Belichick's CNBC Interview is Patriots Porn
CNBC, a network that seems to exist only to provide non-controversial content for the TV in the locker room at my gym, takes a break today from talking about tech stock and interest rates to finally do something worthwhile: Talk to Bill Belichick. And as you’d expect, it’s the best kind of off the field Patriots erotica. Just a chance to listen to the best in the world at what he does, sit in a military-supporting, super-patriotic BBQ joint in Annapolis and tell his story. It’s just another example of how the rest of the NFL and their willing accomplices in the state run media try to portray this great man as a monster, when he’s the furthest thing from it.
The highlights:
The first humblebrag:
“I think I know a little about coaching. I think I know a little about leadership.” And I think I know a little about football.”
On Super Bowl LI:
“I have to go back and watch it every once in a while to make sure it came out like I remember it.”
On whether he ever panicked:
“This was one of those games where we didn’t have control of the score, but we had control of the game.”
And his reaction:
“Close to a miracle.”
Word association:
Deflategate: “Ridiculous.”
Aaron Hernandez: “Tragedy.”
When he first figured it out, as an assistant in Detroit:
“I went back to an experience I’d had in Baltimore. I talked to our offensive coordinator at that time and I said ‘Look, I know we haven’t ever used this formation but I studied this formation when I was at Baltimore last year and I think this is really going to give the Patriots problems. Can we take a look at this?’ … We used it. We won the game by three touchdowns. It was a huge upset. That was one where I was like ‘I can coach in this league.’”
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On how he cleaned up the mess he inherited from Pete Carroll in 2000:
“The first meeting of the Spring. And incomes the first round draft pick from the prior year [Note: Andy Katzenmoyer], not into the back of the room, but the front and sits down. And I’d already started the meeting. I’m like 3-4 minutes into it. And I looked at him like “What are you doing?’ He’s like ‘Uh, sorry Coach.’ And I said ‘Sorry? Get out of here! We’re not going to start this program with you walking in whenever you feel like it.’ I don’t care if he’s a number one draft choice or not a number one draft choice. We’re not gonna run a team like this.”
The obligatory social media malaprops:
“I do all I can to fight it. We have rules prohibiting our players from posting on InstantFace. … I can’t stand it. I think it’s important for us, as a team, to know each other. Know our teammates and our coaches. To interact with them is more important than to be ‘liked’ by whoever on ChatRoom.”
His philosophy that explains every controversial personnel move he’s ever made (looking at you, Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins):
“You’ve got to count on your most dependable people. … They might have been the most talented, or the people you hoped would do the right or best thing, and they didn’t come through. You have to go with the person who you have the most confidence in, the most consistent. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work, but I’m going down with that person. … There have been times I put too much responsibility on people who weren’t dependable. And they didn’t come through. And so who’s fault is that? Mine.”
On treating players like human beings:
“There are a lot of things that affect what happens on the field that occur off the field. They have wives and girlfriends. And they have babies. And they have personal situations. They have parents that are sick. All of it runs in together. “The more you and the organization can help take care of personal situations, the smoother the ship runs on the football end.”
The retirement question:
“I like all parts of the game. The team building. Training camp. The excitement of game day. It beats working.”
Where we are right now:
“We’re onto 2017. No one cares about 2016 anymore. You can’t look back. We don’t talk about last year. We don’t talk about next week. We talk about today, and we talk about the next game. That’s all we can really control.”
Where are all the rings?
“I’m not a jewelry person.”
Bonus highlight: Mission BBQ drops everything at noon each day for the National Anthem. Clean up in Aisle Thornton.
