Tuesday 12/6/22
Yesterday I learned that Bill Belichick makes twenty million dollars a year. Is that the real number? Should I assume he's being paid for past services rendered? Because ever since Tom Brady left, Belichick hasn't done anything. I don't think he's a good coach anymore. Is he even average in the NFL? I don't think so. He's messing up his legacy. People are going to think it was all Brady. What it may have been was both of them, then Belichick essentially quit and coasted, so he was two different guys, but no one is going to think with even that rudimentary level of nuance. They're just going to think the other guy made him what he was.
I've noticed a shift. Belichick was called the best coach ever without much resistance five or six years ago, now he's one of the best, and that's where he'll stay. He's not going to be everyone's go-to number one ever again. He can get the win record and he still won't be. He's going to be behind some guys as well. Lombardi, Halas. He's in the top group, but he had separation before, and now he's in a pack--albeit the top pack--and not leading that pack either.
There has been nothing impressive about the Patriots going on three seasons now. Uninspired football, pretty much a .500 record, one horrible plan at QB that didn't work, a second plan at QB that isn't working, nepotism, cronyism, lack of urgency, one last place finish and now coming up on a second, a totally bizarre and backwards way of handling the offensive coordinator role.
Is it going to get better? Why would it? If this is how you're doing things, how can there be any expectation of drastic improvement? They win the Super Bowl next year? How could that happen? What happens next? Kraft gets involved and says, "Hire a real coordinator" and takes power away from Belichick after the latter could do anything he wanted for almost a quarter of a century? How's that going to work out? What are your options? That or let him just keep doing this? Until when? He could be eleven wins away from that record, which might be almost two seasons' worth of wins. He just stays?
You know what else? He doesn't seem that bothered. Now he's all la-de-da, like after the game when he gets together with the other team's coach for their handshake. "Great job, coach who just beat my team, what a fantastic season you're having." He sounds like a happy-go-lucky tourist.
In the past, when the Patriots lost, Belichick was a dick. I'm not saying this is a great way to be. But I'm also not saying I think the man has grown. I think he cares a lot less, so it's this "you win some, you lose some" kind of deal now. I think he has a motivation issue and a love of familiarity and comfort. Security. Having who he wants around. Having his kids underfoot. I think that's his thing at this juncture.
When I write, I want to rip the faces off of other writers. I want them to feel that they could never, ever, ever in a trillion lifetimes come close to what I do, which is how it is. I want a level playing field, and I want to beat you to the point of extirpating your soul as you're out there doing your MFA cookie-cutter writing. Metaphorically speaking.
When that rapacity goes, you're done. You're something else. Something is over. My thing, I grant, is quite a bit different than anyone else's. But I think Belichick is the NFL version of this kind of done.
You know what the Patriots are more than anything right now? They're a moribund franchise. That's the word for it. Belichick is a huge part of that.
The other day I turned on Boston sports radio and heard the two hosts say that the Bruins were not that good and were just on a nice run. Oh. Is that what I've been seeing? Silly me. And here I thought I was watching an excellent hockey team with four potential Hall of Famers, depth, and legit chemistry. I shut the radio off again.
Charlie McAvoy will not be the complete player he can be until he's indispensable on the power play and out there for all of it or close.
The Bruins did a nice job fighting back from down 3-0 last night against Vegas to garner a point after a shootout loss, but Vegas was without two of their best players and the Bruins have a Jeremy Swayman problem. They are not the same team in front of him and his play is down. At least through the first quarter of the season. They're going to need to fix that.
Saw that a bad Buccaneers team beat an even worse Saints team and required two touchdowns with five minutes to go to do so. That's a team that is going to host a home playoff game. They could very well end up with a worse record than the Patriots and get in, while the Patriots won't. Hell, you could be 7-10 and win that execrable division. Brady hasn't dropped off much. But that team is poor. It's like you have a ship that's been hulled and Brady can come in and hammer some plywood over the hole and you can travel on a little bit more before you sink. For what that is worth.
I'm seeing the same thing from his stat lines this year, too. He has a ton of pass attempts and not much in the way of yards for the large amount of attempts. You'll see him pass fifty plus times a game and throw for less than 300 yards. That means it's all dinky stuff and check downs and five yard pass plays. There's nothing happening down the field and there's not a lot of yards after the catch. What it also tells you is that it takes a ton of plays for this team to be able to score any points.
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