New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s biggest coaching decision ever looms after Tom Brady’s departure.
The 2020 season for the New England Patriots will glean massive coverage from local, national and international media. (I guess the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season will also!)
When an era of excellence ends, the focus will be intense on the next iteration of your team. When the success achieved in that period is unparalleled, then you’ll attract even more attention.
That’s what the 2020 season presents for the New England Patriots. In fact, the onus is more on the Patriots than it is on the new quarterback of Tampa Bay.
The focal point of that attention is head coach Bill Belichick.
We’ve heard ad nauseum over the years the question, “who is more responsible for New England’s success, the quarterback or the coach?” This year will provide, if not answers, at least some indications of an answer to that now time-old question. And most of those answers, in my opinion, will come from New England.
The New England Patriots coach will be facing his first season in two decades without Tom Brady on the team. He’s had two previously without No. 12 during that 20 year period.
Then first, in 2000, Brady was 4th on the quarterback depth chart. The team was 5-11. The second was in 2008, when No. 12 went down with a knee injury for essentially the entire year. He was replaced by Matt Cassell. The team was 11-5 but missed the playoffs.
Now in 2020, it’s a new dynamic altogether. No 12 is not walking through that door again. To a great extent, it seems that the Patriots’ decided to allow that to happen by their posture.
This fall, the actual football fallout will be seen from the non-move of not resigning their best player ever.
Bill Belichick vs. Tom Brady
We are speaking here about arguably the two greatest at their respective roles in NFL history.
Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback if not the greatest PLAYER in NFL history vs. Bill Belichick, the greatest coach in NFL history. It is a “Dual of NFL the Titans” indeed.
I think it’s safe to say that both are supremely confident in their abilities. That’s an understatement. They both very likely feel their individual contribution was paramount to the team both literally, to the New England Patriots and figuratively, to the team of Brady and Belichick (or Belichick and Brady). Let the competition begin! It’s going to be really interesting to watch.
A collapse by the Patriots into the lower echelon of the AFC East will lend credence to the argument that the quarterback was more responsible for the team’s unprecedented success. A terrific New England Patriots season will lend support to the converse.
Two titans of NFL history are now clearly on the spot to prove their own worth independent of the other. This is not a fake issue. It’s as real as the New England Patriots seeking to again win the AFC East, as usual and more and Tom Brady seeking to take Tampa Bay deep into the playoffs in the NFC.
Bill Belichick’s biggest decision ever
Since this is New England Patriots territory (and, frankly I could care less what the Tampa Bay “Pirates” do), the focus here is on the biggest decision facing the Patriots and their legacy coach, Bill Belichick.
That decision can be boiled down to one decision in my opinion and the companion moves to bolster that decision made in personnel to implement it and make it successful.
Belichick’s challenge is simple yet profound and is predicated on the offensive side of the football. He’s lost the best offensive skill player of all time. He cannot be replaced. But his strategy in attempting to replace that production will determine the success of the post-Brady Patriots and of Belichick’s future coaching success, as well.
It’s officially Bill Belichick’s team now
The decision is essentially between two offensive strategies, philosophies call them or what you may.
This decision boils down to this: will Bill Belichick continue on the “old ways” and with the “old system” predicated and built over 2 decades on the unique talents, capabilities and above all insuperable determination of an All-time great quarterback?
Or, will he adapt to the changing National Football League in which quarterbacks and offenses led by the Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson’s of the league and proceed to out-adapt these newly minted stalwarts and out-coach their leaders at their own game?
Here’s how Belichick should decide
My view on this is simple. The old offense and the old offensive strategy should be replaced (not revamped) by a more versatile and more creative system. A recent article outlined how this new offense might look.
The drop-back quarterbacking style of the past is being moved off center-stage by the mobile quarterback capable of a read-option approach, possessing the ability to pass, to bootleg, to improvise, to implement deception and to deliberately run for yardage himself.
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This new offense is led by that multi-faceted quarterback but supported by players on offense who are also versatile. Some will be double or triple threats capable of catching, running and even throwing themselves.
The sum total of the change is mobility, versatility, stealth and unpredictability on offense. I have written before that an accumulation of such offensive assets will be a defense’s worst nightmare. Planning for everything becomes planning for nothing.
That is Bill Belichick’s biggest challenge entering the post-Tom Brady era. He can decide to try to adapt an offense uniquely that was developed for and evolved over nearly 20 years around the greatest quarterbacking talent ever, or he can totally revamp his offense and emerge with a new dynamic version for the 2020’s.
Bill Belichick’s decision may come soon. Likely as soon as April 23 with his first-round pick (if he actually makes a selection there). It will come into focus in the 2020 draft and will clearly signal his direction. That’s why the 2020 draft may be the most important of Bill Belichick’s career, at least since 2000, when the Patriots struck gold and selected the greatest quarterback in the history of the game in the 6th round.
A “business as usual” draft will signify retention of the old system and in my opinion stagnation and likely regression. I support the new direction and have backed up that support in posts about that direction and the players in this year’s draft who may be capable of helping implement it.
I hope that is the direction the coach takes. I’m quite sure it will determine how well his team fares in the foreseeable future. We’ll be able to read the tea leaves better on April 26th.
Bring on the draft, April 23-25. Then stay tuned for the post-draft analysis. This is going to be interesting.