EPTThe Patriots are what they are. They don't have the talent level on both sides of the ball of Joe Montana's 49ers, the '85 Bears, or even the 2007 Patriots or the 2012 eagles. But Belichick knows that, and he's going to plan and drill the Patriots into the best position possible. And the players, or at least Brady and Welker, and hopefully the rest, are committed to that plan and are doing every thing they can to prepare.
I like Belichick. I probably wouldn't like playing for him, with his infamous and unrelenting lowlight reels every week, skewering everyone from the backup players to Tom Brady. You can count on Belichick to make the unpopular call, if he thinks it will help him win. He'll go for it on 4th and short vs the Colts with the game on the line. He'll trade off his pro bowler, Richard Seymour for draft picks. He'll make Troy Brown play the other side of the ball. He'll have his star quarterback practice kicking for 7 years so he can do a surprise punt on 3rd and 10.
Story: Back in 2005, reporter Chris Berman mentioned to Belichick that he had seen Doug Flutie drop kick in Canada. For those of you who don't know, drop kicks are an archaic leftover from prehistoric times when footballs were round. You could drop kick field goals and extra points instead of the modern place kicks. It still exists in the rulebook, but nobody had successfully drop kicked a ball since 1941. Belichick called Doug Flutie into his office, asked him if he could do it, and a few weeks later, made history.
With Belichick, there's always a chance you'll see something you've never seen before, in the superbowl. Maybe he'll intentionally snap the ball into a goalpost for a strategic safety, again. Maybe he'll do a play action field goal.
But on a serious note, he implemented 31 minute halftime breaks in the middle of practices to simulate the half time break. He's been trying to trick his line to jump offsides in 4th down drills. He knows his player strength well enough that he's using Vince Wilfork as the anchor to a hybrid 3-4/4-3 defense. Of course he made a priority of drafting 2 super tight ends to counter the counter to the 2007 wide receiver sets. I know every coach probably does this, but if there's any coach in the league who I believe will have anticipated just about everything wrinkle of the Giants pass rush and Manning's triple threat, it's Bill Belichick. And I knows he's the one who's going to ride his players in practice until they stop making those innocuous mistakes that open the way to sacks.
Even Giselle's provided that charming amount of crazy.
Earlier in the week, Brady said Gisele gave him some advice before he headed off to Indianapolis. “Throw the ball quickly,” he said she told him. “She doesn’t like it when I get hit very often.”
She reminds me of the hot, young, foreign, and slightly eccentric Gloria in modern family. She evidently is pretty clueless about Tommy boy's profession, and I find that hilarious.
![[image loading]](http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012/02/02/news/web_photos/gisele_brady_ap--300x450.jpg)
Her leaked email from (last) week:
“My sweet friends and family. This sunday will be a really important day in my husband’s life. He and his team worked so hard to get to this point and now they need us more than ever to send them positive energy so they can fulfill their dream of winning this super bowl . . .
“So I kindly ask all of you to join me on this positive chain and pray for him, so he can feel confident, healthy and strong. Envision him happy and fulfilled experiencing with his team a victory this sunday.
“Thank you for your love and support. Love, G
”
“So I kindly ask all of you to join me on this positive chain and pray for him, so he can feel confident, healthy and strong. Envision him happy and fulfilled experiencing with his team a victory this sunday.
“Thank you for your love and support. Love, G
”The Super Bowl is obviously much more entertaining with a woman who a) is probably more comfortable if the game were like "everyone's a winner" soccer league and b) signs her emails with a single letter a la Gossip Girl. If she can round up a group of increasingly drunk foreign supermodels to root for the blue guys to score goals, I will die laughing.
Although to be fair, just like "G", I'm rooting for Tommy et al because of how hard they worked. This year I don't have to care about 19-0 or measuring how talented he is compared to Montana/Peyton. In the end, most of us aren't transcendent superstars like Lebron or Randy Moss or even Gronkowski. Tom Brady and 5'9" Wes Welker weren't born more gifted than everyone else, and all they could do is what the work as hard as they can and prepare as well as they can. I can't guarantee winning or losing like a lot of Giants fans, but all I can say is that given what the Patriots had, they've willed themselves to the point where they at least have a chance to win.
Even if Gronkowski can't play, I'll still believe that Welker and Branch and the rest give them a chance. I'd like to say more about Welker, particularly about how I want to see him line up against Victor Cruz, but this has gone on too long, so here's a final thought:
Bill Belichick + 2 weeks +
My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of BilboBelichick may rule the fate of many.
+ + Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://cdn.eurweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/chad-ochocinco.jpg)
By the way, I've never made a teamliquid blog before, so I think I may have permanently doomed all future posts to reference this super bowl.
