No Huddle Offensive Thoughts On Bellichick and More
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Before we get into things that actually matter, wanted to throw out a couple opinions regarding Bill Bellichick and the New England Patriots.
First of all, I kind of feel like we’re watching the Barry Bonds scandal unfold. By that I mean, it’s not necessarily the cheating that bothers people the most, it’s the smug, arrogant, asshole attitude that the Patriots encompass. The fact that they had the gall to continue to try to “interpret the rule incorrectly” as Bill says, against a former coach on their staff, Eric Mangini, just shows the utmost disrespect for both their opponent and the game.
How Bellichick and the Patriots got off this easy, is almost ridiculous. They will lose some money (though it won’t affect the cap) and they’ll lose their first round draft pick assuming they make the playoffs. How’s this fair? Wade Wilson gets 5 games for a banned substance even though he didn’t give it to anyone, and at this point in his coaching career is not gaining any kind of competitive advantage. I know I know, I’ve heard it all. Many claim that any advantage the patriots would gain from this would be minimal...so I ask you, why the hell would they do it?
And no, this isn’t an isolated incident. Dr. Z from SI.com reported that Rod Marinelli had this same problem with the Patriots last year and even after they caught the filming in progress, it continued again and again throughout the game. Also, rumor has it that offensive headsets mysteriously go out during games in Foxboro, which leads me to believe that maybe Bellichick isn’t as great as everyone originally thought. Anyone remember him coaching the Browns? Garbage. Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it.
There is, however, one sure fire way to tell.
Suspend him.
See what happens without him. See how much he really does for this team, or if it’s mostly their advanced scouting system.
While guys like Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, and Chris Henry are suspended by the league and cut from their teams for off the field transgressions, don’t you think the league should worry more about the integrity of the guys ON the field? It doesn’t matter if Pacman makes it rain every day of the week, he’s not cheating the game, the product, the NFL.
So suspend him for 6 games. The coaching suspension precedent has been set at five with Wade Wilson being the guinea pig. Now it’s being reset to accommodate the New England Patriots.
In other coaching news, Jack Del Rio sucks. Managed to see him skate through the media this week without any major beatings. Look, Vince Young is fantastic and everything, but the Tennessee Titans should NOT have won that game. On fourth and ten with about seven minutes left in the third quarter, down by three, and a 35 yard field goal staring them in the face, Del Rio goes for it. Final score, 13-10. Later on in the game, he goes ultra conservative and punts on a fourth and game type situation. What’s the thinking here? Not only that, but his impregnable defensive line was thrown around all day long. Just awful.
I’ve heard enough about not playing in the pre-season hurting L.T. The guy had nowhere to run and the only mistake made by Norv Turner was not turning to Michael Turner earlier to soften up the defense. (Whole lot of Turner going on there). Unlike Jack Del Rio, Norv Turner had the gall to go for it on fourth down when he needed to early in the game, and it worked. Obviously. The San Diego Chargers' defense looked awesome, better than any in the league, but Phillip Rivers needs to step it up against 8 and 9 man fronts.
In other brilliant coaching moves, Wade Phillips decided to show faith in his team by going for it in the first half on fourth and one. The result? An amazing touchdown run by Marion Barber III. When will teams learn? Great week from Tony Romo as well, but can the offense continue to put up those types of numbers? T.O. certainly thinks so saying they could’ve scored 50+ that day. (Which is true, but the last possession was just spent running out the clock).
Please don’t let the Patriots be that good. I can’t stand watching Randy Moss with that smirk on his face. Let this go down as one of the biggest highway robberies of all time. A fourth round pick? Get out of here. That’s now the second time he’s been taken later than he should’ve been (18th pick in the draft originally).
All in all, a good week of football. Tune in for the No Huddle Offensive Power Rankings soon...within a couple hours or tomorrow morning. They’ll be sweet.
Why hasn't anyone looked deeper into this.
BB was a mediocre head coach in Cleveland. He was a brilliant defensive coach everywhere he has been. He needs no help defensively. He steals Charlie Weiss, an offensive Bill Belicheck, when he goes to New England and all is well. However, when Weiss leaves he has no offensive genius. Thus, in order to maintain the Patriots stature he is forced to resort to cheating. It all makes perfect sense when you think about it.
The notion that the "Patriots" violated the rules as opposed to Bill Belicheck is just absurd.