Send The Ballots In Now Belichick Coach Of The Year
If you are a regular reader of mine you know that I grew up in the greater Boston area. I have followed the Patriots since 1960, when Babe Parilli and Gino Cappelletti played for them and they could not find a home for the first 10 years of their existence. I remember listening to the radio when I was a summer camp counselor in Maine when Daryl Stingley was crippled. I watched this team as the joke of the NFL through the Sullivan, Kiam, and Orthwein years. And finally my childhood team was the first dynasty of the new millennium! When “Videogate ” was first revealed, I was angry but even more so I was hurt, as a fan. The feeling I had at the time was all their accomplishments had been sullied, and that everything they had done had been tainted. I called for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to suspend coach Bill Belichick for at least a season, and I wrote that I would not think it was unreasonable to bar him for life from the league.
I try to keep my emotions in check when I write, but there are some things I do get passionate about. The guy who wrote that article calling for the banishment of Belichick from civilized society, was the 14 year old boy that still lives inside my middle-aged body. That’s the part of me that is still a fan, the part of me that has kept me a sports fan after seeing some despicable things in professional locker rooms. Remember what else was going on on 9/13/07 when I wrote that first piece. The county was up in arms about the Michael Vick case. The NBA had found out there was one dirty referee and at the time there was speculation others could be involved. And one of the few “feel good stories” in sports that summer Rick Ankiel’s amazing comeback as an outfielder for ST. Louis had been tainted. There were allegations that he had taken HGH. Is it any wonder that at that particular moment I wrote an article entitled “Is There Anybody Left We Can Trust?”
They say that time heals all wounds, in the case of the Patriots time but more importantly their results on the field have healed my wounds. It would have been very easy for the Patriots to fall into a pity party and become unfocused, and for them to buckle under the pressure that was now foisted upon them. It has been exactly the opposite, and with their performance they have started to reassure all but their most ardent critics. The New England Patriots have proven that they don’t need chicanery to win.
If the Patriots had succumbed to the pressure, their entire repertoire off accomplishments would be looked at with a jaundiced eye. The NFL would not have taken the three Super Bowl trophies the franchise has won in the new millennium away. Number one, the NFL is not the Olympics or the Tour De France, number two there would be no way of proving that the Pats had cheated. But there would have been a “mental asterisk” associated with all their success, if their fans did not know whether to trust the team then who would?
The Patriots after defeating the Colts last Sunday go into their Bye week assured of a winning record now sitting at 9-0. As worried as Don Shula is about New England breaking the Dolphins perfect season mark, it would be incredibly tough for it to happen. Are the Patriots right now the best team in the NFL? Hands down, they are they took away all doubt in the game against Indianapolis. But to run the table in the age of parity, highly unlikely. However they already have themselves a winning season. No matter how much you may dislike the Patriots, you have to agree that given the cloud that hung over this team’s head to already clinch a winning record is an incredible accomplishment!
It may seem hypocritical to you, but I have done a 18o degree turn around on Bill Belichick. He earned back my respect, he did something wrong but then dealt with the ramifications of his actions. And that to me is the true mark of an adult, someone who when they make their bed they lie in it. Belichick did not offer an apology, that’s not his style, but he did not make excuses either. He just put his head down focused on the future and did what he had to do. Go out and redeem his team’s reputation.
To me there is very little competition for Coach of the Year in the NFL. Wade Phillips has far exceeded my expectations, but Dallas still pales against New England. Dungy has done what Dungy always does with the Colts, who else is a legitimate candidate?
Belichick did a stupid thing in week one, but for Shula to call the season “tainted”at this point is just ludicrous. With probably more sets of eyeballs on them than nay other team in NFL history has had the Patriots could not get away with spitting without someone complaining. No Coach Shula, as disgusted as I was by “VideoGate” when it happened, this has proved to be a defining season! To quote Cleveland Cavaliers Superstar LeBron James “We went into the dragon’s mouth, and came out with a victory.” That already is what Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have done NFL writers send in your ballots now, Belichick is the NFL COACH OF THE YEAR !
© Copyright 2007 thesackattack.com
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This post has 3 comments
November 9th, 2007 at 5:36 am
Your anger at Coach Belichick is misplaced. Though I don’t condone what was done it is a regular practice in the NFL similar to “stealing” signs from a catcher in baseball. It did nothing to change anything this season since it happened so early in the season and there is no proof it happened before. And though the head coach is responsible everything done his watch it is possible this was an overzealous underling who got caught.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I find it more than a bit ironic that Don Shula is calling the Patriots season success tainted because of “Spygate.” He asserts that the Patriots 2007 season should have an asterisk after its won-lost record to reflect the fact that the Patriots were cheaters. It smacks of his eclectic memory and tremendous ego. He conveniently forgets the Patriots were already hit with the maximum fine permissible and will have their 2008 first-round draft choice forfeited as punishment. Also “the Don” seems to have forgotten that he was involved in his own messy situation that resulted in a tampering charge levelled against the Miami Dolphins in which they forfeited their own first-round draft pick in 1970. If my memory of the circumstances is correct, I recall that “the Don” was illegally contacted by the Dolphins regarding their head coaching position while he was still under contract as the head coach of the Baltimore Colts. The Colts understandably complained which resulted in the Dolphins being penalized their number one draft pick that year as punishment for the tampering charge. Don Shula’s comments remind me of the old saying that people in glass houses should’nt throw stones. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Sorry about that last one I just could’nt help myself.
March 20th, 2008 at 9:40 am
In the eyes of NFL fans, our 3 superbowls will now forever be tainted. Belichick might have been redeemed if he beat the Giants without video tape, but since he lost the ONE superbowl out of four in which we know for certain that he wasn’t able to use tape, we can’t trust the other wins at all.
I am a Patriots fan in pain. I don’t go as far back as Babe Parilli but I speak with the heart of Grogan, Tim Fox, Julius Adams and Sam Bam Cunningham. I thought Belichick was a genius on the level of Walsh and I loved him with all my Patriots heart. Now he just seems like creep who got caught. (He certainly didn’t look like a genius going for a 4th and 13 in the superbowl).
Tom Brady is still our Joe Montana. He got the go-ahead score just like he needed to, then the defense let us down. Retool, fellas, and attack. We need to win another superbowl now more than ever.