You may very well be right. What got me to thinking that way was the fact that the Patriots so often find themselves behind for most of their big games, only to come roaring back both offensively and defensively late in the game. Most dynastic football teams seem either to take the lead early and build on it as the game progresses, or engage in back and forth scoring with the end result being that they wind up with more points and win.
Certainly, an approach like I suggested would be hard to pull off. It would likely require only the coaches to be involved, as players get traded and word would get out, and would necessitate running sub-optimal plays and disadvantageous assignments on defense. So now that I think about it more, the less I’m inclined to think that’s what’s going. But that still leaves the question as to why the Patriots so often find themselves behind most of the game and then all of a sudden become so formidable offensively and defensively at the same time. For example, in one and a half quarters against Atlanta the Patriots scored 31 points while holding a team that had already scored 28 points on them scoreless the whole time.
Good story about Fedor Emelianenko. It brings to mind something I’ve heard or read many times from Michael Strahan regarding Tom Brady. Strahan said that many times in his career he could see it in the eyes of players on a losing team that they just didn’t want to be there, but he had never once seen that look in Brady’s eyes…that Brady is such a competitor and that he never gives up. I imagine that during those times he’s calculating and on the lookout for mistakes that he can take advantage of similar to the way that Emilianenko did.
About Fedor Emelianenko, and Secretariat for that matter, he is one athlete who steels himself, refuses to lose, and wins no matter what. But with the Patriots we’re talking about an entire roster of 53 men who are of that mindset. They know that no matter how dire things look, and down 28-3 with 8:30 left in the 3Q in Super Bowl 51 is pretty dire, they remain mentally focused to come back.
I’m reminded of the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s. A well-coached team in most respects. They had that memorable comeback against the Houston Oilers in the playoffs that one year, and I am reminded of how the Bills were, like the Patriots now, a mentally sharp team.
The problem is that they tended to play high-risk, high-reward football a little too often and they had players that had a tendency to make big mistakes at exactly the wrong time. The Bills tolerated Thurman Thomas’ fumbling and other lapses from players because they were otherwise talented.
Bill Belichick doesn’t tolerate those kinds of mistakes - not even from talented players. That’s why Lagarrette Blount is no longer playing on the Patriots. His crime? Fumbling during a Super Bowl. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but basically, Belichick refuses to allow mental lapses to interfere with the process - his understudy, Nick Saban, operates the same way. Yes they’re talented, but fuck up, and you’re out. The guy is the embodiment of Sun Tzu.
You raise another excellent point. The mind rules. Perhaps that is a key Belichick separator — does he select players with decent talent but who have the right mental fortitude he wants? Sun Tzu indeed — required reading in the US Marine Corps.
Bullitt, yes, he certainly does. Belichick is quite willing to dump a highly talented player, one he traded a lot for or used a high draft pick on, if the guy just doesn’t quite Get It, even if it disrupts the team in the short run. Jamie Collins, Chandler Jones, Lawyer Milloy are a few examples. Conversely, he’ll go get a highly talented guy who’s worn out his welcome elsewhere but can be counted upon to control himself to be part of a winning organization for a damn change - Corey Dillon and Randy Moss, for example, shut up, played ball, and got their rings.
asahi, great point about how the Pats just will not break mentally. What really interests me is how their opponents all know it too, but don’t know that about themselves. You can see it in the body language of a defense trying to hold a short lead in the last few minutes, as if they’re all thinking “Brady does this all the time, we have to step it up and hold him right here. I have to break right at the snap, I have to keep my receiver from getting open, etc.” That means committing penalties and making mental errors out of trying to play perfectly instead of just well. Soon enough it’s first and goal.
The best athletes make their teammates better too, and there’s no doubt Brady does that. But he also does what only the few great ones do - he makes his opponents worse. I don’t think it comes from the same cruelty that Larry Bird, or, according to Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit had, the joy of making you lose, it’s just that his entire being is about winning.
It’s why the few teams that have managed to beat Brady in big games the last 10 years or more have not only good athletes but also experience, people who’ve been there before.
Bulitt, and anyone else who might be interested, there’s an excellent behind-the-scenes video documentary on Brady called Tom vs. Time on Facebook Watch. It shows quite a bit of his home life, workouts, private time, etc. It’s broken up into segments that are approx. 15 minutes each that were released every few days during Super Bowl week. There are five episodes up now with one more to be determined at a later (post Super Bowl) date.
I’m a lifelong Redskins fan who’s lived in NE for more than 20 years, and so along the way the Pats became my AFC team. I have to admit I watch their front office and coaching with a lot of envy when I compare to that of the 'Skins, who seem to almost have a self-destructive streak.
I agree that other teams tighten up late in games when the Pats are coming back, and I agree about discipline - you see so few penalties against them late in games, at the same time the other team is starting to fall apart. Brady also benefits when opponents play their brains out in the first half and then start to lose that energy - I’ve been watching football for almost 50 years, and I can’t think of many quarterbacks who can benefit from an open pocket like he does.
So this is a “friend of a friend” thing, but this foaf apparently bought some Super Bowl tickets when he though the Vikings might be in and has had trouble finding a buyer.
I was quite surprised figuring they would be in some demand, but then I found out the tickets were $11,000 :eek:
No wonder he has having trouble – even at a discount that is hard sale.
Does anyone know how many tickets were available recently?
