Bill Belichick Just Ruined Football For You (Again)

Huh. I guess it's true. Defense does win championships.

Bill Belichick just destroyed the modern NFL right in front of our wondering eyes in Super Bowl LIII. Maybe we should've seen it coming after that first half shutout of the Chiefs in the AFCCG. (Credit to Andy Reid for making the second half adjustments Sean McVay and the Rams never could.) This was supposed to be a shootout between two of the top four offenses in the NFL. We were on the cusp of a new wave of offensive innovation. Who cares what the over/under is; bet the over! Instead we got the old schooliest of old school games. Control the ball, control the clock, make it a one-play game and then make that play.

I'm looking at you Rob Gronkowski.

This isn't all Belichick's fault, of course. Wade Phillips deserves some of the blame for this. The talented Rams defense was able to keep Brady and the Pats offense out of the end zone until the 4th quarter. I'm sure if you'd told Phillips before the game that his defense would hold TB12 and the Patriots offense to just 13 points he would've taken it.

Pigskin pundits and bobbleheads are still wondering how Belichick, Brian Flores, and this New England defense that looked defenseless at various points during the season, just pitched a near-shutout against the millennial offense of the Los Angeles Rams. Isn't this what Belichick does, though? Maybe we don't know how he does it, but we have seen this movie before, haven't we?

Belichick is now 3-0 against Top 5 offenses in the Super Bowl, his defenses giving up 16.0 points per game.

The Patriots 13-3 victory is already being called boring or just plain bad or maybe even the worst Super Bowl ever but I spent the game (literally at times) on the edge of my seat. It was the pigskin version of a heavyweight fight where more punches were thrown than landed, culminating in a late round knockdown that tipped the judges cards. The tension, anticipation, and ultimate exhilaration when that punch lands - that throw by Brady and the catch by Gronkowski to set up Michel's TD - it lifts you out of your seat and onto your feet. The echoes in that play called back so many moments of the Belichick and Brady years, from Ty Law, arm raised, taking it to the house in XXXVI to 28-3 and the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.

When it was over, I turned to my son and asked, "Who gets the MVP? So many players made plays. How do you pick one over the others?" Edelman was a great choice. Ignoring yet another epic playoff performance by Jules would've been a crime but how about Sony Michel? Or Stephon Gilmore? Or Gronk? Or Dont'a Hightower? Ryan Allen and Matthew Slater? Why not just give it to the entire defensive unit?

In the end, though, it's only right that Edelman won the MVP. The college QB turned wide receiver, one of the best punt return men in NFL history and part-time defensive back is the essential, paradigmatic Patriot.

Quick Aside: They say NFL stands for "Not For Long." Instead of the next Sean McVay to fill their head coaching vacancy, will NFL owners be looking for the next Brian Flores next year?

Fittingly, though, this 6th Lombardi Trophy may have been the most quintessentially Patriots Super Bowl win since XXXVI; the Super Bowl before we knew Tom Brady was Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were lovable underdogs (remember that?). A great game plan. Lights out defense. Great plays on special teams. And a big, championship drive in the 4th quarter.

The Patriots Way.

Do Your Job.

Last week, in the midst of all of the reflections by pigskin pundits and bobbleheads on the Patriots of the last two decades, there was plenty of "we'll never see anything like this again" comments. At the time, I thought, everyone says that in the moment but really, who knows? Some records last longer than others but ultimately, all records fall. I won't live to see it but I couldn't help but think that someday there would be a team that would have pigskin pundits and bobbleheads asking if they were better than the Patriots of 2001-2021.

Today, in the soft light of a winter morning in New England, I have to wonder if the gridiron cognoscenti weren't right after all.

Will another NFL franchise someday get to 9 Super Bowls in 18 years? Win 6 of those Super Bowls? Absurd. Ridiculous. Unprecedented. Inconceivable (and not in "The Princess Bride" sense of the word). It's hard to take in what the Patriots have actually accomplished let alone think it could ever be done again.

And I get the feeling it isn't over. Not yet.

Still here.