Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
The Patriots coach loves heaping praise on his opponents so he doesn’t have to talk about his team’s issues.
In the week prior to the second game of the 2019 season, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addressed the media, and gave his thoughts on the upcoming opponent.
Belichick was effusive in his praise, for the opponent’s coaching staff, their talent on both sides of the football, and some of the players the opponent added in the offseason, both through free agency and the draft.
For example, the head coach had this to say about the offense New England would be facing that Sunday:
Offensively, this is a very talented skills group of players, the backs, tight ends, certainly the receivers, they have a lot of weapons. They have a lot of way to make big plays and score a lot of points. We’ll have to do a really good job of defending this group. We’ll try to play a complementary game, offense, defense, special teams. It’ll be a big challenge for us like it always is.
He expanded that praise to the coaching staff, and highlighted how the team in question had given New England problems in their meeting during the prior season:
I know they have a lot of good coaches. I know many of the people on that staff — the head coach, the coordinators, many of the position coaches. I have a ton of respect for what they do. I know the team will be well-prepared.
These guys beat us last year, a lot of the same players we’re looking at.
Belichick then touched on what he expected to see in the Week 2 meeting:
They’re young, they’re aggressive, they’re talented and we’re going to have to contend with all of them and the scheme that they come up with. I’m sure they’ll have things that we’re not working on, and we’ll have to be ready to handle those.
Given this praise, you might think the Patriots were somehow squaring off with the 1985 Chicago Bears, in some Madden simulation. No, New England was making a trip south that weekend, to take on the Miami Dolphins.
Not the 1972 Dolphins, but the 2019 Miami Dolphins, who finished 5-11 and were coming off a 59-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1.
But this is vintage Belichick, who finds a way to build every opponent up regardless of their record or talent level. Back in 2016, the Patriots faced a trip west to take on the San Francisco 49ers, who entered the meeting with a 1-8 record.
Here is what Belichick had to say prior to that game:
Coach [Chip] Kelly’s a great coach. I have a lot of respect for him. I’m sure that he’ll do things that will attack us as he did last year against Philadelphia so we’ll have to not only do a good job preparing for those schemes, but with players that we’re not really familiar with or as familiar with, with their skill set. It’ll take a lot of good preparation and film study.
He also made the case that the 49ers were “getting better every week,” and stressed to both the media and his team that in the year prior, Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles “hammered” New England:
They hurt us doing a lot of different things. I’m sure we’ll see some elements of those schemes again. I can’t imagine they wouldn’t test us out and see whether we can handle it. We didn’t handle it very well last year.
(The Eagles won that 2015 meeting by a final score of 35-28).
New England went on to win the 2016 game against San Francisco by a final score of 30-17.
This week, however, Belichick might have gone above and beyond. Meeting with the media ahead of New England’s Monday Night Football clash with the Chicago Bears — the 2-4 Chicago Bears — Belichick put together this filibuster of praise:
In that extensive soliloquy, Belichick talked about how “[t]his is a pretty impressive group and really a young team that you can see getting better all the time.” He addressed quarterback Justin Fields, calling him a “major threat every time he touches the ball, very athletic kid.”
He even touched on special teams, saying this:
The skills, got a big leg, punter’s got a big leg. He [Trenton Gill] whacks it down there pretty good. So, they can change field position, especially with their fast coverage players, the three guys I mentioned there. They’ve done an excellent job of creating good field position for their defense. [Velus] Jones [Jr.] in the return game, strong, explosive guy. We spent a lot of time on him. Rally dangerous with the ball in his hands … it’s a good special teams unit, very sound, good players and a lot of tough matchups there for us.
Now, Belichick might have taken this approach, with this stemwinder of praise, to avoid as many questions about “Mac Jones versus Bailey Zappe” as he can. But it also fits with his long track record of praising opponents, effusively at times, particularly when the upcoming opponent might be struggling. As Belichick knows full well winning in the NFL is hard, particularly on a consistent basis, and on any given Sunday the other team might just be better, so you better be ready.
With his own track record of success, it is hard to argue against the approach.
