NFL Videos: Coach of the Decade
"Only three coaches survived the entire decade with one team. … As the Patriots' head coach, Bill Belichick was never afraid to make the unpopular decision. He opted for the unproven Tom Brady over veteran Drew Bledsoe. Belichick cut defensive captain Lawyer Milloy. Belichick embraced other teams' castoffs and turned them into winners. He surrendered an intentional safety to gain field position and secure a last-minute victory. By demanding his teams remain focused, his teams were able to overcome all kinds of obstacles. A regular season that began with a black mark ended with an unblemished record. Whether it was kickers throwing passes, receivers making interceptions, or linebackers catching touchdowns, Belichick got the most out of his talent. With three Super Bowl victories and seven division titles in ten years, Bill Belichick was the coach of the decade."
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Quotes From This Week

Tom Curran: "[I]ntimating that the Patriots have been tight with [their] money is false. From 2005 to 2009, the Patriots spent $539.9 million on player compensation. The Colts spent $545.7 million. The Jets – who went free-agent bananas in 2008 – spent $542 million. And if the Patriots had reached accord with Vince Wilfork before last season began as they were trying to do, they'd have blown away the five-year spending totals of both the Colts and Jets." —CSNNE.com, Feb. 6

Michael Lombardi: "All the talking coming from Adalius Thomas is strange considering his play this season was far from productive on tape. I would think it would be hard for the Patriots to bring him back, not for his words but for his play."
—National Football Post, Feb. 5

Michael Lombardi: "I think the problem everybody's having right now, and why you're not seeing very many deals done, is nobody knows what the rules of engagement are. And in the NFL, before you can make any decisions, you'd better know what the rules are. And then you figure out how to play the game. And that's Belichick's ultimate strength: Show him what the rules are, and he'll figure a way to win the game within the rules. And I think that's what he's waiting for. And I think that's what everybody is waiting for." —WEEI.com, Feb. 4

Gregg Williams: "I think the world of Bill Belichick. I think he's one of the all-time best coaches. … With he and I, there's a respect factor there." —Boston Globe, Feb. 4

Kyle Eckel: "A lot of my continuation of my career is due, I think, to my experiences in New England and being a part of that organization. It's certainly in bold print on an NFL résumé to be a part of the New England Patriots organization and play for a coach like Bill Belichick. I owe a lot to that organization and to Bill Belichick for opening the door." —Boston Globe, Feb. 3

Bill Cowher: "I think the decade still has to go to New England. … [Y]ou go back to the body of work and the consistency, and I think New England clearly is above everybody else. They never had that one down year. They've been on the brink from when they first won in 2001 until this past year they were in the playoffs. They've been the most consistent team. ... The humility that they won with, that's what set them apart. I learned a lot from their ability to respect an opponent every week, to not get caught up with it. I remember taking a lot from the way the New England Patriots handled success. To me, they epitomize that. How you handle success and not get caught up in it makes them role models." —ESPN.com, Feb. 3

Heath Evans: "Bill Belichick is hands down one of the Top 5 funniest people I know. I know the stonefaced head coach on the sideline looks anything but funny. I understand that his postgame hand shakes and interviews are the stuff of legend, but get to know the man and he will have you rolling for days! When MySpace and Facebook first came out, coach Bill warned us to stay off of 'Yearbook and MyFace.' Hopefully, that gives you guys a little insight into New England's favorite coach."
—WEEI.com, Jan 30

Friday, February 5, 2010
Bill Belichick Speaks to Patriots.com About the State of the Team's Coaching Staff
"[N]ow that the dust from 2009 has settled, it seems the Patriots coaching staff will remain largely intact. But there has been some notable reshuffling in New England's coaching ranks this offseason. Last month, with his contract due to expire, defensive coordinator Dean Pees announced that he was not returning to New England. To fill the void left by Pees, Belichick will not name a coordinator, but will instead be more involved on defense to share the workload with his assistants. That includes the newly arrived Corwin Brown, a former Patriots safety from 1993-96 who has experience both as a player and a coach in Belichick's systems. Brown, who most recently served as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, will be assigned to assist the defense, where he will share responsibilities with Josh Boyer coaching New England's defensive backs."
     … "Titles are fine, nothing wrong with them, but the most important thing is each person's role, that we do everything we can to help the players succeed – everyone collectively getting the job done."
full story

Monday, February 1, 2010
NFL All-Decade Team
"The NFL All-Decade teams are chosen every 10 years by the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee members. The 2000s marked the ninth All-Decade team to be selected in NFL history. This decade's 53-player team is comprised of two quarterbacks, four running backs, one fullback, four wide receivers, two tight ends, four offensive tackles, four guards, two centers, four defensive tackles, four defensive ends, six linebackers, four cornerbacks, four safeties, two kickers, two punters, two kick returners and two punt returners. Current New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and retired Colts coach Tony Dungy also were chosen for the team."
full story

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Bill Belichick USA Today's Coach of the Decade
"One number stands out among the many Bill Belichick has amassed during his Hall of Fame coaching career: 112. Belichick won more regular-season games in the 2000s – 112, all with the New England Patriots – than any other NFL coach won in any previous decade. Coming closest are Tom Landry's 105 victories and Don Shula's 104 in the 1970s. So it was as a unanimous selection that Belichick earned NFL Coach of the Decade honors from USA TODAY."
full story

Monday, January 11, 2010
Bill Belichick on WEEI
The final Patriots Monday of the 2009 season ended with Coach Belichick's parting words: "Nobody's more disappointed in what happened yesterday than the team is and its loyal fans, and we, of course, feel terribly about that. It's in the books, there's nothing we can do but look ahead and move forward, and that's what we're going to try to do. But the support we've gotten has been great. It's been fun being on here on Mondays – most of the Mondays [laughter] – appreciate all the support from the fans and the listeners out there, and you can be sure that we're going to work at it hard and long to try to make the improvements we can to help our football team and try to keep getting better."
online audio | download the mp3 | quotes

Bill Belichick Season-Ending Press Conference
"As we talked about yesterday, that was definitely a very disappointing end to our season. There really wasn't much to feel good about in yesterday's performance all the way around. We're all accountable for it. It starts with me. We worked long and hard this season and to finish that way is certainly a big disappointment for all of us, everybody involved. I think that on the other hand when you stop and take a look back and reflect on the entire season there were certainly some positives – winning the division. It was a tough division. It was certainly a goal of ours and we reached that one. I thought the way the players handled themselves over the course of the year, we had our ups and downs, but they were very professional. It's a hard- working group. I thought we had a good attitude and a good approach to the things we tried to do. The results weren't always what we wanted and that's something that we certainly need to improve on. Yesterday's game put an exclamation point on that.
     "I'm sure there are a lot of questions about things in the future and I understand those questions, and in all honesty we're probably asking ourselves some of the ones that you would ask, but right now I don't think is the time to make those decisions. We'll go through the process that we usually do, whether it's scheme, personnel, program, system, how we do things, so forth and so on, take a look at all of it and ultimately try to make the decisions we feel are best for the football team in 2010 and beyond. How that will all go, I really don't know. Again, that's a process that we'll begin shortly. And there are certain timetables along the way for certain decisions to be made and we'll make those in a timely fashion. But at this point I probably wouldn't be able to shed too much light on a lot of that speculation going forward because we really need to go through the full process and look at the entire body of work for the entire season before making those kinds of decisions. Based on my experience in the league, I think that's the best way to do it. It's tough to see the season end yesterday and be here today, but that's the reality of NFL playoff football. We'll have to work hard next year to get to the point we were at one o'clock yesterday afternoon."
full transcript + video link

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