Belichick's Greatest Hits No. 1: Pink Stripes
Erik S Lesser. Shutterstock Images.There may be no wrong answers on this test, but I've given you the right one. Of all the great Bill Belichick moments, this one is the Belichickiest.
Down through the years, it has gone by many names. But the shorthand will always be Pink Stripes, thanks to the white board behind Ernie Adams in the Patriots first Do Your Job special that didn't come out until months later.
Prior to seeing this interview, I had serious doubts that Adams existed. I assumed he might've just been Belichick's Tyler Durden. And I asked Belichick directly what Pink Stripes is supposed to mean, but he just played coy with me and said he'd look into it. The next week, he told me he'd forgotten to. To which I replied, "What else do you have going on that's a bigger priority than answering my stupid question?" And we laughed and laughed the way best friends do.
Anyway. Back to business.
Super Bowl XLIX will always rank above the other Patriots championships for me because there was so much riding on it. History so often comes down to pinch points. Pivotal moments that have profound impacts on posterity. This was one.
By 2014, the Patriots hadn't won a title in 10 years. Even though there were a couple of excruciatingly painful near misses, along the way, it was starting to be assumed they'd never win another. They had drafted Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2nd round that year, in preparation for a then 37 year old Tom Brady finally reaching the end of the line. By contrast the Seahawks were the defending champions. Once again boasted a generationally good defense that gave up just 15.9 points per game after putting a chokehold on the 2013 Broncos - still the highest scoring single season team of all time - holding them to just 8 points in the previous Super Bowl. So it was an old, seemingly fading dynasty facing off against a new, still emerging dynasty. And like with Highlander, there could be only one.
And this is the highlight of Belichick's incomparable career because so much laser-focused preparation and impeccable decision-making got us to this point. Beginning with the offseason. After being utterly incapable of stopping the Broncos offense in the previous postseason, GM Bill stunned the football world, and drove Jets fans by the thousands (they don't have millions) into group therapy sessions by signing Darrelle Revis away from Tampa Bay. He also added 6-foot-4, 221 pound corner Brandon Browner to play opposite him.
On the other side of the ball, he was now in Year 2 of his unpopular move to replace Wes Welker with some combination of Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman. Pats fans weren't thrilled when Amendola got hurt in his first game of his first season in New England and finished his second with 27 catches and 200 yards. But they'd quit their bitching soon enough.
But what really sets this one apart is how HC Bill prepped his team for this game. Even in the backdrop of a raging controversy that was getting top billing on the network newscasts (see the Mona Lisa Vito presser) and basically making the entire nation freak the fuck out over absolutely nothing. But it did not deter the coach from breaking down Pete Carroll's team, identify their weaknesses, and figure out ways to exploit them in any signficant way.
Beginning with Russell Wilson. From the outset, he saw the key as not chasing the three time Pro Bowler, but to contain him. Stay at his level in the pocket and resist the urge to flush him. Because once they do, he would become a runner. In doing so, they not only held him to 39 rushing yards, (14 less than he averaged on the season), but it kept him off-balance in the pocket. In Seattle's first three possessions, Wilson didn't complete a pass and all three ended with punts. And using this approach, they were able to get to him on two sacks by the halfway point of the 2nd quarter.
There was one weakness on Belichick's defense however. As he later admitted, nickelback Kyle Arrington was a streaky player, prone to overthinking it after he gave up a reception or two. And here he was giving up plenty. Rookie Chris Matthews, who didn't catch a pass all season, appeared out of nowhere and went OFF on Arrington. Beginning with a 44 yard reception that set up a touchdown that tied the game at 7. Then on the last play of the half, Matthews caught another touchdown to tie it again at 14 all. On the first drive of the 3rd, Wilson hit Matthews again for 45 yards, and that was it for Arrington for the night.
To replace him, Belichick made two moves. One was to put Browner on the 6-5, 218 lb Matthews. And Browner held him to one catch for 9 yards the rest of the way. The second move, you've already figured out. It was to send in UDFA rookie Malcolm Butler, who produced immediate results, mostly in coverage on Jermaine Kearse. A rub route on 3rd & 2 at midfield freed Kearse up for a deep shot upfield, but Butler stayed with it, got back in the play and knocked it away to force a punt instead of 1st & 10 in the red zone. On Seattle's last possession, he broke up Kearse on yet another bomb from midfield. Then got his hands on another pass to Kearse later in the drive. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here.
There was genius on the other side of the ball as well. The touchdown that gave New England the 14-7 lead came when they schemed up a way to get All Pro Richard Sherman away from Rob Gronkowski. Instead, Brady looked at the formation and saw run-stuffing linebacker KJ Wright on him in single coverage, the mismatch to end all mismatches. And the play was a touchdown before it was even snapped:
The next was the play that erased a 10-point 4th quarter deficit and gave the Patriots a 28-24 lead just before the 2:00 warning. It was a route they came up with in a ballroom at the team hotel the night before. It was a goal line pivot route by Edelman that got him open on an earlier drive, but Brady missed him. They all agreed to got back to it if they had the chance. And the chance presented itself:
But the masterpiece is, of course, the one we all know. That we've all celebrated for the nine years since. The one that came right after Kearse somehow held onto what should've been yet another PBU by Butler (on the same end of the same field where David Tyree made The Helmet Catch), giving the Seahawks a 1st & goal. The one Ernie Adams was describing with those weirdly cryptic code words on the board behind him. Nothing less than the most impactful, significant play in NFL history. The one that forever changed the fate of two franchises:
Belichick's greatest moment one, because they prepared for this very play. The Do Your Job documentary showed them practicing against this formation, with Butler exactly in the slot where he found himself standing with a championship hanging in the balance. He gave up the touchdown in that practice session. And the coaching point he got was to not sit back and allow himself to get taken out of the play, but to jump the route before he gets picked. Prior to the snap in the game, Browner told him exactly what he planned to do. Jam Kearse so that he can't get into Butler, so that Butler could get to the pass before Ricardo Lockett could.
Perfection.
The other, arguably greater, Jedi Mind Trick was Belichick refusing to call timeout in that situation. With his entire staff on the headsets asking if he wanted to call time, he instead focused on Carroll's crew on the opposite sideline. It was chaos over there. Guys coming onto the field, then coming off, then being sent back on. Belichick watched this going on and calmly answered, "Yup. I got it." Later adding that he didn't want to let Seattle off the hook.
His defense was in goal line. With two corners as the Seahawks sent out a third receiver. Someone told assistant Brian Flores "Flo, send Malcolm." And he uttered the other two words that will forever be remembered in Pats lore. "Malcolm! Go!"
Butler was the third cornerback in goal line. The Patriots were prepared for it. They'd anticipated it. And practiced it. But it was the first time they'd used that formation all season.
That's why this will forever be the greatest moment in Bill Belichick's 24-year Patriots career that is full of them. When I started this, I thought 20 of these posts might not be enough. I was right.
Thanks, coach. Although it's been said, many times, many ways, Kiss the Rings.
