Belichick "mutually parting ways" is not a shock, but still crazy to think about for this Pats fan. I remember exactly when they hired him; I was in my dad's old 1992 F150 4x4 Flareside (with the sweet Nite package) on the way home from my uncle's house, and the breaking news came on the radio. We were both intrigued, because one of the guys that lived up the street from us and was a customer on my paper route was Al Groh, who I believe was the DC at the time under Pete Carroll. Would he stick around? Was this guy from the Jets, Browns, and Giants worth all the trouble?
24 years later, here we are. He helped transformed the team from a complete joke into a real contender and his run here was unprecedented and unmatched. The thing that did him in was the fact that he was also the GM. He always thought he was smarter than everyone else in the room, and while that's arguably true on the field, that's far from the truth behind the desk. He made some real dumb decisions over the years, including benching Malcolm Butler in that Eagles Super Bowl, drafting terribly, hiring his buddies and kids repeatedly as coaches and staff when they really had no business being there, and more. The latest episode of Bill the GM was the gross mismanagement of Mac Jones. He quite literally broke him. If Bill the Coach were to stick around, I would have been fine with that, but at this stage of his career, and even though he said as such, he wasn't going to relinquish the GM duties to someone else.
Happy for the good memories and what he did for the team, but it was time.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
I'm asking seriously: How successful would Belichik have been without Brady?
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Tony Sestito :
I'm asking seriously: How successful would Belichik have been without Brady?
Realistically, you also have to ask the flip question. While we saw Brady be a winner after he left, there was no real path other than NE for him to be what he was. Remember, if not for a bad injury to Drew Bledsoe, Brady may not have seen any time. He was drafted as a back up, at best- and many teams passed on him as a back up.
They were the ultimate pair. And as much as all fans who hate the Patriots don't want to accept it- the pair made pro football better.
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:
In reply to Tony Sestito :
I'm asking seriously: How successful would Belichik have been without Brady?
The two of them together was magical, and they made each other successful. Brady essentially ran the offense, and Bill ran the defense. Both had the ability to elevate their side of the game, making stars out of retreads, has-beens, and nobodies. No one had been able to do that before, or since, and I doubt that will happen again for that amount of time.
Apart, I have to give the edge to Brady, since he was able to find success in Tampa Bay. Bill the GM couldn't get out of his own way by that point in New England, and the past 4 years have been miserable. Only bright spot was Mac Jones's rookie season, but he completely destroyed that player the next year, so it's hard to look at that as a success.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
That's kind of how I see it. Bill sucked in Cleveland. Brady excelled in Tampa. But I never followed New England Football that much. It took me years to stop being pissed off about the tuck rule.
In reply to alfadriver :
Re: Geni Smith
Personally he got rawdogged by the "NFL scouts". I watched him play at WVU, he is a damn good qb. His main fault is he is not flashy. He did have some ball control issues while running but overall he was BETTER than 90% of who he was playing backup for because he wasn't "marketable". I mean he played under RichRod and Holgersen... Those coaches let HIM down, if anything.
The best QB's in the league are the undrafted, 3rd, 4th, 5tf, etc picks because they haven't tapped out in talent or drive to be better.
In reply to Ranger50 :
Which suggests to me that Carroll had the vision to work with him. He's still a good coach.
And that was quick: Pats hired former player Jerod Mayo to be their HC.
I like Mayo a lot. He was drafted by Bill, and one of his better picks on the defensive side of the ball. He only played here for about 8 years, and then retired. He stayed in the area, and connected with the team. He came back as a positional coach a few years ago, and quickly showed talent in that field. He has clear leadership skills, and he's an all-around good guy from all accounts. And his peers and the players like and respect him, which is all-important.
Interested to see how he does.
QuasiMofo (John Brown) said:
Does Jerry fire him if he tanks the playoff game? That would be awesome.
After this, how do you keep this entire coaching staff? Dan Quinn was on some of the HC rumors, but his D is so, so very bad today, I can't see him getting a promotion anymore. Well, maybe San Diego given the last D HC they got. Perfect fit.
I wish this was us a few weeks ago, but it's nice to see the packers take it out on Dallas.
In reply to alfadriver :
The Cowboys are the worst kind of good, the " alllmmmmoooossstttt good enough".
It's teams like this that stay together because they are still good, just not good enough. They need to be totally blown up and started over, because it's not gonna work.
Really, Rodgers era Packers is a good example of this. It's amazing that all those years only made 1 super bowl.
Steve_Jones said:
Really ....it's amazing how accurate this is and has been. Remember the 49ers game this year? Cowboys fans were sure that not only would they win, they would win by 40 points.
I haven't seen the game yet , just saw the score, but I guess at least not getting Ezekiel Elliot pile drived into the ground by playing center is some growth, right?
In reply to alfadriver :
Thank you for saying San Diego, the rightful home of the Chargers.
The Lions ROAR!!!! Wow. Close again, but they won.
alfadriver said:
The Lions ROAR!!!! Wow. Close again, but they won.
At least it was a good game, the others this weekend were pretty boring.
In reply to Steve_Jones :
I would have preferred a blow out by the Lions.
The way that the Packers handled Dallas is IMO another indicator that not only is Rodgers over the hill, he has been for years. I used to think that he was arguably the top QB in the game, but the last few years he was always whining about not being given enough weapons. Now Rodgers successor is looking better than he has, while he can only get in pissing matches with talk-show hosts.
I cannot believe that, within 6 days, I got to see Michigan win the national championship and the Lions win a playoff game.
As for the Cowboys, LO, and I can't emphasize this enough, L. 
In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :
It's been a good week.
Kreb (Forum Supporter) said:
The way that the Packers handled Dallas is IMO another indicator that not only is Rodgers over the hill, he has been for years. I used to think that he was arguably the top QB in the game, but the last few years he was always whining about not being given enough weapons. Now Rodgers successor is looking better than he has, while he can only get in pissing matches with talk-show hosts.
Who was the head coach in both those situations?
In reply to racerfink :
Matt Lefluer (sp?) was the GB coach last year when they got beat by the Lions to prevent them going to the playoffs. Rogers issues spanned multiple coaches in GB.
racerfink said:
Mike McCarthy
But Rogers failed under someone else, too. McCarthy is bad, sure. But it's not as if much changed when he was let go.
I will always hate the Packers, but the fact that they have more playoff wins at JerryWorld than the Cowboys do will never stop being funny.
