Belichick stands alone as he keeps Patriots on track
FOXBOROUGH, MASS.— When Bill Belichick roams the sidelines during a New England Patriots game, it is remarkable how often he is altogether alone. Belichick has more than a dozen assistant coaches, but few approach him. There are nearly 50 players, but they tend to scrupulously avoid their head coach.
Typically, there is a buffer of about 20 feet between Belichick and any other person for most of the three hours it takes to play an NFL game.
Standing near the sideline throng, Belichick is amid his team but apart as well.
On Saturday night, as the Patriots hosted the Tennessee Titans in a divisional-round playoff game, there was no moment when Belichick appeared more alone than late in the first quarter.
The Titans had just silenced the raucous New England crowd, scoring the game’s first points on a methodical 11-play touchdown drive.
Belichick, his hands in the pockets of a hooded parka that cloaked his hunched frame, paced the bench area in solitude, with those in his vicinity retreating even farther from his brooding presence.
But it is not a stretch to say that, after all his years in New England, Belichick can communicate with his team without opening his mouth in public.
Over their next 29 offensive plays, his Patriots stormed to 21 unanswered points, a surge that put in motion New England’s 35-14 rout of the Titans. The victory extended the Patriots’ home playoff winning streak to eight games and assured that New England would be in the AFC championship game for a record seventh time in a row on Jan. 21. The Patriots will host the Jacksonville Jaguars, winners Sunday over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The thorough destruction of the Titans ended a week of turmoil for New England in the wake of an ESPN report that suggested there were rifts among the Patriots’ holy trinity — Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady and owner Robert Kraft.
The figurative ramparts enveloping the Patriots’ complex here, built on secrecy and communal silence across nearly two fruitful decades, suddenly seemed fractured.
But it is important to note who came off best in the story describing a conflict within the Patriots’ hier- archy. It was Belichick, which hints that someone from his camp was at the root of the anonymous sources in the report.
Which is another way of saying that Belichick can communicate with his team without opening his mouth in public.
And who came across worst in this contretemps? It was without question Brady, who was portrayed as self-involved in a flurry of off-therecord intimations.
Keep in mind that Brady had just experienced what was, for him, a difficult December. He had thrown an interception in each of his last five games, had been knocked to the ground more often than usual and had seen his completion percentage dip.
But on Saturday, a spirited Brady unleashed yet another spectacular playoff performance, completing 35 of 53 passes for 337 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions and no sacks.
It was Brady’s 10th playoff game with at least three touchdown passes, breaking a record previously held by Joe Montana.
When Saturday’s game ended, Brady sprinted from his seat on the bench to shake hands with Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota. Belichick slowly made his way onto the field, standing by himself. After lingering there for about a minute, he turned with a wave toward the stands.
As all of the New England players, including Brady, exited the field through a tunnel beyond one of the end zones, Belichick, alone except for a team employee who walked about 20 feet behind him, sauntered toward a different, side exit.
He disappeared down a flight of stairs.
Mission accomplished.