Bill Belichick Quotathon

soxhop411

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This seems like the perfect BB quote to start off the 2021 thread with View: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1388355231679979520
Here's #Patriots head coach Bill Belichick's 300-plus word answer on how the Pats' draft grade scale works. The gist is that they use a combination of letters, numbers, and colors that signify different things. They don't rank 1, 2, 3 or give a guy an "85" grade.

Here is the video version
View: https://youtu.be/PNBEyuff0x8?t=964

cc @SMU_Sox
This is right in your wheelhouse
 
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luckiestman

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Mike Lombardi has spoken about this at length. I think this is the same system he and Belichick came up with in Cleveland

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/patriots/what-theyre-saying-belichick-credits-years-cleveland-shaping-team-building-philosophy

"But Mike and I, with the help of a great scouting staff like Jim Schwartz, were there and coaches like coach [Nick] Saban, coach [Scott] O'Brien because our coaches had a lot of influence in the scouting system. We put that together over the course of that time in Cleveland.

"Not speaking for Nick, but I know in talking to Nick, I know that a lot of the principles that we developed there he's used and certainly modified, and we've done that as well. Scouting systems, scouting grades, grading players and certain characteristics and how to put those characteristics . . . how to grade, how to note them, how to put some kind of a value on them and organize it, that was developed, all of it was developed for me in Cleveland, Mike and the people on his staff.

some more on this starting at 2:10

View: https://youtu.be/oFvcjqXORfs


I think some podcasts I’ve heard him go into more detail. Could’ve been his book but I think it is podcasts.
 
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tims4wins

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He had a couple gems from day 1

“Somebody has to pick at 15, somebody has to pick at 14, somebody has to pick at 13”

“Honesty, I missed a lot of those mock drafts”

“Some guys played in P5; some didn’t. Some guys played in FCS; some didn’t. Some guys opted out; some didn’t. Some guys transferred; some didn’t” there were actually more I just can’t remember them.
 

tims4wins

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BB great answer on trades

Q. As it pertains to tomorrow with the smaller class, is there any sense that, from your perspective, that picks this year might be slightly undervalued, given teams are working from smaller boards with fewer players that played less football and signed with agents and might be looking to trade into the future? Do you get any of that sense from other teams, given just the unusual draft that we have here?
BB: I think that's a reasonable hypothesis. I would say that the prices on the trades have been, I think, a little higher than normal. Certainly at the end of the third round those trades are pretty high. There weren't a lot of trades in the first round, but I thought those were pretty high. So I don't know if there's really a lot of evidence to back that up. That's something you could look at. But just my general impressions was what teams were paying to move up pretty much at the start of the second round and then in the latter -- well, maybe the whole third round, that it seemed like the trade, the teams that were moving back were doing pretty well on those trades. So when you -- you can look at charts and do whatever you want, but in the end, it's a transaction between two clubs and if it's an auction, if there are two or three teams bidding for the pick, then the team that moves back is selling it for whatever they can get for it. It doesn't really matter what anything says. So, and that's kind of what the way it seemed to me. How that will go tomorrow, I don't know. You could be right. I think the teams that traded into next year did it because there was a lot of value. The Giants moving into next year in the first round, the second round pick this year. So I think teams that were able to get those picks, I'm sure, obviously, they were happy with the trade or they wouldn't have made them. But at the same time, teams were willing to give up picks in next year's draft to move up, probably because they didn't have enough resources in this year's draft to meet the price that it was going to cost them to move. So, you know, that's about the way I saw it. I don't know. So we'll see what happens tomorrow. I don't really know how that's going to go. The prices may continue to be high or the prices might fall in relative terms. I think generally speaking they're going to be in kind of a normal range but they could either be a little above the normal or a little below the normal.
 

tims4wins

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Another

Q. When you guys entered this draft, was there a goal to add multiple players to your front seven defensive line or were the picks today more reflective of how your draft board fell?
BB: Yeah, we can't control what's going to be on the board. There's 31 other teams picking, so we just try to take advantage of our opportunities in the draft to improve our team however we can. So that's the way I've always approached it. I really can't work any other way. I don't feel comfortable going to the draft saying, well, we're going to take one guy at this position and take another guy at that position or, like, it doesn't go that way, then I just don't think you're getting the value for the picks that you have. Now, look, we have all, you know, made picks that worked out well and we have all made picks that didn't work out so well. So it's an inexact science and I'm not saying that all the decisions are, have been good decisions or bad decisions or anything else. But at the time we did it, we felt like we were doing the best that we could for our football team and to make our team, both on a short-term basis and obviously the draft is something that extends over a period of time for the four years that the players or potentially five years in the first round, but call it the four years that the players are, that club has rights to that player. So there is a longer term value in the selections that go into today. So, but, yeah. No, I can't, I would say I've never gone into a draft saying, like, well, we got to draft somebody or other at this position or this group of positions or whatever. It's sometimes those players are there and sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're there and you can really use them and sometimes they're there and maybe you don't feel that it's as necessary, but then when you get good players on your team inevitably you use them. So I've heard that before, why did you draft James White and he's inactive all year and why did you draft Damien Harris and he was inactive all year and then later on the next year and in the course of their careers those guys have, those are examples of guys that became very valuable. So that's -- I think you try to acquire good football players and we'll figure out how to use them.
 

Ralphwiggum

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Bethel Johnson had three massively important plays for the Pats in 2003. Two kickoff returns in the Colts game (McGinest goal line stand game) that gave them the bye that year and made it so the Colts had to travel to Gillette for the AFCCG. And a TD in the freezing cold Titans playoff game. His career obviously didn’t work out as hoped but he contributed a lot more than some other more highly touted draft picks.
 

tims4wins

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Q: On when the team will ramp up intensity:
BB: When we're allowed to. I mean all we have on is helmets.
Q: On when the team is allowed to wear pads:
BB: When we're allowed to wear them, we'll wear them.
Q: On what day the team will wear pads:
BB: The earliest we could wear them is Tuesday.
 

Cotillion

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Jeebus... Rob Parker is on this just talking out of his ass... please tell me this isn't one sided as it already looks... do I really want to sit through 44 minutes of this?
 

Cotillion

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Jeebus... Rob Parker is on this just talking out of his ass... please tell me this isn't one sided as it already looks... do I really want to sit through 44 minutes of this?
God this is brutally bad. I wouldn't bother watching this at all.
 

Dotrat

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Ben Volin is here gleefully going along with it all.
I had never noticed it before--but Volin looks like an overinflated CHB doll. (Now it all makes sense.)

Plus--any 'hard look' at Belichick or the Pats that features Rob Parker is, shall we say, not entirely credible...
 

snowmanny

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Bill Belichick on Peyton Manning:
"He is definitely the best quarterback I've coached against until October.* When it came to control and decisionmaking in an offensive system, Manning was on his own level in any era. There have been quarterbacks who called their own plays but it was nowhere near the same as what he did. He basically called every play by adjusting and/or changing the play once he saw what the defense was doing. He excelled at using the cadence and recognizing blitzes and more than any one single offensive player, he forced us to change and adapt defensive gameplans."

https://www.patriots.com/news/bill-belichick-on-peyton-manning-bill-cowher-and-jimmy-johnson

* Bolded is mine, meaning he didn't actually say it.
 

Norm Siebern

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Bethel Johnson had three massively important plays for the Pats in 2003. Two kickoff returns in the Colts game (McGinest goal line stand game) that gave them the bye that year and made it so the Colts had to travel to Gillette for the AFCCG. And a TD in the freezing cold Titans playoff game. His career obviously didn’t work out as hoped but he contributed a lot more than some other more highly touted draft picks.
Spot on correct.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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BB on the non-challenge on Jakobi's catch: "Didn't feel like it."

Well ok then.
Felt like Zo had this right. BB probably thought more was to be gained by getting a situation play of a third down after a bad call than getting a first half first down in preseason.
 

tims4wins

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Felt like Zo had this right. BB probably thought more was to be gained by getting a situation play of a third down after a bad call than getting a first half first down in preseason.
I figured the same thing watching live.

Edit: and Mac delivered with flying colors. That and the play action pass in the 2nd quarter were my favorite plays of the night.
 

soxhop411

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View: https://twitter.com/MikeReiss/status/1438887562723135491

View: https://twitter.com/ZackCoxNESN/status/1438889069807906822

View: https://twitter.com/_AndrewCallahan/status/1438889796177440771

Ten-minute answer from Bill Belichick on why teams carry a long snapper rather than cross-train a position player. Got a lesson on the history of punt protection in the NFL, the difficulties of being a long snapper, and the impact on roster construction. #Patriots
https://twitter.com/hashtag/Patriots?src=hashtag_click
View: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1438890520751886340
 

BillMuellerFanClub

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Part of me likes to believe that if I were a reporter regularly attending these PCs, I would always find an interesting topic to get Bill to expand on instead of wasting time trying to get some insight on the secret sauce. I know click-driven media means being the first to get an answer on something everyone wants a sound bite on (Mac v. Cam), but all of that is a total waste considering what Bill is capable of churning out on a dynamic like long snapping.

His remarks at 19:45 where he points out that rosters expanding and allowing the ability to carry a true specialist to in part ensure their availability remind me of the story behind the signing of Brian Kinchen and SB XXXVIII. Specifically about how you don't want to be on the search for that kind of player during a season.
 
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Phil Plantier

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That answer makes me think about an alternate history where the Mo Lewis hit doesn't happen, the 2001 Pats go 8-8, Belichick gets fired, and then goes on to become a revered football historian. He's got so much knowledge. About everything. It's fascinating, like most experts talking about their expertise.
 

PC Drunken Friar

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That answer makes me think about an alternate history where the Mo Lewis hit doesn't happen, the 2001 Pats go 8-8, Belichick gets fired, and then goes on to become a revered football historian. He's got so much knowledge. About everything. It's fascinating, like most experts talking about their expertise.
Things I learned recently (here on SoSH of course) that Jets game was the game that was postponed because if 9/11.

But I think there is evidence that tells us that BB was not going to stick with Drew that season
 

tims4wins

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Things I learned recently (here on SoSH of course) that Jets game was the game that was postponed because if 9/11.

But I think there is evidence that tells us that BB was not going to stick with Drew that season
Actually that’s not correct. It was the Carolina game that was postponed.

Edit: a million crazy things happened that season, but here’s one I bet people forget. The Pats original bye week was scheduled for week 17. Which doesn’t even happen any more. But week 17 became week 16 due to 9/11. So the Pats had a week 16 bye, then played the postponed Carolina game in week 17, then had another bye for the Wild Card round. They were incredibly rested going into the playoffs (not that it seemed to matter vs Oakland). At some point in the next couple years the NFL did away with super early and super late byes.
 
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shawnrbu

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The NFL had 31 teams in 99/00/01. Every week needed someone on a bye. The Week 1 and Week 17 byes were reserved for teams who were expected to suck. Texans made it 32 teams starting in 02.
 

johnmd20

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The NFL had 31 teams in 99/00/01. Every week needed someone on a bye. The Week 1 and Week 17 byes were reserved for teams who were expected to suck. Texans made it 32 teams starting in 02.
That is amazing. I was playing fantasy football back then and I guess it didn't impact me much, because I do not remember teams having Week 1 and Week 17 byes. I love learning this.
 

Phil Plantier

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Things I learned recently (here on SoSH of course) that Jets game was the game that was postponed because if 9/11.

But I think there is evidence that tells us that BB was not going to stick with Drew that season
I agree, but if he waits 3 more games to do it...
 

DJnVa

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Subscribe to The Athletic:

‘It’s fun — at gunpoint’: The comedy stylings of Bill Belichick – The Athletic

Jed Weaver, tight end: Onterrio Smith … got caught with the Whizzinator in his bag. He was the running back from Minnesota. But Bill is reading the article: “It says here that he didn’t know he had a fake dick in his bag because one of his friends put it in there before he got on the plane. So all you fucking assholes, when you’re coming back for training camp, make sure you check your bag before you get on your plane. Make sure none of your buddies put a fake dick in your bag.”


Chad Brown, linebacker: We’re at minicamp. I can’t remember where the guy was from — Clemson or Texas A&M or something — and he’s telling Bill about some guy at his school who was a senior. He was telling him how fast the guy was going to run the L drill. So Bill, as he’s literally turning away from this player who’s recommending that Bill draft his college teammate, goes: “Well, as soon as we run the fucking L-drill play, that’s the guy I’ll look for.” It encompassed everything about Bill.

Rich Ohrnberger, offensive lineman: Pizza Friday was what we called Friday practices. It was supposed to be an easy, breezy practice. You’re running through the offense, running through the defense and on special teams we would have a “replacement” drill.

Marc Edwards, fullback: He’d be like, “Matt Light was taking a shit in pregame and pulled his abdomen so he’s out. Who’s the backup field-goal guard?”

Ohrnberger: And he’d blow the whistle and then all of the sudden the right guard who was on the field would be sprinting off the field. So you had to study the depth chart and know if somebody got hurt that you were the next guy in. And God forbid if you fucking messed that up. He’d be like, “Noooo, it’s OK. We’ll wait on you. I’m sure it will be fucking fiiiine if we’re missing our right fucking guard on field goal protection. OK? We’ll just go ahead and block their 11 with our 10 and we’ll see how it goes. OK?”

Just finished--it's hilarious. Worth the subscription all by itself.

Brown: I think the year before I got there in 2004, they went with the all-blue uniforms. Blue pants and blue jerseys.

Christian Fauria, tight end: We lost to Denver. I remember him kind of rambling off all those things and it was so passive-aggressive, “You guys think you’re so smart. That really worked. Whose fucking bright idea was this?”

Brown: I think he was still bringing this up in 2007: “We played like crap, we didn’t do this, we did this terribly, but at least it wasn’t as fucking bad as that all-blue uniform night.” Even in the midst of him going off and having a rant, there’s a sarcastic funny comment in there that catches your attention.
 
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LogansDad

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Oh my god, this one had me rolling.

Miller: The Super Bowl for me is my all-time. Here’s the best coach in the world. Hands down. And we had such a funny moment. In Jacksonville, in 2004. The night before, I’m not religious, but I prayed to god. “Listen God, I don’t even care if we lose, just don’t make me be the reason. Just get me a decent game. And if we win, fantastic, but if not, I understand, just don’t let me be the thing that people see for the next 20 years.” So here I am, with 20 seconds left on the field, and there’s timeout after timeout after timeout. I’m sitting there on the field like: “Jesus, this is not where I want to be right now.” So it was a long timeout, Belichick says, “Miller, come here.” I’m like, “What’s up, Coach?” He’s like, “Listen, just get rid of the ball. I don’t care where it goes.” I’m like, “OK, fantastic, easy enough, I’ll do that.” I’m running back onto the field. He’s like, “Miller, come here. If you can get it inside the 10, that’s obviously what we’re looking for.” I’m like, “OK.” And as I’m running out, he’s like, “Forget it, listen, just get rid of the effing ball, please. Josh, don’t drop it.” I’m like, “Don’t drop it? That’s what you tell me?” He was like, “Yeah, that was dumb.”
 

DJnVa

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And the last one:

Miller: I try to explain it to people, but they don’t understand. How could you have that much fun with a guy like that? But I’m like, “Listen, all he’s asking — he’s trying to get the most out of you. If you give it to him, then you’ve got a place. Unless they find someone better.”
 

Average Game James

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That might be my favorite article they've published. I'm also deeply concerned the Pats are about to be penalized for salary cap violations after reading Bill gave Mesko money for swatting Brady passes with a tennis racket...
 

JimD

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My 2021 subscription price was worth it for that article alone.
 

tims4wins

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A little late but I loved this from the post-game Titans presser

Q: One of the mantras we have heard coming out of the locker room is that football season starts after Thanksgiving. Is the team come together and does this win establish where you want to be heading down the stretch in the final months?
BB: Yeah, I don't know. Play Buffalo on Monday night.