Bill Belichick is a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach. He’s one of the best coaches in the history of the NFL. Belichick is also one of the worst interviews in sports history. Why does the media put up with it? He wins, and the New England Patriots keep winning. Belichick believes New England Patriots‘ game plans are on a need to know basis. He knows them and no one else should. Remember Bill’s October 1, 2014 press conference after a blowout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs? Belichick refused to answer any question about his team’s poor performance. Instead, Belichick responded, “We’re on to Cincinnati.” Now enter Joe Judge. Since the New York Giants hired him, he’s refused to say his star players’ names out loud. What gives? Joe Judge needs to leave the Patriots way behind in New England.
Joe Judge Needs to Stop Playing Patriots Games
The Giants’ decision to hire Judge as head coach was a bit of the shock to fans and media. Giants fans have expressed cautious optimism about Judge, even after he hired Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator. But since joining Big Blue, Judge’s refusal to speak the words Daniel Jones or Saquon Barkley has reached the weird stage. Even at his introductory press conference Judge said, “I don’t want to get into any analysis of any player right now….” The refusal is funny if it weren’t a symbol of a bigger problem on the horizon. The Giants could have a wannabe Belichick-clone on their hands.
Joe Judge told reporters at his introductory presser, “We’re not trying to recreate anywhere we’ve been before.” “We’re interested in building the 2020 New York Giants, not recreating any other program we’ve been part of.” But it’s no secret that one of the tenets of the Belichick method is minimizing the impact of star players. Even a star like Tom Brady.
Belichick creates a system where players are interchangeable parts he can manipulate. Remember Lawyer Milloy, Malcolm Butler, Wes Welker or Danny Amendola? Once these players’ salary demands became too high, Belichick moved on.
In some cases, the Patriots had talented replacements for their impact players. But Joe Judge is not Bill Belichick and the Giants are not the Patriots. The Giants don’t have New England’s depth and Judge is a rookie head coach. He doesn’t have a fistful of Super Bowl rings in his back pocket. Emulating Belichick’s demeanor and philosophy towards players could make him another member of Belichick’s failed coaching tree.
History Has Been Unkind to Belichick’s Assistants
For most young coaches, learning under a coaching genius grooms them for success. Hall of Fame San Francisco 49ers legend Bill Walsh learned under Paul Brown. Mike Holmgren and George Siefert were on the Walsh staff. Belichick himself was a Bill Parcells disciple. But Belichick’s own coaching proteges have been mediocre at best.
The New York Post described the Belichick tree this way in 2019, “The names — Al Groh, Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Josh McDaniels, Jim Schwartz, Bill O’Brien, Matt Patricia — scream mediocrity and futility. Coaches who have worked under Belichick have combined for one NFL playoff win (O’Brien).” That lack of success combined with a tendency to alienate veteran star players has doomed several of the Belichick clones.
Since the start of NFL free agency in March, two Belichick proteges traded star players in bizarre moves. Four-time All-Pro wideout DeAndre Hopkins was traded to the Arizona Cardinals for David Johnson and a second and fourth-round draft pick. Not exactly equal value. Not to be outdone, Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia traded three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay to the Philadelphia Eagles.
My Way or the Highway
The Texans were on the doorstep of sustained success with Deshaun Watson at quarterback and Hopkins as his prime target. So, what happened? NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin lent some insight into the apparent rift between player and head coach. Speaking to ESPN, Irvin made several disturbing allegations about O’Brien. As reported by CBS Sports, “[Hopkins] told me, ‘Michael, it was a bit of a power struggle there because O’Brien thought he had too much influence in the locker room,'” Irvin said.
Irvin further reported that O’Brien started a one on one meeting with Hopkins by saying, “Hey, uh, the last time I had to have a meeting like this, it was with Aaron Hernandez. I was like, ‘What?! He [brought up] Aaron Hernandez in this meeting?” Hopkins’ baby mamas constantly at Texans facilities also bothered O’Brien.
The Patricia-Slay relationship in Detroit deteriorated in 2018. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press detailed the start of their Cold War. Slay told Birkett that during a team meeting, “[Patricia] showed clips of me in practice getting a ball caught on me or so in practice. I posted a picture (of a wide receiver on social media), and he told me, stop sucking this man’s private.” Slay took offense to the comment and lost respect for his head coach. An anonymous source connected to the Lions labeled Slay a ‘cancer.’ Patricia also allegedly had problems with Slay practicing with Richard Sherman, Aqib Talib, and Xavier Rhodes during the off-season. Patricia told Slay he wasn’t on those players’ level and they could be pumping him for information about Lions’ schemes.
O’Brien and Patricia have tried to emulate Belichick’s authoritative coaching style with little success. Joe Judge shouldn’t follow suit.
New York Don’t Play
Most of Belichick’s proteges haven’t coached under the bright lights of the New York tri-state area. Eric Mangini had initial success with the New York Jets, but turning over the offense to an aging Brett Favre, abandoning their running game, and bad drafts led to his ouster. The ‘Mangenius’ wasn’t smart enough to develop a winning strategy in New York. He was dismissed almost as quickly as a Favre interception was taken to the house.
Joe Judge will have a short leash in New York. From all reports, he’s detailed-oriented, intelligent, and a bit more personable than his famous mentor. These are great qualities, but his refusal to say Daniel and Saquon out loud is Patriots Joe Judge. Giants Joe Judge needs to leave that ridiculous Patriots/Belichick mentality behind in New England. Respect breeds respect. Jones and Barkley show signs they’re coachable players. Treat them respect, give them a structured team environment, and they’ll lead a Giants resurgence.
