Quote:
Originally Posted by DaFace
Though I agree on the coaches thing, I've heard some suggestions that a lot of the issue these days is that recent CBAs have severely limited how much time teams can demand of players in practice, so it's much harder to coach guys up.
I could also buy that the game has simply matured to the point that most reasonable ideas have all been tried, so it's hard to be innovative and catch the league off guard anymore.
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I think alot of it is the power shifting to the players due to increased salary. Very few teams have what the Patriots have -- players that fear their head coach. Usually, if it's between the players and the coach, the coach is the one that will get bounced. Too many high priced contracts, etc. This is a bigger problem in baseball and basketball, due to the guaranteed contracts, but most coaches aren't immune to it even in football.
But in New England, all the players know (1) he ain't leaving until he retires, and (2) if you don't perform, you get your ass shipped to Cleveland. Literally. They also believe and buy into the system due to the SBs he won.
The other thing Belichick does, better than anyone else, is play players based purely on merit. If the undrafted FA is outplaying the 1st round pick, then the undrafted FA gets the playing time. He is immune to media or fans screaming that he wasted a draft pick or whatever. Most GMs/coaches either can't afford the criticism or don't like to hear it, so they give in and play/keep the guy they drafted.
Belichick is very lucky in many ways. Kraft is a hands-off owner, and he bought himself so much goodwill by winning a few SBs early that he became immune to criticism. Without those SBs, he could act exactly the same but might've been bounced.