OK, I was gonna respond to
@Deathofthebambino , and then I wasn't gonna because
@SMU_Sox called upon the floods, but fuck it.
No. I do not agree with the conventional wisdom that has emerged here about the Super Bowl. I think I understand why Belichick did what he did and I think he was correct, insofar it is part of his meta plan which he's been running by the book for some time and which has brought him great success.
I think the conventional wisdom is an outcome produced by all of us having braced ourselves for the time Belichick would be wrong. We've been prepped and told it would happen, convinced it had already happened even when it hadn't, and all the wanna be smart guys, whoever they are in any given year, run out and lay out ways to understand Belichick's wrongness before during and after that fact so that anything we hear or think ends up being something we've been prepared for and are ready to believe. We've been gaslit about Belichick since 2001, is it? How insane is that? And... he has always, always come through as the guy once we sorted it.
So yeah, the Super Bowl sucked. How much do you think it must have sucked for Belichick knowing he couldn't use his best corner back?
Think about it.
In the
Tom v.
Time videos, they discuss one of Belichick's uber, meta, constitutional principles: He doesn't get on you for not having the ability to keep up with a guy, only for effort and attention--can you do what you can do. Are you doing what you can do.
We know that's a Belichick thing. So, given a choice, he'd rather get beat with the guys who are prepared failing than risking the outcome on guys he's not sure about--he'd have to have his fucking head examined to go with someone when he's not 100%.
Belichick grew up in Annapolis. Having over arching codes for how things are done is something he clearly learned there and is clear about it, and that he uses it.
So here's what I think:
I think posed with the possibility of having to apologize to his team for losing because they got beat and apologizing to his team for losing because he played a guy he wasn't 100% on, BB takes the former every day and twice on Sunday. If they win, we're not having the conversation so we never think about it.