Bill Belichik is a freaking moron

[2knees]

his defensive players must be brimming with new found confidence this morning after.


loved the call, being a disinterested party. Ballsiest thing i've seen in the nfl in a while.

 

[skibum9995]

I liked the call. The defense was gassed and wasn't able to stop the Colts late in the game. If they convert, they have a pretty good chance of being able to run out the clock. They had those short passes all game, the Indy defense came up big and stopped them. I wouldn't have tackled Addai on the 1, delaying the inevitable, to keep some time on the clock. It would have given Brady about 1:30 to set up for a long FG to win the game.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

This thread has the makings of being highly entertaining. Since the Jets play NE next week I read this on SI.com this morning.

"There are no bigger frauds in football than Rex Ryan's big-talking Jets (4-5), losers of five of their last six games after that 3-0 start. And let me quickly remind everyone that I had fully bought into New York before it got off to a fast getaway, predicting in the preseason it would be an AFC wild-card qualifier. Missed that one.

Ryan keeps talking up his team, but it sounds like so much hot air now that the Jets have lost three consecutive home games to AFC opponents Buffalo, Miami and Jacksonville, none of whom played the Jets with a winning record. The Jaguars were the latest opponent to expose New York's once-boastful defense, rolling up 347 yards against the Jets and their shoddy tackling, including 139 on the ground.

Mathematically, the Jets remain in the AFC wild-card picture. Realistically, they're done for the year. That loss to Jacksonville was basically an elimination game. And don't look now, but New York is headed to New England next week. The Patriots, no doubt, have a bit of revenge on their minds."

I heard a Jets fan friend whisper this morning, " I wish we kept Brent"

 

[drjeff]

If it had worked we'd all be calling him a genius today. I'm disappointed, but they did show that at least they have the ability to beat the Colts. There were a couple of bad calls and 2 goal line screw ups (fumble/interception) where if they had completed these none of this would have mattered.

Agree 110%. Plus, for a good chunk of the game, the rest of the NFL got a bit of a lesson on how to mess with Peyton's throwing scheme, and that WON'T go unnoticed during the next 2.5 months or so.

 

[4aprice]

I heard a Jets fan friend whisper this morning, " I wish we kept Brent"

I don't regret that Brett is gone.(and I don't mean that as a knock on Brett) I never had faith in this team to begin with. I thought 6-10 was reasonable(I upped it to 8-8 after the 3-0 start). The New York media hypes every win (and loss) so much the fans become unrealistic.

My current take is that this may be a good thing for Sanchez. The pressure to make the playoffs is gone and now he can concentrate on learning the pro game. Its been awhile since they had a good qb and I think the kid has the right stuff and needs to be groomed.

Pats 31 Jets 17

I will pull for the Pats once the Jets are eliminated.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[bigbog]

I hear the announcement of the members to head the Commision to conduct the Belichik Investigation will be announced on Friday....think this might be the end of performing drug tests on the players only....LOL.

>his defensive players must be brimming with new found confidence this morning after.
;-)...Fortunately I think they're making enough $$$ to prevent permanent damage to their psychie(sp?)...

 

[Geoff]

Agree 110%. Plus, for a good chunk of the game, the rest of the NFL got a bit of a lesson on how to mess with Peyton's throwing scheme, and that WON'T go unnoticed during the next 2.5 months or so.

Yep. I think going for it was the right call.

I was unhappy with the final score but nobody can bitch about the excitement level of the game. Most of those Sunday and Monday night games really suck to watch.

 

[Johnskiismore]

I'm still in disbelief. Watched the first half at my gf's, drove home during halftime, got home and turned on the tv to 'that' third down, and figured they would punt. Well, if they got the first down we wouldn't be saying anything..... but we know the rest of the story...

 

[bvibert]

I'm still in disbelief. Watched the first half at my gf's, drove home during halftime, got home and turned on the tv to 'that' third down, and figured they would punt. Well, if they got the first down we wouldn't be saying anything..... but we know the rest of the story...

Similar here. I watched most of the 1st half, then got up to do other things. I turned the TV back on when I got into bed right around the same time as you. It was quite a contrast to the 1st half of the game to say the least.

 

[deadheadskier]

Guess I'm in the minority here in my thought was to punt. I have not read a single article in any publication backing up the decision. I thought it was moronic the moment it was happening.

I'm with Vic Caruci

"It was more reckless than risky. It was more bizarre than bold.

With 2:08 left and your team up by six points, you punt. Period. You put 75 yards between Peyton Manning and pay dirt, not 29."

Peter King, Tony Dungy, pretty much every reporter, coach and analyst would agree. I don't much care about the woulda, coulda, shouldas of Maroney's fumble or the end zone pick. At that point in the game, the right call is to punt.

 

[WJenness]

Guess I'm in the minority here in my thought was to punt. I have not read a single article in any publication backing up the decision.

Well, here you go: http://deadspin.com/5405774/belichick-was-right

I was thinking there must be something like this going on.

It doesn't address some variables that might have swung the decision the other direction, i.e. how often that team that needs the touchdown to win has Peyton Manning running the show...

I'm still OK with the decision... much more so than the INT Brady threw in the end zone or the fumble that Maroney had at the goal line (this is overlooked, even if he didn't get in and they kicked a FG instead of a TD, going for it at the end of the game wouldn't have mattered).

-w

 

[riverc0il]

You punt the ball and the Colts march back from deep in their own territory to win the game, no one questions the call. 4th and 2 at your own 28 with 2 minutes to go, you punt. It really is an indefensible decision.

I have not been following football this year but I did see the Dolphins game last weekend. The pats won despite their bad defense at that game. I did not see the game last night. Given what I have heard about the situation, Belichik seems to have had a decision of whether to trust his power house offense and attack or play it safe and trust his defense against perhaps the best offense in the league. That is a serious vote of no confidence in his defense. He also once gave a vote of no confidence going against popular opinion. That decision got him a franchise quarterback and three superbowls. I applaud the man for having balls.

 

[campgottagopee]

I have not been following football this year but I did see the Dolphins game last weekend. The pats won despite their bad defense at that game. I did not see the game last night. Given what I have heard about the situation, Belichik seems to have had a decision of whether to trust his power house offense and attack or play it safe and trust his defense against perhaps the best offense in the league. That is a serious vote of no confidence in his defense. He also once gave a vote of no confidence going against popular opinion. That decision got him a franchise quarterback and three superbowls. I applaud the man for having balls.

Agree---wasn't an easy decision

 

[Shock]

It goes to show that stupid decisions can cost you the game. No Patriot's fans were complaining when Buffalo's McKelvin ran it out of the endzone in week one.

 

[bvibert]

I applaud the man for having balls.

Agree---wasn't an easy decision

+2!

The punt seemed like the obvious decision, but he clearly must have had his reasons to take the risk.

 

[Beetlenut]

What bothered me more than the INT Brady threw in the end zone or the fumble that Maroney had at the goal line, were the calls the home town team was getting. Like that phantom pass interference call the series before, that set up the Colts where the offensive player ran into the defender from behind. What a gift! And no booth review of the so called bobble for forward progress on the most important play of the game! Guess the Colts are the new darlings of the NFL!

 

[drjeff]

Coach Belicheck was realistically going for home field in the playoffs with that call. Let's be honest, the Pats ARE 99.9% in the playoffs already via the AFC East champs route. In that situation he was asking his strongest unit (the offense) who had been playing VERY well all night to get 2 yards. He gets the 1st down. Then he's got 4 downs, under the 2 minute warning and Indy can only stop the clock twice.

He must have been thinking that even if they DON'T get the 1st down, the way that Manning had been playing in the 4th Quarter it didn't matter if he had 90 yards or 30 yards to go, on his home field, late in the 4th quarter with the game on the line, Manning was going to get that ball in the end zone against his TIRED defense. Might as well try and have as much time left on the clock as possible to give Brady a chance to get them in field goal position, especially the way Gostzkowski can kick.

 

[deadheadskier]

I thought call was dumb when they lined up and still would have thought it dumb if they made it.

As for the defense being tired. Well they better start running. The Colts possessed the ball for only 24 minutes of that game, 4 minutes in the 4th quarter.

You put Manning 75 yards away, he's got to make that many more plays, there is that many more chances for mistake, especially on the longer throws that he would've needed to get down field and had been fairly inaccurate on all night. He only started carving up the Pats D when they switched to a prevent and GAVE him the underneath routes in the 4th quarter.

You punt and play an aggressive dime defensive and if you lose, you lose. Giving him the ball on the 29 is an almost guaranteed loss. 75 yards? not necessarily

You keep hearing every analyst out there say over and over that they've never seen such a call before. Why? Because it's not the right call. Maybe on the 50 or even your own 45, but the 29? no freaking way

 

[Mapnut]

You put Manning 75 yards away,

The average net on a punt is what, about 35 yards? 35 + 28 = 63 yards. Not picking on you, deadhead, other people have been supposing 80 or 90.

According to the article below, 38 yards is the average net.

 

[2knees]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=dw-belichickpats111609&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

i tend to agree with the call. 2 yards, game over.