Patriot Way Begins And Ends With Belichick - Part 1: Unyielding, Unapologetic And Territorial

When introducing Bill Belichick as the keynote speaker at a coaches clinic last April, Ohio State University coach Urban Meyer shared a coaching lessons he learned from the New England Patriots' head ball coach Bill Belichick over the years.

Meyer stated that he asked Belichick how it is that he takes players who are seemingly under the radar, players that no one has ever heard of, and turns them into clutch players on the biggest stages and in the biggest moments that the sport has to offer, and the response caught him off-guard:

"At this point in my career, I want to coach guys I like." Meyer iterated, "I want to coach guys I want to be around, and that's it. I'm not going to coach anybody else."

Add that little nugget into his penchant for using players until they no longer serve his purpose for them, multiply by performance then divide by salary cap space, and the sum is an oftentimes motley crew that has no business winning as many football games as they do - but they can, and do, because Belichick had plans for them even before they were on the team, and sometimes while just a Belichickian daydream.

Case in point: When the then-San Diego Chargers released a 30-year-old Rodney Harrison after the 2002 season, he was resigned to having to accept a mid-level contract somewhere, riding on the coattails of a couple of Pro Bowl seasons, and had already fielded offers from a couple of AFC West teams when Belichick called him.

"I saw you in warmups once, and saw you level a receiver." Harrison recollected, "I knew right then I wanted you to play for me."

Harrison was shocked that Belichick would remember a hit he had made in warm ups for a game. "Who else would remember that?" Harrison mused, "who else would even be watching a pre-game drill?" After they hung up, Harrison called his agent at once and said "I don't care what you have to do. I don't care how much money we have to leave on the table, I want to play for Bill Belichick."

There seems to be quite a few stories like that out there regarding Belichick, and likely why he is known to be a "Player's coach" - so why is it that lately there has been talk of players being unhappy or of them plain disliking him?

To be sure, there has been talk and rumors over the years about players hating Belichick and that the locker room has been divided - particularly when he released safety Lawyer Milloy soon after signing Harrison in 2003, and then again when he shipped Richard Seymour off to Oakland in exchange for first and second round draft picks...

...but if there were any hard feelings from the players towards Belichick, those quickly disappeared in the euphoria of unprecedented success and the blinding glow of big silver trophies.

Which is something that former Patriots' wide receiver Danny Amendola alluded to in an interview with ESPN.com's Mike Reiss last week, when he talked about what it was like to play for Belichick over the years:

"It's not easy for sure. He's an asshole sometimes." Amendola said, "There were a lot of things I didn't like about playing for him, but I must say, the things I didn't like were all in regards to getting the team better, and I respected him. I didn't like practicing in the snow, I didn't like practicing in the rain, but that was going to make us a better football team and that was going to make me a better football player."

For sure, you will hear that sort of thing from many of the players that Belichick has coached through the years in Foxborough, as well as Amendola's final remark on the subject, when he said that Belichick would be the first to admit that he wasn't easy to play for, but that the silver lining was that they were winning rings.

And that's the rub. Amendola knew the score and he stayed in New England by his willingness to take less and less in salary, but reaped the reward with five consecutive appearances in the AFC Championship game and three Super Bowl appearances, earning two rings and the unofficial moniker of Danny "Playoff" Amendola bestowed upon him by tight end Rob Gronkowski for being absolutely clutch in the biggest of moments.

But now Amendola is in Miami, despite not knowing for sure who's going to be throwing passes his way as the Dolphins' quarterback situation is very much fluid at present, because he wisely cashed in when a desperate Miami ownership made him a contract offer that New England was powerless to match, even if they wanted to...

It was a blow to the Patriots' combined consciousness, as the candid Amendola reflected the true grit that has embodied the intestinal fortitude of the team, but it also demonstrates the intense desperation of the Patriots' division rivals who have been trying to catch New England for years, but have nothing but grief to show for their standard-brand efforts to draft and develop players, and are now taking to weakening them by offering their players outrageous contracts.

Amendola was one of 34 players on the Patriots final 2017 roster that had previous Super Bowl experience, and one of 22 players who had been to the big game at least twice - why, Gronkowski has been to seven straight conference championship games and has been on the roster for four Super Bowls - as have any players who have been with the team since 2011.

Which brings up an interesting point. It has been said that New England is a place where veterans who have made their money in football come to realize their dreams of winning championships, but what if that scenario were reversed and tenured veterans who have won championships with the Patriots who have tired of Belichick's mean uncle act and want to go play someplace fun, and for many dollars?

For sure, that has been a consideration for many former Patriots, including many starters this offseason, all of whom conceded that Belichick is tough to play for, but have a begrudging respect for the Dark Master, and even some levity from left tackle Nate Solder who left for the Giants and a huge contract, then taking out a full page ad in a Boston daily to thank the New England fans...

...then turned around and offered that Belichick does have a heart of gold when it came to softening up the rules for Solder when his son became seriously ill with a rare form of kidney cancer, which goes to figure that if he did so for Solder, then there must be other occurrences out there of Belichick showing a soft side.

That's not a very scientific way of looking at things, but football isn't science. If it were, however, you can bet that Belichick would be the "Mona Lisa Vito" of football...

If you ask Harrison, Belichick's "mean Uncle" brand of football keeps players humble and focused. He likes to tell a story about the Patriots' 16-0 season, when Belichick would use Monday critique sessions to call out players for mistakes, even though they were blowing other teams out.

"I loved it." Harrison recalls, "He just wouldn't let us have a let down. He'd be saying, 'Brady you can't hit a 260 pound tight end on that play, that's terrible' and, 'Do you guys on defense think you can stop somebody for once?' I mean, he'd just light us up. We're winning games by 30 and he's just killing us."

"I'll tell you what separates him from every other coach - he always has a short-term plan and a long-term plan - and he's always working both at the same time."

His goal of his short-term plan is the same each and every season, and that's to win the Super Bowl - and he's reached the big game enough times to consider any year in which he doesn't win a title as a resolute failure, while is long-term plan is also an annual effort to build his roster with a solid mixture of veteran core players, mid-level role players and young developmental players.

It's a recipe for success unlike what the league has ever seen before, and lot of it has to do with Brady's sustained excellence within the system, a system that suffers more purposeful attrition than any other team in football, because Belichick uses those mid-level players to achieve his short-term goals, while his core veterans and developmental players work in tandem to ensure that the future talent pool is maintained.

Belichick is unyielding, unapologetic and territorial. He wants things done the way he wants things done - and the way he wants things speaks to the old school, focusing on fundamentals and conditioning because if you are fundamentally sound in your approach and are in good training shape, the rest of your job will follow - so is it any wonder that what Belichick gets most upset about is a breakdown in either?

He is not always right, but you will never hear him apologize. The closest one will ever come to hearing a concession or confession from Belichick is when he breaks out his standard script and offers that "Players win games and coaches lose them." - even in the shadow of his most famous of gaffes, he shows no remorse.

After the 2009 pre-Thanksgiving loss to the Indianapolis Colts in which Belichick's decision to go for a fourth down and two from his own 28 yard line went awry, he told his dejected players in the locker room, "It didn't work out, and I'm not going to apologize to anyone for being aggressive and trying to win. That's what we're here for."

Because Belichick is unyielding, unapologetic and territorial, there are many who don't care for him. he is gruff with the media, and fans of other teams use disparaging remarks to describe their loathing of him, but until recently, one really didn't hear players - either his or on another team - speak of him with anything but respect - but have the times and the game changed so much that Belichick's way of doing things becoming archaic and too grounded in today's NFL?

Tomorrow - Part 2: The Gold Standard