2002 stories

The Coaching Life, Part 9: Amazing Transformation
08-Jul-2002, Pro Football Weekly
"'Have I lightened up a little bit? I probably have,' [Belichick] said. 'Some of the things that looking back that I did in Cleveland, I might have been a little too rough on them at times.' There is a saying that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Given Belichick an 'A' in history and an 'A' in personal growth. He did learn from his mistakes. In some ways, the foundation for his Super Bowl success with the Patriots was built from his failure with the Browns."
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The Real Bill Belichick Has Cause To Stand Up
22-May-2002, Providence Journal
"The reality is that, for a while, Bill Belichick has been living a life that's made an impact in locker rooms and board rooms, and prisons and homeless shelters. The 'new' Bill Belichick people have seen in the last eight months or so was there all along. Too few ever bothered to look."
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Jaws: Belichick Coaching Job 'Best Ever'
08-Feb-2002, Boston Herald
"He thought he had seen it all. He thought there was nothing more he could learn about the X's and O's that NFL coaches throw at one another each Sunday. He thought the Rams were just too good for the Patriots. Then he popped in the tape of Super Bowl XXXVI, and suddenly he knew how it felt to be Mike Martz. He found out what it was like to go to school at the University of Belichick. 'The best coaching job I've ever seen,' Jaworski said."
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Price Check: Patriots' Secret Is Not Overpaying, Finding A Good Fit
07-Feb-2002, SI.com
"Since Belichick and Pioli began running the personnel side of the Patriots before the 2000 season, they've piloted the team to the fourth-lowest total dollars spent in the league during that two-year period, in bonus and salaries combined. New England will be the only team in the nine-year history of free agency to win a Super Bowl and be under the cap entering the next season."
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The Team, The Team, The Team
06-Feb-2002, Pro Football Weekly
"The Patriots proved that titles are not won on turf. They are won on heart. The Patriots proved that games are not won indoors. They are won in the weight room, in the film room, in the minds of those who dare to think the unthinkable."
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Winners Act The Part
06-Feb-2002, Boston Herald
"As for what the coach said to his players before playing the Rams on Sunday, Belichick offered an inside look. 'I told them that if they played Patriots football that this would be our time,' said Belichick. 'And right now, this is our time.'"
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Belichick's Believers
05-Feb-2002, Boston Globe
"Let the teenyboppers drool over New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and his dimpled chin. At a certain point in life, you don't dream about being his date. You look at a 24-year-old like Brady and think: What a great mom he must have. Coach Bill Belichick is the thinking woman's hero…. Never underestimate the sheer power and appeal of brawn plus brains, minus arrogance and ego."
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Tiznow's Horseshoes Kick In At The Super Bowl
05-Feb-2002, Hoofcare & Lameness
"A funny thing happened on the way to the Superdome. The New England Patriots' coach, Bill Belichick, received a pair of horseshoes in the mail."
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Coach, QB Rewarded For Super Bowl Heroics
05-Feb-2002, ESPN.com
"Looking like a couple guys functioning with a combination of too much partying and too little sack time – a common malady in this city – New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and then head coach Bill Belichick strode to the dais for a too-early Monday appointment that marked the final news conference of Super Bowl week."
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Script Casts Coach In New Light
04-Feb-2002, Boston Globe
"There they were last night, dozens of admirers by Belichick's door. They weren't pounding this time. They were tapping and speaking softly. A few of them had tears in their eyes. A few of them were able to sneak in and have a few words with the coach who was more than worth a first-round draft pick. 'Team defense, team defense, team defense,' he said as he sat in the office. He was trying to explain how the Patriots were able to hold the Rams to 3 points through three quarters."
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Pats' Belichick Made Fools Out Of Everybody
04-Feb-2002, Miami Herald
"We – hey, don't duck your head out there, pal, you figured the same way unless you're a hopeless Patriotnik – thought nobody including the defensively lethal Patriots could stop perhaps the greatest offensive machine in National Football League history. Belichick's game plan did."
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Head Coach Supreme
04-Feb-2002, BBC Sport
"The Patriots' victory was reminiscent of Super Bowl XXV in 1991, when the underdog New York Giants were matched against a powerful Buffalo Bills' offence that many considered unstoppable. The Giants' defence stifled the Bills that day on their way to an improbable 20-19 victory…. Belichick now holds the distinction of devising not one, but two of the greatest single-game defensive strategies in NFL history."
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Statement Of Senator Edward M. Kennedy
04-Feb-2002, US Senate
"At a time when our entire country is banding together and facing down individualism, the Patriots set a wonderful example, showing us all what is possible when we work together, believe in each other, and sacrifice for the greater good. That example came from the top, and it came from the start of the season. Choosing to be introduced before the game as a team, not as individuals, the Patriots set the tone for their victory. Coach Bill Belichick stressed teamwork, saying that only by working together could the Patriots overcome their opponent, the best team in the NFL's regular season, the St. Louis Rams."
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Super Psych 101
04-Feb-2002, SI Online
"He's not an emotional type of person. I talked with him in his little coaching room about an hour after the game was over, after he'd come down off the podium in the interview room and accepted all the congratulations, and he laid out the defensive scheme and talked about the roles everyone was expected to play, and the sacrifices they had to make."
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Now I Can Die In Peace
04-Feb-2002, ESPN.com Page 2
"Now it all makes sense. You bleed for your team, you follow them through thick and thin, you monitor every free-agent signing, you immerse yourself in Draft Day, you purchase the jerseys and caps, you plan your Sundays around the games … and there's a little rainbow waiting at the end. You can't see it, but you know it's there. It's there. It has to be there. So you believe."
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Defensive Plan A Thing Of Genius
04-Feb-2002, ESPN.com
"Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who once again checkmated the league's resident offensive guru, acknowledged that if the two teams played again next week the betting line might not change at all. He might be right in that assessment but, on this night at least, he was more often correct in the defensive calls he made. In finally moving for good out of the solar coaching eclipse otherwise known as Bill Parcells, the brilliant Belichick not only reinforced his reputation as one of the premier defensive strategists of the last quarter-century, but established himself as a pretty good head coach, too."
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Enjoy Your Hangover, New England
04-Feb-2002, ESPN.com Page 2
"Like I told my guy Howie: I covered the NFL for five years. I heard every assistant coach break down blitz tendencies and zone defenses like they thought I knew what they were talking about. I've been an NFL fan for 25 years. I've heard talk radio and read beat stories until the scene has morphed into the Edge NFL Matchup gig that we have today, with Ron Jaworski breaking down game films in between orders of baby back ribs. And I still have no idea what the hell Bill Belichick did to the Rams. All I know is, every play, it looked like the Pats had 15 guys on defense."
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Belichick Befuddles Rams With Mind Games
04-Feb-2002, USA TODAY
"The Patriots pulled it off because Belichick kept running players on and off the Superdome turf at a frantic pace. He played mind games with Rams coach Mike Martz, switching from his base 4-3-4 defense to 3-4-4 and 2-3-6 units, using Terrell Buckley and Terrance Shaw as extra backs. Warner, the league's best quarterback, was so befuddled by Belichick's combinations that he repeatedly held the ball for long periods. It took the Rams' so-called 'Greatest Show on Turf' 50 minutes, 29 seconds to score their first touchdown. It took them 58:30 for Warner to throw his only touchdown pass."
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A Double Whammy In New Orleans
04-Feb-2002, Eagle-Tribune
"'To the rest of the world, this verifies so many things about Bill,' said Patriots director of player personnel Scott Pioli. 'Look at where this team came from and all of the problems he had to deal with. I'm happy for him, but to be honest, all of us that know him knew he had this in him. He is a great coach. He is a great guy. It's too bad it took winning the Super Bowl for a lot of people to realize it.'"
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The Sincerest Form Of Flattery
04-Feb-2002, SI.com
"Everyone's going to wonder what kind of fluke this was. No fluke. Mike Martz was right coming in: This is a supremely well-coached team with enough talent. You scoff at that? I don't. Because this is the key to life in the NFL today: Every team has enough talent. It's how the talent is coached and orchestrated, and how the coaches make the talent 10 percent better than they'd be somewhere else. Coaching in the NFL means more than in any other sport, ever."
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Pats Bring New Meaning To 'Team'
03-Feb-2002, NFL.com
"One didn't have to wait for the kickoff of Super Bowl XXXVI to learn just how successful Bill Belichick was at turning 53 players into a single, unified force…. 'The players wanted to do it that way; they wanted to come out as a team,' Belichick said. 'We've been doing it since October.' Belichick may have passed off the credit. But the fact that his team thought of this college-style method, this one-for-all, all-for-one mentality, underscores the success he had during the 2001 season."
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Belichick Will Not Be Changed
03-Feb-2002, Associated Press
"Not surprisingly, even after this victory, Belichick remained a man of few words. 'These players, a lot of other people didn't believe in them, but they believe in themselves. And that,' he said after the New England Patriots stunned St. Louis 20–17 Sunday to win the Super Bowl, 'is all that matters.'"
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There's No 'I' in 'Team': Belichick's Patriots Rally Around Wolfpack Concept
03-Feb-2002, Pro Football Weekly
"Belichick found a way to win, giving new meaning to the term 'team.' After the Rams' starting lineup was introduced individually and each player had run out of the tunnel, the Patriots chose to forgo individual introductions and stormed out of the tunnel in unison. 'There is an old saying about the strength of the wolf is the pack, and I think there is a lot of truth to that,' Belichick said. 'On a football team, it's not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function together.'"
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Bill Belichick: He Sticks To Business
03-Feb-2002, Indianapolis Star
Linebacker Tedy Bruschi: "The best thing I can say about coach Belichick is he's a solid football coach. He's not a comedian. I'd rather have a football coach who knew what he was doing and could manage a team and make the tough decisions rather than a guy who is going to make me laugh or give you sound bites."
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The Thinking Man's Game
03-Feb-2002, Northeast Magazine
"When the 5-foot-10, 185-pound freshman arrived in Middletown in the fall of 1971, he did excel on one playing field – lacrosse. He played football, putting in his time in the trenches, first as a center, then on the other side of the ball as a defensive end and outside linebacker. But looking back now, as Belichick prepares to lead the New England Patriots into the Super Bowl this evening, his first visit to the NFL title game as a head coach, his college coaches remember an intelligent, inquisitive player – but a decidedly average football player – who was always thinking about the next tactical move, always trying to make his teammates better."
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Destiny's Darlings Now America's Team
03-Feb-2002, NFL Insider
"Fittingly, at the end of a day cloaked in red, white and blue, a team called the Patriots not only turned this into a much better game than almost anyone could have imagined, but easily the greatest Super Bowl of them all. They did it by coming up with a masterful defensive game plan and an amazing display of heart and resilience that has defined their entire season."
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Change In The Game Plan
02-Feb-2002, Bengals Press Box
"Bill Belichick's genius has always been in the details. The other stuff? He'll tell you himself he's a better head coach because he's more of a big picture man now. But once a detail man, always a detail man. Has Bill Belichick really changed from the deposed Cleveland head coach who coordinated this Pats' defense to the Super Bowl five years ago?"
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He's Put Winning In Their System
02-Feb-2002, Boston Globe
"Bill Belichick is a pigskin Mozart grown up. He wanted into the family business ever since he was 9 or 10. He learned how to break down films from his dad before he was out of his teens, and he never had any doubts that coaching football would be his life. When he speaks in matters football, it is practically ex cathedra. What other people can only guess at, Bill Belichick knows."
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We Shall Overcome
02-Feb-2002, Associated Press
"For this film session, Belichick chose Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure, the story of the 1914 voyage of the 'Endurance,' in which the ship got trapped and then crushed in the ice. The crew withstood 17 months of hunger, inhuman temperatures and boredom before making its way over icy land and sea to safety…. Willie McGinest said '[Belichick] is the captain of our ship, and we're the crew members. Everything hasn't gone perfectly for us, obviously, but we've believed in him, we've followed his direction and he's gotten us to the Super Bowl.'"
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Patriots Coach Has Well-Earned Reputation For Stopping Whatever's Thrown His Way
02-Feb-2002, Boston Globe
"Belichick's credentials as an X's-and-0's, how-many-schemes-can-I-invent-this-time guy have always put him at the valedictorian level wherever he coached. Other coaches aren't ashamed to admit they've copied Belichick's defense when it's time to play an opponent that Belichick already has solved."
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Bill Belichick Q&A
01-Feb-2002, NFL Insider
"Through my career, I've faced a lot of great coaches, a lot of great players, and great offensive systems. But certainly you've got to put the Rams right up there with them. Mike Martz does a tremendous job. They've got great players, they have a good system, and they really execute well. They are efficient and precise in their execution. It's going to take a real good team effort to stop them. There's not any one guy or one thing you can load up on. They have too many weapons."
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Belichick Learns To Smile – And Win
01-Feb-2002, Palm Beach Post
"When he was asked Thursday about his, uh, reputation for having a boring personality, Belichick delivered a one-liner. 'Who said that?' he replied with a wry smile. 'I feel like that I still am who I am for better or worse,' he said. 'I try to coach the team the way I coach the team and get them ready. That's my job. Have I lightened up? I probably have. When I look back at Cleveland, might I have been too rough at times? Maybe. On the other hand, when you're trying to establish a program that's not been at a high level, you have to show the way you want things done.'"
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Selflessness Makes Pats' Special Teams Special
01-Feb-2002, ESPN.com
"'Our guys haven't been reluctant about getting on special teams,' [Troy] Brown said. 'We've got guys like Lawyer and Ty who are begging to get out there and hold up gunners on special teams, and they probably just came off a long series of defense. That's what it's all about. That's the kind of attitude you have to have on a team that expects to win a lot of football games. We don't have any prima donnas that are too good to be on special teams, because it is a vital part of the game.'"
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Belichick Cast Lot With Castoffs, And It Worked
01-Feb-2002, CBS SportsLine.com
"While most Super Bowl teams are lined with more star appeal than Ocean's 11, Belichick has brought in a cast of journeymen to help him with his mission. In fact, these castaways in the NFL sea make up the core of this team. 'We're the has-beens and some never-will-bes,' said one such player, Mike Vrabel, of Belichick's hired help. 'He brings in guys who he likes, guys he looks for to fit his plan in his system. Some people can calls us castoffs, but I like to think of us as guys who Bill likes for what he does. That's good enough for me.'"
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Belichick Defensive? Just On The Field
01-Feb-2002, USA TODAY
"'I don't think anybody is the same at work as they are at play,' [Charles] Barkley said Thursday of Belichick. 'He's a totally different guy than people may think. He's down-to-earth. A real good man. But people may not know it, because you have to be different, not as open, when dealing with your players and even the press.'"
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Using Their Strength
01-Feb-2002, Associated Press
"Bill Belichick chatted about the lure of Bourbon Street and a previous Super Bowl where he saw guards with rifles on rooftops. His main concern, though, was the blur of blue and gold uniforms known as the St. Louis Rams."
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Five Reasons Why Patriots Will Win
01-Feb-2002, ESPN.com
"The Patriots' head coach and his defensive staff have to be taken into account when handicapping this game. There might not be a better game-day scheme coach in the NFL than Belichick. And there's no one better at making game adjustments on the fly than Belichick. So, if the Rams are hurting New England with something in particular in the first half on Sunday, watch for Belichick and his staff and players to adjust quickly."
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Belichicks Follow Paternal Instinct
01-Feb-2002, Boston Herald
"The only way the elder Belichick could share time with his son was to bring him into his pigskin existence. 'I remember we had a screen porch at our house in Annapolis,' said Belichick. 'Bill must have been 6 or 7 then. Ernie Ready, our offensive line coach, would put a copy of our game plan for the week in an envelope for Bill, and we'd sit on the porch and he'd read it.'"
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Father Knows (Belichick) Best
01-Feb-2002, Boston Globe
"His boy, Bill, is all sideline, no Seinfeld. But by his father's account, Bill Belichick's personality, like his coaching ability, was misjudged during his five seasons as head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Steve Belichick, 83 years old and more than a decade removed from his 33 years as an assistant coach at Navy, made it clear he doesn't much care for the public perception that Bill, his only child, would be severely challenged in a Mr. Congeniality contest."
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It's A Day Of Decisions For Coach
31-Jan-2002, Boston Globe
"Tests are often helpful when making psychological assessments. There's the Rorschach Test…the Myers-Briggs personality test, and the standard IQ test. While the nation yesterday breathlessly awaited a decision from Belichick regarding his starting quarterback for Sunday's Super Bowl, he graciously took a few minutes to take the Standard Shaughnessy Ginger-Mary Ann Test."
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Coach In Boss' Corner
31-Jan-2002, Boston Herald
"'Let's not make this about Parcells-Belichick,' said Weis. 'This is about Belichick, and what he's done. He deserves his day in the sun without that association. It's unfair.'"
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Belichick's College Chum Not Shocked At His Success
31-Jan-2002, Providence Journal
"'Bill was a better lacrosse player than he was a football player,' [Bill] Devereaux says. 'In football, he was an average Division III football player. In lacrosse, he was better than that, was the captain his senior year. But he was a student of both. In fact, on both teams there was the feeling that having Bill was like another coach on the field.'"
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Cox: Pushing All The Right Buttons
31-Jan-2002, SuperBowl.com
"Bill Belichick has pushed all the right buttons this year. I'm thankful that he brought me to the Patriots. He's done such a wonderful job just being human. That's probably the biggest reason we're in this position."
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Belichick, Martz Do Have A Human Side
31-Jan-2002, ESPN.com
"'I'm kind of a detail-oriented person, and I don't mind doing the details,' Belichick said. 'But I found through time that I'm better off not getting involved in those things, so I can do a better job of managing the team. What I found out is that a lot of people do those jobs better than I would have done anyway.'"
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Belichick Hits His Stride
31-Jan-2002, Detroit News
"Bill Belichick's good friend Jon Bon Jovi, a New Jersey-bred rocker, didn't have him in mind when he wrote such hits as Keep the Faith, Something to Believe In or Maybe Just Older. But those titles from Bon Jovi's discography could make up the sound track for how Belichick's coaching career has evolved"
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Theismann: Patriots Had The Look Of Winners
31-Jan-2002, ESPN.com
"I had dinner Wednesday night with Bill Belichick and six other people at the Palace Cafe around 9:30. Initially, I had wanted to attend one of the Patriots' practices, so I left a message for Bill. But he didn't feel it would be appropriate and suggested dinner instead. Hey, they lost the last time I practiced with them. They don't want me out there. Football players are superstitious enough."
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Coaching Out Of The Blocks
30-Jan-2002, Washington Post
"Bill was telling his pals where to play in backyard baseball games. His mother, Jeannette, heard him one day – 'You pitch, you play third, you get out there in the outfield' – and thought Bill was being bossy. 'When I started to say something,' she said, 'the boy who lived next door told me: 'If he didn't tell us, we wouldn't know what to do.'' Those instincts and leadership skills have grown even stronger and now have the team Belichick coaches, the New England Patriots, playing in Super Bowl XXXVI against the St. Louis Rams on Sunday."
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Patriots Put Their Faith In Belichick
30-Jan-2002, NFL Insider
"Last summer, Belichick snared Gruden and his wife front-row seats to a Bon Jovi concert and a backstage meeting with the band. Gruden joined a devout list of players, coaches, an owner, and even a band from New Jersey who have realized over time that Bill Belichick rocks."
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