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BELICHICK BREAKDOWN: What Makes New England Patriots Coach So Good?

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New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick delivers remarks during the team’s visit to the White House celebrating their Super Bowl LI victory on the South Lawn, Wednesday, April 19, 2017. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead).

This is why Patriots coach Bill Belichick is so good. At Barstool Sports, Jerry Thornton analyzes Belichik’s philosophy on sacks, writing:

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You think you’ve been following a guy long enough that you understand how he thinks. And in Bill Belichick’s case, I do. More or less. But when there are so many gigabytes stored in his vast mental database and his algorithm doesn’t reveal more than a few bytes at a time, he can still impress you at any given time. That’s the case here. Just casually opening up on why his team has never valued sacks as much as everyone else seems to on a random midweek presser. And in doing so, explains an enormous amount about the core philosophy that has guided his decision-making, his game plans, his personnel moves over the course of his career. More on that in a minute.

It’s just weird to me how obsessed the world is on this one simple, rudimentary stat. As advanced stats have evolved to the point where traditional metrics like batting average, RBIs and even pitcher’s win totals have become less and less relevant, replaced by VORP and WHIP, to the point you can win a Cy Young with a losing record, we still cling to sack totals like it’s a sacred tome, passed down from our elders to gauge defensive play. And at positions like defensive tackle and end, to the exclusion of all other measurements. To the Hall of Fame voters, it’s almost a fetish. Which is why one of the great 2-gap, 5-technique tackles of the modern era Richard Seymour is not in. Or a great nose tackle like Fred Smerlas never got serious consideration. But Warren Sapp, who also deserved to get in, was a no brainer.

And in the league today, high sack totals equal recognition and hours upon hours of TV face time, as well as endorsement deals. I’ve yet to see anyone sell a t-shirt of him doing his signature QB Pressure dance. And with that comes huge paydays from personnel departments who wildly overvalue sacks. Which is why the Patriots have repeatedly moved on from guys like Chandler Jones and Trey Flowers. Hell, if you go back far enough, Tully Banta-Cain got 5.5 one season as a part time rush specialist, cashed right the fuck in with the 49ers and was back a couple of seasons later playing for ordinary money in New England where he hit double digits for the 2009 Pats. Which is remembered as the most unlikeable, underachieving team in the Dynasty Era. Remember the year both Andre Carter and Marc Anderson had 10 sacks each? That was 2011, when the defense finished 15th in the league.

This is the thing even among Pats fans, that we become obsessed with this team “not having a pass rush” because they’re not among the league leaders in this one category. But that again is because the head coach doesn’t value that stat as a measure of excellence. This year they’re 15th in the league, but have given up the third fewest points among teams that have played nine games. In 2019, they were seventh in sacks, but allowed the fewest points and the lowest passer rating by far. And then held the then-12th highest scoring team in NFL history to a field goal in the Super Bowl.

In fact, here’s where they’ve ranked in sacks while winning their last three rings:

2018: 15th
2016: 16th
2014: 14th

I can be frustrating to see them going after a mobile quarterback without actually bringing him down, but that’s not a bug; it’s a feature. Take for instance the Super Bowl against Seattle where the last thing Belichick wanted was for them to ball out trying to bring down Russell Wilson, but to just keep him hermetically vacuum-sealed in the pocket and force him into mistakes. Just as he described in this press conference.

Action Line: Sometimes a flashy strategy that gets a lot of attention is not the best strategy. In Bill Belichick’s mind, that goes for sacks in football. In my mind, the same could be said of ESG investing. It’s today’s fad, and everyone wants to get in on the trend, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to score a touchdown with your retirement portfolio. You need a plan that works for you. If you need help building that plan, I would love to talk to you.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.