a close second. But last night in Indy those all-important instincts that Chow was talking about? Yeah, they abandoned Belichick, big-time, instead revealing something none of us had ever seen before: his human side. Yes, on a better day Belichick probably would have sensed slight vibrations coming from Kevin Faulk’s twitching finger tips, indicating that Faulk would slightly bobble a pass thrown him, causing him to establish possession of the ball only after being driven behind the yard to gain by a defender, thus causing a turn over on downs. On a better day. Caught up in the moment, intimidated (yes, I said it) by Peyton Manning, Belichick got tunnel vision and decided, above all, he wanted to control his own destiny and keep the ball away from the Colts.
Now let me say the same thing Fleming just said, but make it sound like Belichick made the right call. “Focused on the decision at hand, fearing what might happen if the league-MVP Peyton Manning got the ball back, Belichick, always with the singular goal of winning the game in mind, decided his best move was to give his vaunted offense a chance to convert, and try to keep the ball away from the Colts.”
Bill made a boo-boo. Maybe, maybe not. A big one. Definitely not. And when you expect absolute perfection from everyone around you at all times, well, the moment you mess up you're gonna get crushed for it. And that's what's happening today. Rodney Harrison, in fact, immediately called it the worst coaching decision he had ever seen Belichick make. One thing that bothers me about football (and most other sports) is that former players are automatically assumed to be authorities on all aspects of the game. Being able to run fast and hit hard does not qualify somebody as an expert in the tactical nuances of a football game. It just doesn’t. Which tells me one thing: Rodney must have forgotten about Bill's tenure in Cleveland when he was the original version of Eric Mangini. (True story: I interviewed Belichick once under the stands at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium when most of his answers were drowned out by chants of "BILL MUST GO! BILL MUST GO!" Imagine that.)
What does this have to do with anything? Maybe Fleming is trying something new. He’s getting away from the irrelevant quote, and trying out the irrelevant anecdote. Is this going to become a trend?
"We push players beyond their limits and expectations every day," Jeff Fisher told me a few seasons ago. "Sometimes, as coaches we just have to remember to do that with our decisions too."
Nope.
As Fisher likes to say, it's not about minimizing risk -- it's about managing it.
What does this mean? It must just be more nonsense for good measure.
Here are a few other coaches who learned the hard way, that's a whole lot easier said than done:
You’ll have to read the rest of this scintillating article on your own. I’m done.
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