Patriots Way too tough to copy?
Written by Andy Hart on July 1, 2009 – 11:07 am -New NFL.com/NFL Network analyst Jason La Canfora had an interesting item on his blog yesterday that caught my attention.
The entry deals with a question that I think many of us following the NFL and Bill Belichick have wondered for years: Are Belichick’s understudies capable of recreating his organizational leadership style in other places?
La Confora looks at the “militaristic” atmosphere that Scott Pioli and Josh McDaniels have brought to their news jobs in Kansas City and Denver respectively.
Belichick’s “one-voice” approach and tight organzational measures have worked to supreme success in New England. But that success has included two very important factors – it’s taken place under Belihcick’s direction and with Tom Brady at quarterback. Winning begat winning and with more winning came a more stringent faith in the way things are run in Foxborough.
Can his disciples succeed doing things the Belichick/Patriots Way without working under Belichick, without Brady under center? Eric Mangini didn’t exactly light the world affire with the style in New York. (Of course someone forgot to tell that to Browns owner Randy Lerner, who bent over backwards to get Manginig to Cleveland.) Charlie Weis has had his struggles and has ruffled plenty of feathers with his style in South Bend. And while he may not have been overly dictator-like in his head coaching gig in Cleveland, Romeo Crennel didn’t last too long there.
Will McDaniels and Pioli prove that the Belichick/Patriots Way can work without the the Belichick/Brady combo? Does bringing the tough love approach to a new team bring increased pressure to win even sooner than is normally expected in the NFL? Who has a better chance of making the style work, McDaniels or Pioli?
Let us know what you think with a comment below!
Posted in General |
July 1st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
It’s the Patriots curse!
July 1st, 2009 at 7:59 pm
BB is the Master…he has all the knowledge and understanding of football down to the minutia…
THAT cannot be replicated
July 1st, 2009 at 10:55 pm
can the pyramids from Egypt be duplicated.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:10 pm
And chances are, McDaniels’ got it worse!
July 2nd, 2009 at 8:12 am
Question should rather be :Who will have the better players ? In that case- Cassell at the helm gets it done quicker as Pioli provides the squad who gets it done. McDaniels will struggle as he sorts out his D !
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am
perspective: No Brady + Viniteri + Fat Teddy [ Washington ] + mcGinnist = no genius status for BB…remember Bill back in Cleveland ???
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Let’s not forget Robert Kraft. He doesn’t meddle in the day to day operations like his counterpart in Dallas. Strictly hands off. Kraft will ask his staff what they need to be successful and provides them with the tools to be successful. Solid organization from top to bottom. Too many variables to consider when comparing other organizations to the Patriots.
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Pioli. He was there helping Bill get things established and is more familiar with what it takes to set up that environment. He has Cassell under center who is on-board with the program and both Cassell and Vrabel to help establish things in the locker room.
But he has something else vitally important - control. So far at least KC ownership is standing much more tightly behind Pioli than Denver’s is with McDaniels. And IMHO having the support of solid ownership is the only reliable way to set up any consistent program. Crazy or meddling ownership can kill the hope of success of any program. Infighting in the front office distracts everyone in charge.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:23 am
I believe both McDaniels and Pioli will succeed with their teams. It’s about putting your players in the best position to succeed and motivating them above and beyond their abilities. McDaniels especially will need a winning season - even though BB’s inaugural year was a 5-11 bomb.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:13 am
re: bryce,
Hey Bryce, I remember Bill Belichick in Cleveland, and I remember a playoff team from the year before finding out that the owner was planning on moving the team. That will destroy the chemistry of any team.
Those SB wins for the Giants? Who put together those defenses for Bill Parcells?
Belichick is the best coach in the NFL and arguably one of the best of all time. Brady goes down last season and he takes a QB who hadn’t started since HS and wins 11 games. Teams with all of their pieces intact, have a hard time winning 10 never mind 11.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Perhaps the fan bases are a big reason, too. Denver fans strike me as people that doesn’t really mind if their athletes are pampered and spoiled.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
The key is finding a quarterback. No coach can consistently win without solid play from the quarterback position.
Pioli has that in place so I expect that its only a matter of time before the Chiefs take over the West. McDaniels may have made a BIG mistake by not getting involved in the Cassel sweepstakes until it was too late.
As far as the other Belichick disciples go, none of them ever received consistent play from the QB position but in the stretches where their QB’s played well, they all usually won.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:30 pm
bill isnt that great. its the players that made this guy. how good was belichick in cleveland? thats what i thought.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:35 am
easy McDaniels is screwed. his whole offense is falling apart lost his starting QB and his best WR doesnt even want to be there. look what happened to all the other Oc for the pats they went no where.And by the way Tom Brady is awsome best QB ever!!!
July 4th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I think Bill Belichick would be fine without Brady. He did pretty well last year with (then) unknown/unproven Cassell, so I think it’s a little ridiculous to say success would elude Bill without Brady.
That’s not to say Brady isn’t great, or that the Patriots would have gone to four Superbowls and won three in the nine years Bill’s been the coach. I just don’t understand why some people attribute Bill success to Tom Brady (and visa versa).
July 4th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Total Team package is where it’s at. Bill gets players, coaches,, to make what he feels works within his schemes and plays. He and his veteran players-coaches,,, make it work and can cover any play on the field. BB is the true master of the NFL. can be lerned and executed but can never be exactly replicated to other teams.
(fragmented)
July 4th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
BB has changed his entire system since leaving clevland. How many coaches do you know that can win in clevland. Not very many.
July 4th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
BB is just a Great coach he went 11 and 5 with Matt freaking Cassell. No other coach in the league can do that. And before my statement is argued remember that Cassell had’nt started since High school.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
I wouldn’t classify BB’s organizational style as “militaristic”, although granted I am speaking as an outsider. I would instead classify it more as an intelligence operation: people only know what they need to know in order to complete their assigned tasks. That’s why, I think, his disciples fail. Sure they are talented, dedicated and smart individuals (otherwise Bill would have nothing to do with them) but they just don’t have all of the of picture. I think out of all of them Pioli has the best shot to succeed since he was BB’s right hand (his deputy director of intelligence) as it were.
-Ken in FL.
July 6th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Actually if you followed BB and see what he did in Cleveland, you would know he brought them back to resectability in a very short period of time. His last year there they were back in the playoffs. Modell’s (sp) reason for firing him was because he didn’t get along with the media and Modell needed the media to help him fill the seats. That is according to an interview of Modell in a show on the NFL network about the Patriots a couple of years ago.
July 6th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I think it’s really a matter of nuance. There’s so much talk out there about dictatorial Belichick is, simply because his personality is very strong, he is extremely short and tight-lipped with the media, isn’t personable in his public appearances, isn’t flashy, doesn’t suffer fools and requires that the organization speak with one voice.
But this is a man who has exhibited incredible flexibility. Think of how the offense has evolved based on its personnel, from a short-passing offense which used screens as a running game, to a short-passing/power running offense with Dillon and now, to a dynamic spread offense.
I think it’s assumed that Belichick is a dictator, but he constantly studies the game, learns from other coaches and involves his own staff in the decision making process. He values their input but, like a true leader, assumes the final responsibility for the decisions. And while his staff must present strong arguments for their opinions, I believe that much of this is due to the fact that Belichick is probably just smarter than they are. He knows the game so instinctively well.
Does he have an ego? Sure. But I think it’s his extremely rare combination of football instincts, flexibility, willingness to learn and incorporate new ways of doing things and his very underrated understanding of human nature and how that can be used to build a team in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts that is incredibly difficult to duplicate.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:48 am
The Hoodie is a Genuis. Pats rule !
July 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Hey steve B…Parcells hand picked Lawrence Taylor and Banks and the rest of the D for Big Blu wreckin crew which resulted in 2 bowl wins [ and groomed Phil Simms ] not BB-lets be clear on that !!…-he { Parcells] ” picked the groceries” but yes- BB did use the LB’s in NY well-no doubt there….