The Patriot Way Is Not Easily Replicated
“I can’t fucking believe this,” I remember my father saying, glancing at an ESPN alert over his morning coffee “Belichick got rid of my favorite player.”
It was the fall of 2016, and the ‘favorite player,’ in question was Jamie Collins — a hyper athletic linebacker that the New England Patriots had inexplicably traded for a third round draft pick to the Cleveland Browns. There were rumors of schism between Collins and the Patriot’s Front office- Collins’ maverick style of play conflicted with the ‘do your job’ mentality that had carried the Patriots to historic success- but the move still came as a shock. Collins was a lynchpin of the Patriots defense, an electrifying pass rusher who had recorded eight tackles and an interception in a shutout of the Texans just a month before he was shipped to the Browns. He was a crucial component of the 2014 Patriots defense that had stolen a last-second Super Bowl trophy from the Seahawks two seasons prior. Belichick’s stellar record had done more than enough to earn the trust of New England faithful, but the move still brought in its fair share of doubters. As my father put it, Bill Belichick the GM was getting in the way of Belichick the head coach.
Well, as it turns out, Collins wasn’t the crucial component my dad thought he was. The Patriots would rip their way through the 2016 postseason, discarding the Texans and Steelers like gristle from a Thanksgiving turkey, before concluding their season with a historic, show-stopping Super Bowl comeback against the Falcons. That game, colloquially known as “28–3,” is still etched into the NFL’s collective consciousness. Collins, meanwhile, would spend years underperforming on the notoriously terrible Hue Jackson Browns before re-signing with the Patriots in 2019. It was hardly the first time Bill Belichick had released a seeming franchise staple only to churn relentlessly forward towards more success, (Lawrence Maroney and Aqib Talib spring to mind) and it certainly would not be the last.
A huge part of what makes these moves so surprisingly successful is the unparalleled adaptability of Belichick’s scheme construction. If a star player gets injured or needs to be traded, there is no NFL coach that can equal Bill Belichick’s ability in adjusting scheme and play-calling to maintain unit function. Most notably, even after losing his starting quarterback in 2008, Belichick managed to go 11–5 with journeyman backup Matt Cassel under center. There simply aren’t any other coaches in football who can think like Bill Belichick does.
That doesn’t stop certain coaches from trying.
The disciples of Bill Belichick have garnered themselves a rotten reputation as head coaching candidates throughout the past decade and a half, in many cases because they try too hard to follow their teacher’s example of prioritizing their authority over everything else. Lots of NFL superstars are headcases — reputation varies from player to player, but it’s a Herculean task to become a nationally adored athletic superstar without letting some of that fame go to your head. In the locker room, egos clash when things start to go wrong. When Patriots’ coordinators saw players get too self-important or antagonistic, they saw Belichick ship that player off — and a lot of the time, the team wouldn’t be any worse for wear. They learned that if a coach was good enough, good like Belichick was good, that a team could handle losing almost any cornerstone and keep pushing forward.
Most head coaches are not even in the same category as good as Bill Belichick. Trying to clone his exact style isn’t going to work.
There are numerous former Belichick disciples who have gone on to make questionable decisions as head coaches. Josh McDaniels proved himself hot-tempered to the point of failure during his tenure as head coach of the Broncos, and names like Eric Mangini and Romeo Crennel may as well be synonyms for incompetence in the main leadership role. However, for this exploration, I’d like to look into two former Belichick assistants who are current head coaches, and how their leadership may have borrowed from Belichick’s in all the wrong ways.
One of these two men, a native of the Patriots’ homeland of Massachusetts, is Texans Head Coach Bill O’Brien. O’Brien was a Patriots assistant from 2007 to 2011, and was anointed as the Texans head coach in 2014. He has remained with the team since, and led them to several division titles, a feat which eludes most of Belichick’s former assistants. However, critics of BOB were never in short supply. Many pointed out his tendency to easily get outfoxed by smarter coaches and inability to get past the divisional round of the playoffs, despite several attempts. The Texans most recent season ended with one of the worst embarrassments of the entire year — blowing a 24 point lead to the Chiefs in a game that made O’Brien look hapless, confused, and utterly out of his depth.
Despite this, in January of 2020 he was also given general manager responsibilities, and almost immediately made headlines for the worst possible reason. Out of the blue, O’Brien traded away star receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Cardinals for running back David Johnson and a second round pick. Trading Hopkins likely would have provoked ire no matter the haul that was recovered in return, but such a measly prize was a move of unconscionable stupidity in the eyes of the national press. Stefon Diggs — a receiver universally considered inferior (though still excellent) — was able to grant the Vikings a first round pick and two other draft selections. Not even Houston’s most dedicated defenders could find a way to justify trading away a weapon like Hopkins for comparative table scraps.
So… why? What compelled a flawed but decent head coach to make such a bafflingly stupid decision? Well, one popular theory was that it was personality clash. O’Brien reportedly disliked Hopkins’ general attitude during games, disliked how much sway Hopkins commanded in the locker room. He also (allegedly) criticized him for bringing his baby mamas to games, and even compared the star receiver to the infamous Aaron Hernandez.
There are some blunders that head coaches make that seem obviously foolish from the outside but are at least understandable. Comparing your own star player to a literal convicted murderer is not one of them.
With tensions brewing between the head coach and celebrated receiver, O’Brien did the same thing he had seen his mentor do many times before — decided his authority was more important, and that he could make up for the value lost with a better scheme. Hopkins was traded at the very start of the NFL free agency period, not two months after O’Brien was hired full time as general manager. As stated before, its too early to tell just how much Texans will miss Hopkins once game time resumes, but projections aren’t good. Even with Hopkins and 150 million dollar quarterback Deshaun Watson both on the field, the Texans under O’Brien have seen their fair share of offensive failures. Prior to the aforementioned loss to the Kansas City Chiefs (a game that was 24–0 after a quarter and ended 51–31) the Texans season had ended by scoring a measly 7 points at home, against the division rival Colts. Their offense was potent, without a doubt, but inconsistent and prone to stalling at the worst of times. The idea that the Texans will maintain that pace without Hopkin’s unparalleled playmaking ability is a hard sell. And even if, EVEN IF Bill O’Brien manages that feat, there is simply no way around the fact that Hopkins was worth more than they got. Odell Beckham went for more than a first. Stefon Diggs went for more than a first. Neither are better than DeAndre Hopkins and getting less than those hauls for a player of his caliber is inexcusable. Bill O’Brien tried to emulate a mentor who’s skill he could not equal, and it bit him in the ass.
Now, I am aware that I have spent the last 500 words or so trashing O’Brien as a petty authoritarian whose strategic gifts fall just short of justifying his managerial style, but there isn’t any doubt that he does have gifts as a head coach. You don’t win four division titles in six years without at least a little bit of genuine skill. To explore the bottom of the barrel. as far as the students of Belichick go, we have to head up North.
In his final game as defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots, Matt Patricia did not leave a positive impression. His unit gave up 41 points in a Super Bowl loss to an Eagles team led by a backup quarterback who would go on to win Super Bowl MVP. Nevertheless, he had been the steady hand of a successful Patriots defense for years, and was hired in 2018 to be the head coach of the future for the Detroit Lions. After a 9–7 season, the Lions had decided to move on from previous Head Coach Jim Caldwell, a man whose 36–28 overall record was the best of any Lion’s head coach in half a century. However, in those four years, he had failed to win a single playoff game. The Lions front office thought they were a good team held back by Caldwell’s mediocrity, and were ready to become a great team under Patricia. Patricia responded to those expectations by taking the same team Caldwell had to a 6–10 final record: worse than any of the seasons under his predecessor. The following year, the Lions would plummet from below average to downright putrid, losing every single game in the second half of their season to finish with a final record of 3–12–1. This was partially due to an injury to starting quarterback Matthew Stafford (a fact that likely saved Patricia’s job) but there isn’t any doubt that so far, Matt Patricia’s Lions tenure has been a severe disappointment.
There isn’t any single personnel move that defines Patricia’s time with Detroit like trading Hopkins’ may define O’Brien’s, but rather a reputation he has garnered from those who used to work under him. Bill Belichick is well known for being on the stricter side of the NFL head coaching spectrum, but it’s a strict attitude the players around him respect — they know what a formidable head coach he is, and so they trust that the tight ship he runs is one that will sail smoothly. After spending a half decade with the Patriots under Belichick, Patricia wanted to recreate that same atmosphere — but he had to be good enough to win in order to do it. Being a hardass NFL coach is one thing, but being a hardass NFL coach who doesn’t win is a surefire way to create a miserable locker room, one that resents the man who should be inspiring them. With only nine wins across two seasons, Patricia’s attempts at aping the style of New England’s football patriarch have brought not only a failure to win but also undiluted spite from Detroit’s players. Ex-tight end Garrett Hudson called Patricia “the worst person (he) had encountered in his NFL career.” Defensive back Quandre Diggs, considered a locker room leader by the team, “jumped for joy” upon finding he had been traded to the Seahawks. Darius “big play” Slay, a consistently great cornerback and consensus pick for Detroit’s best defensive player, was traded by the team for a third-round and fifth-round pick after the 2019 season. In less than 24 hours, he was quoted as saying that he did not respect his former head coach. Slay was signed by the Eagles almost immediately.
It’s that comment about a lack of respect that’s the most telling. Patricia, as many new leaders do, wanted to coach in the same style that his mentor had followed to great success. But Belichick was able to get away with an iron fist because his players respected him enough to follow him no matter how tough he was. Matt Patricia tried to emulate that same environment without having the success to back it up. Instead of the presence of a strict but wise commander, he came off like an abrasive mall-cop, taking all the wrong measures to plug holes in a sinking ship.
The incident that cemented Patricia’s poor status among his players was during a Week 17 preparation where the team ignored Patricia’s usual tough dogma in favor of running the locker room their own way. The players decided to fall back on what they remembered from the Caldwell years, practicing in a more relaxed fashion and emphasizing genuinely enjoying the game in order to improve morale. The result was a 31–0 pummeling of their hated division rival, the Packers. That game seemed to validate every player’s suspicion that Patricia was trying too hard to copy a man he couldn’t hope to match, and was doing so to the active detriment of the team.
Both Patricia and Bill O’Brien began the 2020 football season on the hot seat, and neither coach’s season opener did anything to assuage the concerns about their decision-making. The Hopkins-less Texans offense looked wilted and impotent against the Chiefs, scoring only 7 points up until garbage time when Kansas City had already put the game away. Patricia’s Lions jumped out to a 23–6 lead over their rival Bears, and then proceeded to choke away said lead away in a meltdown that was notable even by Detroit standards. Despite fortifying his defense with a host of former Patriots over the offseason, including the aforementioned Jamie Collins, Patricia’s squad gave up three (3) fourth quarter touchdowns to one of the most inconsistent and perpetually-rattled starting quarterbacks in the NFL. The 27–23 loss was the 2nd season opener in a row in which Patricia’s defense had blown a three-score lead.
If there’s one thing Patricia has successfully copied from his mentor in New England, its his obvious disdain for being questioned. When pressed about his numerous fourth quarter failures in Detroit, Patricia retorted that he had one of the best fourth quarter play calls of all time, referring to his pick play call that resulted in a Super Bowl-winning interception for New England.
I’ll give Patricia credit for consistency — be it coaching or answering press inquiries, he’s never not thinking about all the great things that Bill Belichick’s Patriots did 5 years ago. Both he and O’Brien could use a reminder to look ahead instead, before their attempted emulations turn into fireable offenses.
EDIT: The first version of this piece misidentified Quandre Diggs as Glover Quinn. That mistake has been changed.
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