Watching the Super Bowl replays of Bill Belichick’s many Patriots appearances over the last ten years on NFLN last night, I couldn’t help but realize how similar his coaching and drafting style is to Andy Reid’s over the same time frame.
Which of course begged the question: what makes Bill so much better at getting rings?
Besides having Tom Brady at QB, the first thing I thought of was Belichick’s ability to throw away the game plan and keep the charts in his head. I’ve never seen any coach with a greater ability to adjust on the fly to what is being given to him by the opponent’s defense or offense.
Secondly, Belichick is more flexible than Reid in his willingness to change the positions of guys he drafts. His preseason moves are legendary for changing defensive ends to linebackers, and vice-versa. Belichick has a keener sense of personnel flexibility than Reid.
But for the most part, Reid and Belichick are quite similar in their coaching styles.
Dana Draper summed up the similarities quite nicely for a Patriots fansite called “60 Max Power O”…
They both like explosive offenses
- Andy Reid has been In Philadelphia since 1999 and the Eagles have always been explosive. His backup QBs become hot commodities and his lead signal caller is a perennial pro-bowler. He’s done it with 2nd-tier WRs, TEs and RBs as well as top-round draft picks. Reid has done it all when it comes to offense. He loves the pass and annually is a 70-30 split favoring passing.
- Bill Belichick built the most prolific passing attack ever in 2007 and the Patriots have been a top-10 offense for over ten years. He is the architect of the spread offense in the NFL and constantly evolves his offense. The saying “they do what they do” doesn’t apply to him. He does whatever needs to be done. When Tom Brady went down, he developed Matt Cassel, a 7th round draft pick in the second year of the spread offense, and was able to flip him to Kansas City for a 2nd rounder.
They both love a good reclamation project
- Reid took on Terrell Owens in 2004 and for one year had him acting like a good guy, as the Eagles made it to the Super Bowl where they faced the Patriots. Owens eventually wore out his welcome, but Reid got some good production out of him. Reid also gambled on a guy named Michael Vick, a one time star who had fallen and needed a second chance. Today he’s still the Eagles starting QB.
- Belichick signed a running back named Cory Dillon, who was an outcast in Cincinnati, and rode him all the way to a 2004 Super Bowl win against the Eagles. Dillon also wore out his welcome, but was close to retirement anyway and just rode off into the sunset. Randy Moss was another project that paid huge dividends in 2007-2009 in contributing to a record-breaking offense and setting the NFL TD record for wide receivers. Moss also wore out his welcome (do you see a theme here?)… However, not before Belichick’s getting maximum thrust out of him
They both have short memories
- If you’re not performing, Reid will push you down the depth chart faster that a lead weight in water. Donovan McNabb was his starter until Reid got a taste of what Vick could do and, boom, McNabb was traded. Longtime Philly favorite Brian Dawkins was allowed to go to free agency after years as the Eagles star safety.
- Belichick is known for his quick axe too, as the Albert Haynesworth experiment proved. If that doesn’t whet your taste, just witness this past summer’s blood-shedding of his secondary, releasing Brandon Meriweather, James Sanders, Jonathan Wilhite and Darius Butler.
They both love to stock-pile draft picks
- It’s rare that either of their teams has less than 8 Draft picks— or they routinely have 10 or more. Reid and Belichick prefer to have extra maneuverability to move up or down the board. They have a funny tradition of swapping picks once in each draft and have done this for years. If they were on a dating site they would take ten 7’s over three 10’s, if you get the drift.
They both know how to kill the media in a press conference
- Both guys hate to sit there and have to answer silly questions when they can be doing something constructive. Both look it as a necessary evil. As Reid will just bore you to death by barely giving the media what they need, Belichick feels the same way with the exception of his classic surly self.
They both are Head Coach Executive VP/Football Operations
- The buck starts and stops with Reid and Belichick… both guys run the show from top to bottom, and they are the only two head coaches in the league to do so. Not many can handle all that responsibility, but Reid and Belichick have been doing it for over ten years successfully. They make the call on personnel as well as team strategy, and have the ‘One Voice’ philosophy for the entire organization, which means “shut up” and let them handle it.
Andy Reid and Bill Belichick like each other and have fun together… like at last year’s NFL Draft…
Belichick traded the 193rd pick in the draft to the Eagles for the 194th. That’s it. Straight up.
“A salary-cap move!” Philly coach Andy Reid joked. The truth is, Reid and Belichick had made a deal with each other for 10 straight years, and here it was, the sixth round, and they hadn’t made one yet. So they got on the phone and Reid said, “Listen, our streak is in trouble.” Here came the no-harm, no-foul deal. Both took linebackers whom the other team wouldn’t have picked—Philly drafted Ohio State’s Brian Rolle, and New England picked Markell Carter from Central Arkansas. Who said Reid and Belichick are always serious?
I only wish Reid and Belichick could get to the point where they are trading Super Bowl anecdotes and comparing their equal number of NFL Championship rings… but that ship has apparently sailed. Nobody gets to live forever. And at this point in comparative history, Reid will never catch up to Belichick’s legacy of winning the Big One.
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