Is this Bill Belichick’s best coaching job with the Patriots?

Where do you rank the feat of reaching the postseason with a rookie quarterback after a 2-4 start in the New England coach’s record?

FOXBOROUGH — The action had yet to start in the final game of the Los Angeles regular season. New England Patriots against the Miami Dolphins when CBS analyst Jay Feely shared his take on the unexpected position the team found itself in, with 10 wins and a guaranteed playoff spot.

“This is the best job as a head coach what have you done Bill Belichick. The best coach of all time, but I think this year he and [el coordinador ofensivo] Josh McDaniel have done a phenomenal job,” Feely said.

The 2021 season of Belichick has a lot of competition–his résumé is very impressive, after all–yet the analyst at ESPNDamien Woody can understand why Feely thinks that.

Belichick take your patriots (10-7) into Saturday’s Wild Card Round matchup against the Buffalo Bills (11-6) having earned the respect of many around the NFL, including their former offensive lineman.

“You could say that this is the best work he has ever done“said Woody, who played for the patriots from 1999 to 2003. “He goes out and signs a bunch of free agents in the offseason. Then he drafts Mac Jones and proceeds to put that team together. It’s not easy to mix up a group of free agents and prepare a rookie quarterback for enter that culture. To be able to do that and get that team back to the postseason, that’s a very good coaching job.“.

Former backup quarterback for the patriotsScott Zolak, the team’s radio analyst, highlighted those obstacles when discussing what the job of coaching Belichick in 2021 so unique compared to those of the past.

“They are pleasantly surprised by where they are. Bill I wouldn’t admit it, but I think they’re ahead of the game,” he said. “Maybe next year they’re thinking about the playoffs, while this year they’re thinking ‘find themselves, recharge, soak the quarterback,’ and then get things going. “.

However, there is one area that has been problematic.

“Special teams mistakes are amazing,” Zolak said, referring to three blocked punts and other costly penalties, such as defensive tackle Lawrence Guy lining up in front of the long snapper on a punt Sunday to gift the Dolphins a first down. in the 33-24 loss of New England.

In the overview of the 2021 season of BelichickZolak sees a mix of the early and late years of the team’s two decades with quarterback Tom Brady.

“We all know what it was like in the beginning, a lot of older veterans with something to prove and a young quarterback who was developing. They found their way,” he said. “Then you had the quarterback as the veteran and you’re dealing with a young defense and an offense that’s charging you. Now, I think they have a good balance.”

Where is the 2021 campaign located? Belichick Among his best coaching jobs with the patriots? While officials may punish this list for a false start because the season isn’t over, here’s a veteran reporter’s top 10:

1. 2001: Belichick He was coming off a 5-11 season in his first year as head coach of the patriots and the team was 0-2 when starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe suffered a serious injury. The patriots had struggled to a 5-5 record when Belichick made the decision to stay with Brady, his second-year quarterback, in one of the biggest moves of his career.

The patriots, with what former Green Bay Packers general manager Ron Woll described as a “cast-out team,” went on to win Super Bowl XXXVI, upsetting the heavily favored St. Louis Rams, 20-17.

Woody was part of that team.

“Listen, you can definitely put him at No. 1, I will not argue with you,” he said. “We were 0-2, then 1-3 and there was a lot of noise with people asking, ‘Is it Belichick the one?’ To be able to navigate those waters and beat ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’ in the Super Bowl…who had expectations in 2001?”

2. 2008: This was a year that could have sunk the patriots, who were trying to bounce back after losing Super Bowl XLII and having their hopes of a 19-0 season shattered in the process. Then Brady tore his ACL on the 15th offensive snap of the season and was out for the year.

“Come on! That 2008 team, it’s up there, if it’s not the best, it’s in the top two,” Woody said excitedly. “[el mariscal de campo suplente] Matt Cassel, who by the way had never been a college starter at USC, came in to play … I know you have the whole team around him, but think how amazing he is.”

The patriots they finished 11–5 and did not qualify for the playoffs, benefiting from what some saw as a soft schedule against the AFC West and NFC West divisions, which were in negative cycles at the time.

3. 2014: “We are focused on Cinicinnati.” Is there anything else to say? A decade had passed since the patriots they won a Super Bowl. They opened the season 2-2, with a 41-14 blowout loss on the road to the Kansas City Chiefs on “Monday Night Football” in which Brady walked off the field in the fourth quarter. Coming back from that and ending up winning the Super Bowl with a dramatic fourth-quarter stoppage against the Seattle Seahawks was epic.

4. 2003: The patriots they had missed the playoffs in 2002 and then popular safety Lawyer Milloy was released the week before the season began, a 31-0 loss at Buffalo with Milloy starting for the Bills. With a 2-2 record, the patriots they never lost again, buoyed by one of the best defenses in the Belichick, en route to his second Super Bowl championship.

5. 2018: They seemed buried in December with a devastating last-play loss at Miami in Week 14 and another loss the following week at Pittsburgh, only to reinvent themselves as a mighty running team over the final five games en route to a surprising Super Bowl championship. . The victory over Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game was an advertisement for American-style complementary football. patriots headed by Belichick.

6. 2021: Perhaps this year will benefit from the recentness bias, but making the playoffs with Jones at the helm (many thought this season he would be a backup behind Cam Newton) and so many new pieces is a credit to the excellence of Belichick and his coaching staff.

7. 2016: Any coach who manages a team that rallied from a 28-3 second-half deficit to win a Super Bowl is going to have that season ranked among his best simply because of that comeback. Tight end Rob Gronkowski missed a large portion of the season (25 receptions), but the defense averaged a league-best 15.6 points per game despite not having many big-name stars.

8. 2007: The patriots they were loaded, but listening to veterans like Tedy Bruschi remember what was unfolding behind the scenes, they say Belichick he never trained them harder than during that undefeated regular season. There was never a moment of relaxation. Sometimes a coach’s best jobs can come with the best teams, keeping them fighting for more.

9. 2004: The last team in the NFL to win back-to-back Super Bowl championships, the patriots they were so banged up at cornerback that they had wide receiver Troy Brown playing there. Belichick he has always favored a rotation at running back, but he rode Corey Dillon (franchise single-season record 1,635 rushing yards) to win the Super Bowl title.

10. 2006: The receptor body of the patriots it was led by Reche Caldwell (team leader with 61 receptions) after Deion Branch was traded before the season began. Somehow the patriots they were one play away from reaching the Super Bowl, were it not for a 38-34 loss in the AFC Championship Game to Peyton Manning’s Colts in Indianapolis. In that match, the patriots they missed safety Rodney Harrison, who was sidelined with an injury in the final game of the regular season.