The guy is supposed to be a defensive master/wizard/guru/Yoda....right? So why is it that the Pats offense has been so strong in the past 5 years, and their defense so weak?

Could the Patriots be doing better with another coach?

RiggoReincarnated wrote:The guy is supposed to be a defensive master/wizard/guru/Yoda....right? So why is it that the Pats offense has been so strong in the past 5 years, and their defense so weak?

Could the Patriots be doing better with another coach?

No. Belichick is set for a while yet. It'll be after Brady retires that he's on the hot seat. In the last 11 years, the Pats have been contenders almost every year. That's damned impressive. 5 Superbowls over that span with 3 wins, and several more playoff appearances with wins, too. When you're always drafting near the bottom of each round and you STILL manage to stay that good year after year, you're doing it right.

As much as I dislike Bill's persona, he's a hell of a coach, and the Krafts know they'd be stupid to let him go.

There were some complaints about his drafts but his defense is young and will get better. The style of offense that the Pats play makes it tough for the defense to keep up since they are pretty high-paced. This year the Pats started getting their running game more involved and that will help the defense.

The Pats aren't going to move to replace Bill until they go through a Eagles-like drop-off and that will take at least 2 years of sub-500 records. I don't see that as long as Brady is playing at a high level. By then Bill can revert back to the early Patriots style where defense and a balanced offense, plus great kicking, had them challenging for their early Superbowls.

Bill will be retired before ever being on the hot seat is my opinion.

I guess you could have a Dallas Cowboys makeover when the team was sold to Jones and he replaced Tom Landry with Jimmy Johnson further down the road?

Lol that was good for a laugh OP. Thanks

I would say it's between Bellichek and one of the Harbaugh brothers. One of those three is certainly next to be fired. Two out of the three of them will NOT win a Superbowl this year and only two of them are even in the Superbowl. Bill certainly looks to be the early favorite since he missed the Superbowl this year.

When is the last time the Pats even had a losing season?

They went 11-5 with MATT CASSEL.

Belechick ... has been a very good coach. But I'm not sure where he would be without Tom Brady.

Hey Riggo I wanted to address this because of a past coach tied to his QB.

I think Bill Belichick,,is it only one l? will only last 2-3 years after Brady retires. He's been blessed with 2 top flight QBs in his tenure there, Drew Bledsoe and Brady. So his times there has been carried a lot by 2 guys that were good enough to carry the team on their backs.

Sounds like a guy in Denver who had great success with "Mr. Ed" but soon as the horses mouth retired so did the winning in Denver. Rat Boy has never caught the tempo of winning teams since. He may do better now in Washington cause he does have a possible "great" QB again, but notice he didn't do squat until that happened.

I think either of those guys are merely pedestrian coaches except for the change lightning that struck them at QB.

Seems to me they aren't really great coaches rather 2 guys that were in the right place at the right time. Give me Mike Holmgren who genuinely took players and taught them to play together.(That's my opinion of a coach). Belly Chick and Rat Boy just had to stand by and watch while greatness happened to them from someone else.

That's my 2 cents.

Given that Belichek has been able to use WR at DB's and other non discript players in roles he has done a hell of a job. He has shown that he will go get a piece thats critical, Dillon comes to mind. Pithys comments are right on though, two great QB's that can pick apart defenses helps your cause a lot. Would he have the same success with an average guy behind center?

Still he and Pioli took a chance on Brady so you can't take anything away from them.

I think Bellichick is a great coach who in 2005 decided to revolve this team around their qb. Gone was the physical run stuffing defense, gone was the power running game, it turned into what it is now, a spread offense that chucks it all over the place. The Pats no longer do what took them to three Super Bowls. They aren't about ball control, the team revolves around Brady and the defense is built to protect leads, not win slugfests. This change of philosophy, given the talents of Brady, was pretty natural, but its not surprising that they haven't won a Super Bowl since adopting this approach.

seahawk2k wrote:I think Bellichick is a great coach who in 2005 decided to revolve this team around their qb. Gone was the physical run stuffing defense, gone was the power running game, it turned into what it is now, a spread offense that chucks it all over the place. The Pats no longer do what took them to three Super Bowls. They aren't about ball control, the team revolves around Brady and the defense is built to protect leads, not win slugfests. This change of philosophy, given the talents of Brady, was pretty natural, but its not surprising that they haven't won a Super Bowl since adopting this approach.

All good observations, but since Dillon left they have not found a back that can dominate a game like he did either. Or as you stated they just moved to throwing the ball and really weren't interested in looking given they have traded picks down every draft.

If Bill Belichick is on the hot seat, then Robert Kraft is on the dumb seat.

No way. If there is one coach not on the hot seat, it's Belichick. I do think he'll retire either at the same time or a year or two after Brady does.

I've never been impressed with his drafts, and while he is a good coach, without Tom Brady, he never makes half of those Super Bowls.

ivotuk wrote:I've never been impressed with his drafts, and while he is a good coach, without Tom Brady, he never makes half of those Super Bowls.

I agree and disagree.. in 2001 the D WON that SB plain and simple...Brady just managed the game and didnt make any DUMB mistakes.

in 2003-2004 without the Pats D thePats wouldn't have gotten to the SB.

Since the Pats have become a predominantly O team they still are DANG good but not one SB victory, so hopefully with the rebuilt YOUNG D that will change.

And if BB on the hot seat so is every coach not running the 49ers or Ravens.. I think the mans record speaks for itself.

7 AFCCG games
5 SB
3 SB Victories

And went 11-5 with Matt Cassell as QB!!!

oH AND fyi HIS ONLY YEAR WITH Bledsoe under center the Pats went 5-11. So been all Brady with his success and 1 yr Cassell.

Really? They lost in the AFC championship. They went to the Superbowl last year. If not winning the superbowl was criteria for getting fired, PC would have been gone already....and he isn't going anywhere.

They finally have a running game showing itself which will help their defense not need to be playing soft zones to contain the lead every game. He is going to retire a Patriot.

mistaowen wrote:Really? They lost in the AFC championship. They went to the Superbowl last year. If not winning the superbowl was criteria for getting fired, PC would have been gone already....and he isn't going anywhere.

They finally have a running game showing itself which will help their defense not need to be playing soft zones to contain the lead every game. He is going to retire a Patriot.

Two words. Marty Schottenheimer.

RiggoReincarnated wrote:

mistaowen wrote:Really? They lost in the AFC championship. They went to the Superbowl last year. If not winning the superbowl was criteria for getting fired, PC would have been gone already....and he isn't going anywhere.

They finally have a running game showing itself which will help their defense not need to be playing soft zones to contain the lead every game. He is going to retire a Patriot.

Two words. Marty Schottenheimer.

And since they fired Marty the SD Chargers have gotten WORSE each year. Also Marty NEVER even won a playoff game in SD.

Yes, Brady is a huge part of Bill B.'s success. But how many long-term winners haven't had good to great QB play? Lombardi had Starr; Halas had Luckman; Landry had Staubach; Noll had Bradshaw; Walsh/Seifert had Montana and Young; Shula had Unitas, Griese and Marino; Carroll has Wilson...