Can’t beat Pats? Then imitate them
Patriots South. That is really what the Texans’ division should be called.
What do Bill O’Brien, Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels have in common?
New England, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the dynasty that refuses to die.
As does Romeo Crennel, who reclaimed his old job of defensive coordinator when the Tennessee Titans hired Vrabel away from the Texans.
Three of the AFC South’s four teams are expected to soon be coached by names plucked from the Belichick tree. O’Brien and Vrabel already are on the job. The only holdup with McDaniels is the fact that the Patriots are in the Super Bowl again.
LeBron James and Kevin Durant spearheaded the “If you can’t beat them, join them” movement in the modern NBA. But that top-heavy, star-obsessed league has nothing on the NFL, which continues to pounce on Belichick proteges almost two decades into New England’s unbelievable run.
Granted, this annual trend isn’t new and obviously hasn’t always worked as expected. See: McDaniels in Denver (11-17), Crennel with Cleveland and Kansas City (28-55), O’Brien with the Texans (31-33) and whatever happened to Charlie Weis.
But is it a coincidence that three of the AFC South’s expected coaches in 2018 have New England plastered all over their résumés? Of course not. And as much as Jacksonville needed a top-down shakeup heading into the 2017 campaign, the fact that Tom Coughlin handed Belichick his only two Super Bowl defeats probably wasn’t lost on the Jaguars, who were nine minutes away from taking down the Patriots last weekend.
Since the 2001 season – Brady taking over for an injured Drew Bledsoe; the NFL’s Big Bang to kick off a new millennium – the AFC has overwhelmingly been dominated, influenced and shaped by the unflinching football factory just outside of Boston.
Belichick and Brady are playing in their eighth Super Bowl in 17 seasons together. One of those non-title game years receives an asterisk, too: Belichick went 11-5 with Matt Cassel in 2008, which is a little better than O’Brien did this season with Tom Savage and T.J. Yates after Deshaun Watson went down.
A pro football team from Houston has never even been to the big game, which is one of the many reasons that Bob McNair first turned to a Belichick disciple in 2014. In 2012, the Texans finished a franchise-best 12-4. Then they were hammered by the Patriots.
Can’t beat ’em? Try and imitate them. Belichick and Brady just keep beating everybody, overcoming the impossible, improving their system, going to Super Bowls and shining their rings. Seventeen years after New England’s dynasty began, the NFL is still playing catch up and the AFC South is putting its faith in ex-Pats.