Is Jason Cole right?

@JasonCole62

Greatest coaches in NFL history:

1. Gibbs — Won SBs with 3 different QBs

2. Belichick — 6 SBs in salary cap era

3. Walsh — Invented modern passing game

4. Brown — Established the archetype

5. Lombardi — The face of coaching

Close: Landry, Noll, Shula, Reid, Halas

– – –

An NFL exec is linked to a big job at the PGA TOUR.  Mike Florio ofProFootballTalk.com:

The NFL could soon be losing one of its key executives.

According to Sports Business Journal, NFL Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp is under consideration to lead the organization likely to be dubbed “PGA Tour Enterprises.” The entity does not even exist, however, and it hinges on the ongoing talks of PGA Tour, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, and the Strategic Sports Group to finalize it.

Rolapp has more than 20 years at the NFL. Although the article from SBJ mentions that “Rolapp as long been viewed as the most likely successor” to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, we’ve never hear him characterized as the leader in the clubhouse to succeed Goodell. Indeed, it seems that there’s no clear successor to Goodell, and there’s never been any apparent effort by Goodell to groom one.

As noted by SBJ, Rolapp has not yet been made the Chief Operation Officer of the NFL. That’s the job Goodell held before becoming Commissioner. That would be the clearest indication that Rolapp is getting closer to having his name on every NFL football.

It’s possible that the money in the new gig would be impossible to refuse. Rolapp also might be realizing that, at 51 and with Goodell signed through 2027 and not closing the door on sticking around after that, Rolapp’s window to get the job could naturally be closed by the time Goodell finally steps down. With only three Commissioners since 1960, it doesn’t seem likely that a collection of septuagenarians and octogenarians would hire someone pushing 60.

Then there’s the “why” regarding this specific report. PGA Tour Enterprises isn’t even a thing yet. Is Rolapp getting restless in the on-deck circle at 345? Is it a message to the owners that, without some indication that he’ll have a full and fair shot at the next step in three years, he’ll consider walking away now? Or is it a message to other sports leagues that might be looking for someone to run their in-house media and business operations?

It just feels like there’s something more to this one. That it’s not random. That it’s not coincidental. And that it won’t be viewed by the person currently in the throne as something other than a power play.

NFC NORTH

DETROIT

Extra duty for WR AMON-RA ST. BROWN.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

NFL teams rarely use their No. 1 wide receiver on special teams, but the Lions may do it on Sunday.

Khalif Raymond, who returned every punt for the Lions during the regular season, was injured in the regular-season finale and is unlikely to play against the Rams. Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said St. Brown might get the call in Raymond’s place.

“I would think we can also manage the roles, so a guy like St. Brown, could he do that? It’s possible. He’s [St. Brown] been an emergency returner for us all season long,” Fipp said, via MLive.com. “Obviously we’ve got Donovan [Peoples-Jones] who did it in Cleveland, so that could be an option. Then you got Mo Alexander on the practice squad, if we’re able to get him up. He would be a great option. He’s a great player. So, anyway, it’ll be one of those.”

St. Brown has never returned a punt or kickoff in his NFL career, but he did it in college at USC. Peoples-Jones returned 61 punts for 479 yards and a touchdown in four seasons with the Browns. Alexander hasn’t played in a game this season but did return kickoffs for the Lions last season and was an All-Conference-USA punt returner at Florida International as well as a punt returner for the USFL’s Philadelphia Stars.

Fipp indicated that wide receiver Jameson Williams, who was SEC special teams player of the year as a return man for Alabama, is not being considered to handle returns on Sunday.

NFC EAST

PHILADELPHIA

QB JALEN HURTS can’t throw today, but the game is not until Monday.  Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com:

Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts hasn’t thrown a football since Sunday’s loss to the Giants, when he suffered a finger injury and left the game.

Asked today if he has attempted to throw this week, Hurts says he hasn’t, but he also sounded optimistic about his availability for Monday night’s playoff game against the Buccaneers.

“I have not. I have not. Obviously, leaving that game and attempting to go back in that game probably wasn’t physically the best idea,” Hurts said. “I can assure you everything’s progressing in the right way.”

Hurts said the finger hurt more the day after the game than it did when he initially injured it, and he said he’s taking it day by day in his recovery.

“Everything is a challenge when you have a finger out of place.”

The Eagles may have lucked out with the playoff schedule putting them in the Monday night slot, so Hurts’ finger has extra time to heal compared to playing on Saturday or Sunday. The Eagles still hope to have a healthy Hurts in Tampa Bay.

WASHINGTON

At one time, whispers from those said to be in the know said that Bill Belichick to the Commanders was a done deal.  But when the rubber hit the road on Thursday, John Keim of ESPN.com tweeted this:

@john_keim

As an FYI: based on multiple conversations it does not appear the Commanders’ position on pursuing Bill Belichick has changed. Myself and some others have been told a few times there was no interest

And it is not Eric Bienemy either, if Keim’s sources are correct:

@NFL1stLook

EB from OC to HC. Not the right move but seems to be their play here

@john_keim

No, that’s not their play.

This from JP Finlay on the GM battle between Adam Peters of the 49ers and Ian Cunningham of the Bears:

@JPFinlayNBCS

Best news for Commanders fans? Both Cunningham and Peters have told other teams no. Not interested. Now they’re both in the running for the Washington job. Peters prob the favorite, but theyre both in it. They want this job. In DC. This is very different. This is good.

Cunningham’s candidacy does not stem from his time with the Bears.  Luis Medina covers the Bears for Bleacher Report:

Cunningham has been held the Bears’ Assistant GM title for two seasons. But before arriving in Chicago, Cunningham built his résumé while working for the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles. Between his ties to two outstanding franchise-building front offices (Ravens and Eagles) and his work with the Bears as Ryan Poles’ right-hand man, there is a compelling case to hire Cunningham

Cunningham is 38.

AFC NORTH

CLEVELAND

The Browns may have lost CB DENZEL WARD in practice. Jake Trotter of ESPN.com:

Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward suffered a knee injury in Thursday’s practice, putting his status in question for Saturday’s playoff game against the Houston Texans.

Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said that Ward was limited in the practice but offered no other details. The team officially listed Ward as questionable.

Ward was named to his third Pro Bowl while playing a key role on the NFL’s No. 1-ranked defense. Ward has two interceptions on the season.

The Browns Thursday also ruled out safety Grant Delpit (groin), kicker Dustin Hopkins (hamstring) and wide receiver Cedric Tillman (concussion).

The Browns (11-5) are in the postseason for the first time since 2020.

– – –

Michael Scalfino of The Athletic on the two “Browns” franchises – one of which plays in Baltimore now, the other a mid-90s expansion team with a terrible record:

The sad-sack Browns famously haven’t won a championship since 1964, the heyday of Jim Brown (more on that here). Their fans hope that this postseason will finally be the year.

Except, in a sense, the Browns have won two Super Bowls this century. They just happened to do it as the Baltimore Ravens. It was really no different than the Rams winning a Super Bowl in St. Louis or the Colts winning one in Indianapolis. The Browns became the Ravens in 1996. The league couldn’t deal with that so they pretended the Ravens were a new franchise and the Browns would continue on ASAP with all new players but with their history intact.

However, the Ravens took the Cleveland players with them to Baltimore. They didn’t get a draft slot as an expansion team. They got the picks in the 1996 draft that the Browns earned with their 5-11 record in 1995 — a draft they leveraged into Hall of Famers Jonathan Ogdon and Ray Lewis. From the bones of those Browns and with the future Canton-bound stars in tow, the Ravens won Super Bowl XXXV to culminate the 2000 season and then XLVII to wrap up the 2012 campaign.

So if the Ravens were really the Browns in a new city… then what are the Browns? They’re an expansion team, of course, celebrating their 25th anniversary. They are one of the six expansion teams since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. With the first overall pick they were awarded as a new team, just not one nominally — the Browns famously drafted Tim Couch with that pick top pick awarded to them to start their build. Of course, it put the club on a QB carousel that has befuddled their fans and amused the rest of us ever since.

These QBs are all from the expansion draft season of 1999 season onward:

That’s no coincidence. We know the names (games started in parentheses): Tim Couch (59), Baker Mayfield (59), Derek Anderson (34), Colt McCoy (21), Brandon Weeden (20), Charlie Frye (19), Brian Hoyer (16), DeShone Kizer (15), Kelly Holcomb (12), Brady Quinn (12), Deshaun Watson (12), Trent Dilfer (11), Jacoby Brissett (11), Josh McCown (11), Jeff Garcia (10), Doug Pederson (8), Jason Campbell (8), Johnny Manziel (8), Cody Kessler (8), Senaca Wallace (7), Robert Griffin III (5), Joe Flacco (5), Jake Delhomme (4), Luke McCown (4), Ken Dorsey (3), Tyrod Taylor (3), Dorian Thompson-Robinson (3), Ty Detmer (2), Austin Davis (2), Case Keenum (2), P.J. Walker (2), Spergon Wynn (1), Bruce Gradkowski (1), Thad Lewis (1), Connor Shaw (1), Kevin Hogan (1), Nick Mullens (1), Jeff Driskel (1).

We all pretend the Browns, reborn in 1999 after dying in 1996, have some continuous history going back to Paul Brown and Otto Graham. But isn’t that really the Ravens’ history? Just like all the relocations of the Raiders are the Raiders, whether they happen to be in Las Vegas or Oakland or Los Angeles.

Let’s not look at this as taking away anything from Browns fans. The pre-1996 Ravens belong to Cleveland. But since 1999, the Browns are an expansion team no different than the Buccaneers and Seahawks were in 1976, the Jaguars and Panthers in 1995 and the Texans in 2002.

In their first 25 years of existence (22 for the Texans) , all these expansion teams have combined to win as many Super Bowls as the expansion Browns in their quarter of a century since reformation in 1999 — zero. In a sense, the Browns are right on schedule.

Yes, Cleveland is the worst expansion team since the merger, with an anemic .344 winning percentage. Compare that to Tampa Bay in its first 25 years (.358), Houston (.430 in their 22 seasons), Jaguars (.440), Seahawks (.461) and the Panthers (.489). What do you notice about all the teams? Losing records overall in addition to no Super Bowls (the Buccaneers did win the ultimate prize in their 27th season, which will be 2025 for Cleveland — book your tickets).

This will be the Browns’ third postseason appearance since they were reformed from scratch and given the old laundry. The Texans are making their seventh appearance this postseason. In their first 25 years, Tampa Bay made it to the dance six times, the Jaguars seven and the Panthers eight. So, yes, the Browns are light even for an expansion team. But they started well, qualifying in their fourth year. That trails only the expansion Panthers and Jaguars (second season each).

If Deshaun Watson was healthy and not such a complete bust on the rare occasions he is active, the Browns would be poised to win a Super Bowl this year. And that’s without a couple of offensive All-Pros in Nick Chubb and tackle Jack Conklin. Cleveland has a championship caliber defense. They also have a quarterback now in Joe Flacco who threw 13 touchdowns in December (we’ll ignore the eight picks) and who has already won a Super Bowl for the franchise — sort of, back in 2012 for the Ravens. Flacco is one of 21 QBs who have started a game for the Ravens since 1999. That’s 18 fewer than the Browns have been forced to endure since their expansion year. And Flacco’s 163 starts for the Ravens are more than twice as many as any other club QB.

Not to get too metaphysical, but has this really been a rebirth for Flacco in a new city? Or is it really a sort of homecoming?

PITTSBURGH

The Steelers will get S MINKAH FITZPATRICK for Sunday afternoon’s blizzard in Buffalo.

The Steelers’ defense is in line for a significant lift with the return of safety Minkah Fitzpatrick for their wild-card game against the Bills on Sunday.

“I think it’s good anytime you get one of your best players back in the fold,” Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “He’s a major communicator back there and does a lot of things for us, so I’m excited to have him back.”

Fitzpatrick, who said he was “feeling good” Thursday, practiced fully Wednesday for the first time since injuring his knee in Week 15. Safety Damontae Kazee will also be back on the field after serving a three-game suspension for repeated violations of player safety rules. It’s a boost for a defense that will be without star pass-rusher T.J. Watt.

“Obviously we’re upset T.J.’s not out there with us, but we still got a job to do and having most of our pieces back is big for us,” Fitzpatrick said Thursday. “We get to do more, we get to be more fluid, have chemistry. And so, I think we’re in a good place.”

Fitzpatrick was questionable for the regular-season finale against the Ravens a week ago, but he ended up being inactive.

“I wasn’t 110 [percent], and they kind of made a decision to sit me down,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is a knee [injury]. I don’t want me to go out there and make it 10 times worse.

“I think I could have played. I always think that, but they made an executive decision to sit me down.”

Fitzpatrick, who was voted to the Pro Bowl, has only played in 10 games this season, battling injuries. He injured a hamstring against the Jaguars, broke a hand against the Cardinals and injured a knee against the Colts. Though he was never placed on injured reserve, Fitzpatrick missed four games with the hamstring injury and three games with the knee injury.

Depleted at safety with Kazee’s suspension and injuries to their other top three safeties, the Steelers utilized a combination of Eric Rowe, who went unsigned for most of the season, and cornerback-turned-safety Patrick Peterson. The duo held up over the past three games and were crucial to the Steelers’ win streak. Rowe had an interception and a forced fumble in that stretch, while Peterson had an interception of his own.

“Pat did a lot of good things,” Fitzpatrick said. “It is rare for a guy to make that move, late in his career, in the season, but he did a really good job, was communicating at a high level. He was always in the right position. And then, definitely gave us a good look at Eric Rowe to see what he could do, and he did a great job as well.”

With the return of FItzpatrick and Kazee, the Steelers have a logjam of talent in the secondary, but Austin anticipates using all the talent at his disposal to slow Josh Allen and his receiving corps.

“I think we will kind of figure that out as we go in terms of what we think is best for this game,” Austin said, “but I think they’re all going to play, they’ll all have a role. What that role is, we’ll have to wait and see that on Sunday.

“… I think we have four pretty good football players and making sure that we get the most out of them this week. I don’t think it’s going to be all coverage or all blitz or whatever in simplistic terms, but I just think we got to figure out a way to get these guys in the best positions to make plays because they’ve all shown that they’re capable of making plays.”

AFC SOUTH

INDIANAPOLIS

We’re not sure why one injury should prompt the media to ask QB ANTHONY RICHARDSON to give up the athleticism that makes him special.  But they did and Stephen Holder of ESPN.com records his expected response:

– Colts rookie quarterback Anthony Richardson has had several months to reflect on his injury-plagued season.

He’s thought about what could have been for a team that missed the playoffs by one game. And he’s dealt with the range of emotions produced by being sidelined during some of the critical games the team played.

But Richardson has also given some thought to how he sustained his injuries, including the season-ending shoulder sprain that required surgical repair. And the dual-threat quarterback has decided that he doesn’t need to overhaul his playing style in light of it.

“I don’t think so,” Richardson said Thursday. “It’s just a matter of me just being out there and just learning when to get down, when not to get down. Some of the injuries were unfortunate. My ankle got stepped on, hitting my knee on the turf really hard. Just stuff like that. Stuff that I can’t control.”

Running less aggressively, Richardson said, isn’t the answer. Playing smarter, he said, should be the goal. He pointed to a touchdown run in Week 2 against the Houston Texans when, with a wide-open path to the end zone, he slowed down near the goal line only to take a late blind-side shot from a defender that left him concussed. Richardson missed the following game.

“The [injuries] that I can control, I’ve got to prevent those,” he said. “Like me slowing up near the end zone, getting a concussion, that was completely on me. Getting tackled [against the Tennessee Titans], I can’t really prevent that. I was trying to brace myself for it and just unfortunately my shoulder just did what it did. But I don’t think I have to change the way I play. Just being a little smarter.”

Richardson, the fourth overall pick, appeared in just four games but was on the field for just 12 quarters, the equivalent of three games. Still, he scored seven touchdowns (three passing, four rushing).

The Colts, who lost what was effectively a postseason play-in game to the Texans, feel significantly more hopeful about their next steps coming out of the 2023 season compared with 2022. The Colts improved to 9-8 after going 4-12-1 the previous season.

“We should legitimately be competing for the division and playoffs,” general manager Chris Ballard said Thursday. “That’s our expectation.”

AFC EAST

NEW ENGLAND

Yesterday, Ian Rapoport revealed the Patriots held the Mayo Succession Clause in the defacto-DC’s contract.  And the Patriots wastde no time exercising it per Myles Simmons of ProFootballTalk.com:

The Patriots had a plan for a coach to succeed Bill Belichick. Now they have put it into action.

New England has hired Jerod Mayo to be their next head coach, according to multiple Friday morning reports.

Mayo, 37, had it written into his contract last year that he would be Belichick’s successor and that language was turned into the league. That’s why the Patriots did not have to go through a full search to determine their next head coach.

Mayo first joined the Patriots in 2008 as a first-round pick and played 103 games for the franchise through 2015. He then came back to the team in 2019 to be their inside linebackers coach.

With Mayo receiving interview requests for potential head coaching jobs, the Patriots announced last Jan. 12 that the club was planning to give him a contract extension that would keep him with the franchise long-term.

Remember, there was a recent kerfuffle over an anonymous report that Mayo had let the successor talk get to his head.  Matt Geegan of CBSBoston wrote this on January 2:

If the Patriots decide to move on from Bill Belichick at the end of the season, New England linebackers coach Jerod Mayo is a strong candidate to replace him as head coach. Robert Kraft said as much last March, and the sound play of the New England defense throughout a tumultuous 2023 season certainly works in Mayo’s favor.

But in a recent report, Greg Bedard of The Boston Sports Journal reported that Mayo has “rubbed at least some people the wrong way in the building” since he signed an extension with the team last offseason. On Tuesday, in a conference call with reporters, Mayo responded to what he called the “hurtful” report.

Mayo does his best to stay away from everything that is written about himself and the team, but it was hard to avoid this particular report.

“Honestly, when that report came out, my brother sent it to me. It was more hurtful than anything,” Mayo said Tuesday. “I found it to be — well the timing of it was a little bit weird in my opinion. And if that was the case, I feel like this would have been leaked some time earlier.

“At the same time, I try to treat everyone the same way,” he continued. “And I will say this, I thought about it for awhile. When people talk about rubbing people the wrong way, I mean, that’s part of the job of being a leader, is to rub people the wrong way. And I always try to be constructive and respectful with my feedback. Some people appreciate that transparency. Some don’t. But at the end of the day, if we can’t rub people the wrong way, how do you expect that you can be the best that you can be? And I would say, anytime there’s change, or anything like that, it’s going to be painful if someone rubs you the wrong way. At the end of the day, you have to look through all the words that really get to the substance and the meat and potatoes of what that person is trying to say.”

While Mayo didn’t appreciate seeing such a report, he did say that it helped him in the long run.

“It triggered a period of self-reflection. I know it’s recent — a week old at this point — but it triggered an opportunity of self-reflection,” he said. “We all have blind spots, and maybe that’s one of my blind spots. But at the end of the day, hopefully, whoever put that story out, is man — or woman enough — to bring it to my attention to have a conversation.”

It was an incredibly honest and solid response from Mayo, who said that he continues to grow as a coach — and a man.

“Some people are gonna like you, and some people aren’t. And I’m OK with that. Some reporters are gonna like you, some reporters aren’t. Some players are gonna like you, and some players aren’t. But I would hope there would be a mutual level of respect,” he said. “A level of respect with the media, a level of respect with the coaches, and also the players. And you know, when it’s all said and done, I think the players understand that we, as a coaching staff, are trying to put them in the best possible position to go out there and execute.

“And then from a coaching perspective, I only want people around me that are going to tell me the truth. I don’t want to be trapped in an echo chamber or things like that, because we all have blind spots,” he added. “You would hope that through building relationships, that people were very open about it, having those 1-on-1 conversations.”

Mayo has learned a lot throughout this difficult season, and he is extremely appreciative of the players on the New England defense for remaining committed to their craft despite the overall struggles of the team. He’s been incredibly impressed by the resilience of the team overall, which he said is a reflection of the organization as a whole.

“Whether you’re talking about players or coaches, that resilience is reflection of the people at the top with the Kraft family and coach Belichick,” he said. “I didn’t appreciate that as much until we went through this year.”

Robert Kraft offered an explanation for why he didn’t fire his GM Bill Belichick and keep his Coach Bill Belichick.

On Monday, now-former Patriots coach Bill Belichick addressed the possibility of relinquishing personnel control moving forward. If it was a message to owner Robert Kraft, it didn’t prevent the decision to move on.

“We thought about [adjusting Belichick’s role],” Kraft told reporters on Thursday, “but I’ve had experience running different businesses and trying to develop a team. Think about it, when you have someone like Bill, who’s had control over every decision, every coach we hire, the organization reports to him on the draft, and how much money we spend. Every decision has been his, and we’ve always supported him. To then take some of that power away and give it to someone else — accountability is important to me in every one of our companies, and where he had the responsibility and then someone else takes it, it’s going to set up confusion. And, ‘It was his pick and that was a bad pick’, or ‘He didn’t play them right’. It just wouldn’t work, in my opinion.”

Kraft makes a very good point. After Belichick spent so long in charge of everything, it would have been awkward (to say the least) for someone else to assume some of his duties while he remained employed as the head coach.

Kraft also explained that Belichick’s power grew over time. And Kraft possibly regrets not ensuring there was someone who could properly counter Belichick’s power, which eventually became absolute.

“Just to be clear, he didn’t have all that power and rights [when he arrived],” Kraft said. “I don’t think it happened until after the third Super Bowl, but it slowly happened, and in my opinion he earned it. And it worked pretty well for most of the time. But all of us need checks and balances in our life. We need what I say — I call it, we need ‘Dr. No’s’ around us, people to protect us from ourselves. And as things evolve and you get more power, sometimes people are afraid to speak up. I’m speaking about all companies. I think it’s good to have checks and balances, but once you have [the power], it’s kind of hard to pull it away and expect to have the accountability you want.”

Again, as long as it delivered championship-caliber teams, it was fine. After Belichick slipped on the personnel side (and slip he did, over a period of years), Belichick the coach could no longer make up for those failings. And, as Kraft sees it, it would have been too hard to reset the clock to the time before Belichick ran everything.

It will be interesting to see how much power over the roster Belichick wants in his next coaching job. Maybe his comments from Monday weren’t a message to Kraft as much as they were a message to the owners who will now consider hiring Belichick.

Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com offers his assessment:

Was Belichick’s success a product of having Brady?

It’s the million-dollar question. In January 2018, I took a look at what they each had contributed to the Patriots dynasty and landed on the side of Brady being the more valuable contributor of the two, although both obviously played significant roles.

Since then, the evidence has gathered on the Brady side of the debate. He left the Patriots and won a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay. Belichick, meanwhile, has one playoff appearance over his recent four seasons without Brady. Belichick was 41-55 with one playoff appearance in his six seasons as a head coach before Brady took over for Bledsoe. He has gone 29-37 with one more playoff appearance in the four seasons after Brady left for the Bucs.

The question of who contributed more has given way to a more explosive possibility. Was Belichick propped up for nearly two decades by a quarterback he was lucky to land on in the sixth round of his first draft? Would Belichick just be regarded as a defensive guru who was overmatched as a head coach if he hadn’t had Brady in the mix for the majority of his career?

The answer, pretty clearly, is no. Unless you’re so myopic as to ignore everything Belichick did on the defensive side of the ball or willing to chalk up so many of the personnel moves he made on both sides of the ball to Brady’s impact in making those players better, you would have to acknowledge Belichick played a significant role in making both Brady and the Patriots champions over the past 2½ decades.

To start, Brady wasn’t always Brady. In 2001, he was a limited rookie whose job was mostly to hand off the football and avoid turning it over. He averaged 27.5 pass attempts per game, with the Patriots approaching something close to a 50-50 run-pass split. We don’t have air yards data going back that far, but he had four passes of more than 40 yards all season. The defense played a bigger role in the early days of the Brady era, where its identity was as much about Law and Bruschi as it was Brady and Troy Brown.

And what about the Super Bowls? Nobody doubts Brady’s ability to come through in the clutch, nor should they, but the Patriots needed great games from their defense to win several titles. In the 2001 victory over the Rams, the Pats scored 13 points on offense, with the defense chipping in a pick-six while holding the Greatest Show on Turf to 17 points. In 2004, the Pats forced four Eagles turnovers and held a great offense to 14 points before a late score with 1:55 to go.

The defense held the Giants to 17 points in 2007 and 19 in 2011. While it got off to a ugly start against the Falcons, Belichick’s defense limited an Atlanta offense that had averaged nearly 34 points per game to 21 points on 10 drives. And then, of course, the defense dominated in the victory over the Rams.

Brady more than held his own in the wins over the Falcons and Panthers, but the Patriots simply don’t win as many as Super Bowls unless Belichick’s defense plays as well as it did in those games. And that doesn’t even consider games along the way, like the defense stifling the Colts in the 2003, 2004 and 2014 playoffs, or holding the Chargers to 311 yards and 12 points in the AFC Championship Game during the 2007 postseason.

Furthermore, when Belichick was without Brady during that stretch, the Patriots still were productive. When Brady tore his ACL in Week 1 of 2008 and missed virtually the entire season, the Pats still went 11-5, albeit without making it to the postseason. In 2016, Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett, the team’s second- and third-string quarterbacks, went 3-1 while Brady was suspended to start the season. The Pats also won the AFC Championship Game with Bledsoe during the 2001 playoffs when Brady went down injured in the first half against the Steelers.

Going 15-6 in the games in which Brady either wasn’t available or went down injured for a significant portion of the contest suggests Belichick was doing just fine; his struggles with the Browns and after Brady’s departure suggest he had more talent during the Brady era than he did otherwise, both at quarterback and in the positions around the player under center. Belichick was better with Brady, of course, but that’s just the reality of having a great quarterback on the roster.

Did other great coaches thrive without the quarterback or quarterbacks with whom we most closely associate their success? Usually, yeah. Don Shula had a pair of Hall of Famers for most of his tenure in Bob Griese and Dan Marino, but he also made it to a Super Bowl in between with David Woodley under center. Tom Landry started his career with six consecutive losing seasons before Don Meredith broke through. Roger Staubach took over from there, but after Staubach retired, Landry had a few 12-win seasons with Danny White before eventually falling off. Bill Walsh had Joe Montana for his tenure, but George Seifert took over and successfully transitioned from Montana to Steve Young. Joe Gibbs won Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks in Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien.

On the other hand, Chuck Noll didn’t have a single 10-win season and made two trips to the playoffs in eight seasons after Terry Bradshaw retired. Bill Parcells had success after leaving Phil Simms and the Giants, but he won a total of three playoff games over his ensuing 11 seasons as a coach. Mike Shanahan had a 13-win season with Jake Plummer, but he went 7-1 in the playoffs with John Elway and 1-6 with everybody else.

I’d argue Belichick and Brady are a unique case because of how long their relationship lasted. You don’t get 20 years with the same coach and quarterback in modern football, especially with both functioning at a high level throughout that tenure. I still think Brady was the more essential or more difficult to find member of the partnership, but when we look back on this dynasty in 25 years, we’ll see them both as essential.

Can Belichick still coach?

The other question is whether Belichick, 71, might still add to his résumé by coaching somewhere else after leaving the Patriots. Teams are expected to have interest if he intends to keep coaching.

Should they be interested? Yes. There are reasonable concerns about Belichick’s aptitude for drafting skill position talent and handling the dual roles of coaching and running player personnel at this point of his career, but I can say one thing for sure: This man can still coach defenses. For whatever people say about him not being able to relate to younger players or being out of touch with the modern game, none of that applies to what he does on a week-to-week basis as a game-planner and defensive coach.

Even after Brady, Belichick has produced a series of excellent defenses. The defense wasn’t great in 2020, but he added Matthew Judon and others in a 2021 offseason spending spree. Despite trading away 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore, the Patriots ranked second in points allowed per drive and third in EPA per play on defense.

In 2022, Belichick lost star corner J.C. Jackson to free agency, Dont’a Hightower to retirement and had a barely functioning offense for most of the season. The Pats still dominated on defense, ranking second in EPA per play and third in points allowed per drive.

This season was tougher. Belichick lost Judon and promising rookie corner Christian Gonzalez to season-ending injuries in Week 4. Devin McCourty followed Hightower into retirement. The offense was so bad it contaminated and compromised the defense. The Patriots allowed more than 30 points in consecutive games against the Cowboys and Saints, albeit with three defensive touchdowns by the opposing team in the mix. Through the first half of the season, the Patriots ranked 17th in points allowed per drive and 19th in EPA per snap on defense.

Unsurprisingly, Belichick figured things out and righted the ship. From Week 10 onward, the Patriots have ranked second in EPA per snap and have allowed a league-best 1.3 points per possession. They’ve done that without their best pass-rusher (Judon) and best cornerback (Gonzalez), while inheriting the worst average starting field position of any team and facing the third-most drives per game of any team in football over that stretch. For two months now, the Patriots have been better than the Browns, Jets, Ravens or any other great defense you want to mention.

Belichick has done that with a roster that would charitably be described as anonymous on that side of the ball. Christian Barmore is back to looking like a star and Kyle Dugger is a standout at safety, but the Pats have had to rely on Anfernee Jennings, Shaun Wade and Jahlani Tavai to play meaningful roles week after week. They’ve thrived under their coach’s tutelage. He has more than two decades of either developing young players into standout defenders or acquiring players unwanted by other teams and molding them into starters. He’s doing that again in New England.

In the simplest universe, a team might hire Belichick as its head coach, give him control of the defense, let someone else run the offense and have a traditional general manager run the personnel department. For Belichick, that might be a nonstarter. Remember: He learned under Parcells, who left the Patriots because he wasn’t allowed to shop for the groceries. Belichick turned down the Jets job, in part, because Parcells was still going to be involved with personnel. He left for the Patriots because they gave him that power. Giving up those responsibilities might not be something he is willing to do at this point of his career.

Frankly, given how poorly most head coach and general manager hires work out, I wouldn’t dissuade a team from offering Belichick full control of the roster if he takes over as its coach. Think about the Raiders, who reportedly are interested in Belichick. They offered Jon Gruden that opportunity, and Gruden drafted worse than you would have by just taking the best player off a consensus mock draft. The Raiders hired Lane Kiffin, Tom Cable, Dennis Allen and Josh McDaniels with disastrous results. Compared to his peak, Belichick might not be the coach he once was. Compared to the other coaches available, Belichick would be one of the best candidates to hit the market in years.

For Belichick, now, there might be one final thing to prove. When Brady joined the Buccaneers, he was afforded an opportunity to prove he could succeed outside of the program in New England. He won immediately. Belichick won Super Bowls as an assistant with the Giants, but this might be his chance to prove that anybody who doubts him or regards him as a product of being surrounded by greatness in Parcells and Brady is a fool. The only way to do that is to win somewhere else as the head coach. Belichick doesn’t need to coach another game or add anything else to his résumé, but when you’ve spent so much time on the mountaintop, you might want to climb back up, if only to prove to yourself that you can.

Charles Robinson of YahooSports.com with a less-than-flattering assessment of autocrat Bill Belichick:

Robert Kraft said Bill Belichick earned it. Until he didn’t.

Therein lies the elastic and inevitable quandary of NFL team owners who allow their head coaches to consolidate power and organizational autocracy on a level rarely seen in professional sports. It’s the kind of blood oath contract that maximizes potential but inevitably burns out. An accord that delivers victories, captures championships, generates riches, demands fame — all while winding down a path that rarely shrinks into a picturesque, softened sunset.

This was the hand-in-hand journey of Belichick and Kraft as coach and owner of the New England Patriots, which ended Thursday in a split that could represent the end of the league’s “everything” coaches. Even Rome had a last Caesar. For the NFL, Belichick could be it.

Yes, the NFL is a living, breathing, circular war of ideologies — promising to take every old idea and make it new again. But even on that landscape, Belichick was a true rarity. Not just a coach and general manager rolled into one, but also someone who held and exercised total control of how every aspect of the organization was shaped. Hirings and firings. Salary cap and all avenues of personnel management. Draft picks. Free agents. Undrafted free agents. The full roster and practice squad. Gameday actives. The coaching staff and schemes. Everything.

He may not have invented the Patriots, but Belichick ran the football operation like Henry Ford ran his motor company. An envelope containing a key decision might pass through a litany of hands, but it never arrived at a conclusion without crossing the boss’ desk. Hell, there’s a solid chance the practice field grass couldn’t grow to a certain height unless it asked Belichick first.

This isn’t the stuff of being a coach who has 51 percent of decision-making power written into his contract — that kind of setup is still somewhat common in today’s NFL. Nor is it as simple as being titled as both head coach and general manager. That’s a smallish fraternity over the years, but still sizable enough to forget some who had dual-role power.

Belichick transcends both those groups, existing on a list of names that can be counted on one hand. Specifically, head coaches who wielded power over a franchise as if they owned it. Which in some cases, they did. Their names?

Paul Brown, George Halas, Vince Lombardi, Bill Walsh and Belichick.

These were the true “everything” coaches. Not just because they had the power to do anything and everything, but because they actually embraced it and acted on it regularly. There is no coach in the NFL who exists on that kind of plateau today — largely because there are no club owners who will allow it. And as of Thursday, you can add Kraft to that collective.

The changing role of NFL coaches

Look across the league this week. What did you see? More and more franchise owners pushing the power centers of their teams into the middle of a table. Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk fired Mike Vrabel in an effort to forcefully shift her team into a more collaborative decision-making process that includes general manager Ran Carthon. The Seattle Seahawks nudged Pete Carroll out of his head coaching position, shifting power into the hands of general manager John Schneider. And then you had Kraft, who ended the reign of the most powerful coach in the NFL since Walsh was walking the sideline in San Francisco.

But not only did Kraft make the decision, he explained why he first gave Belichick “everything” power, then ultimately had to split with him because of it.

“Just to be clear, [Bill] didn’t have all that power and rights [when he was first hired],” Kraft continued. “I don’t think it happened until after the third Super Bowl. But it slowly happened, and in my opinion, he earned it. And it worked pretty well for most of the time. But all of us need checks and balances in our life. We need what I say — I call it, we need Dr. No’s around us — people to protect ourselves from ourselves, protect us from ourselves. And, as things evolve and you get more power, sometimes people are afraid to speak up. I’m speaking about all companies. I think it’s good to have checks and balances, but once you have it, it’s kind of hard to pull it away and expect to have the accountability you want.”

One longtime NFL executive who has spent time with Kraft and Belichick in league meetings and other events — and who has also spent years studying the Walsh era of the San Francisco 49ers — pointed to the league’s movement toward “task specialization” as the revolution that has likely signaled an end to “everything” coaches.

“We have more people doing more specialized jobs than ever,” the executive said. “In some ways, it makes it easier to identify problems and then attack them. But you also get bigger and there can be more communication issues and getting more people on the same page.”

He pointed to the continued specialization and expanding size of coaching staffs through the decades. The growth of salary-cap staffers, strength and conditioning teams, analytics experts, multi-faceted layers of personnel departments, mental health experts, nutritionists, in-house media and even special hires who are added for a finite period to perform a specific task — like Vic Fangio being retained as a defensive adviser down the stretch of the 2022 season to help the Philadelphia Eagles fine-tune scheme and game planning. As staffs have gotten bigger and more specialized, it allowed one person to sharpen their focus and perform at a high level inside a niche.

“Most of us are trying to find the 50 best people to do 50 specific jobs,” the executive said. “The good part, when something is wrong, you can point to a specific person’s job. Twenty years ago, a handful of people were doing a bunch of different jobs. One person might be doing two of their jobs well and completely fail at their third [job]. Now you have a problem. So you take away the job they’re failing at and give it to someone else [in team headquarters]. But everyone has an ego, and believe me, that creates issues. Now with specialization — one person hyper-focused on their [niche] — if they fail you can just fire them and fix the mistake.”

Now lay that blueprint over an organization with an “everything” coach.

“If someone has all that power and is making the final call on everything, they also have to be consistently successful at almost everything they’re doing,” he said. “If they aren’t, and now it’s really hurting the team, now you have to say to a coach like Belichick, ‘We need to take some things away from you.’ It’s like telling Vince Lombardi or Bill Walsh, ‘You need to do less.’ That’s a tough bind for any owner.”

Belichick put Patriots in a tough spot

It’s the dilemma Kraft found himself in with Belichick. As a defensive strategist and head coach, he continued to live up to a standard that made him a historic architect. As a manger of his coaching staff and talent evaluator, he had significant failings. All of this translated into this week, with Kraft facing three decisions: Keep Belichick and hope for a miraculous turnaround; part company with Belichick entirely; or thread a needle and fire Belichick the GM while retaining Belichick the coach. Kraft wanted no part in that.

“We thought about [taking away some of Belichick’s power], but I’ve had experience running different businesses and trying to develop a team,” Kraft said. “Think about it: when you have someone like Bill, who’s had control over every decision, every coach we hire — the organization reports to him on the draft, and how much money we spend. Every decision has been his, and we’ve always supported him. To then take some of that power away and give it to someone else — accountability is important to me in every one of our companies, and where [Bill] had the responsibility and then someone else takes it, it’s going to set up confusion. And [then it becomes], ‘It was his pick and that was a bad pick’ or ‘He didn’t play them right.’ It just wouldn’t work, in my opinion.”

We’ll never know, but Kraft’s words framed the dilemma perfectly. He gave something that was extremely hard to take away, even when it was the most obvious decision available to him. If there’s one lesson we can take away from all of this, it’s that the NFL is a universe of decisions and ideas in motion, all constantly changing, ruthlessly teaching, relentlessly expanding, and then on some occasions, pockets of unparalleled momentum suddenly collapse backward.

This was the timeline of Belichick in New England. A coach hired to lead and build a franchise, evolving into an all-encompassing architect of historic success, only to have his obsessive design suffocate and devour his final years as a Patriot. It was a glorious trajectory, despite also being inescapably flawed over a long enough timeline. His reign in New England epitomized the dynamic that makes the “everything” coach so rare and also so doomed. Perhaps because it leans into the warping nature of all-encompassing power.

Coaches harness it, collect it, earn it, steal it — then wield it until it eventually destroys their ability to win with it.

THIS AND THAT

WHAT NEXT FOR BELICHICK?

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com:

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots parted ways after 24 seasons on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation about the future of the legendary coach and the team he led to six Super Bowl titles.

Now comes what has the potential to be the most unprecedented job search in the history of the league. Never has a coach with such a track record been available on the open market. Belichick, still revered throughout the league, is widely believed to be motivated not only to prove he can win somewhere other than New England, but also to break Don Shula’s NFL record of 347 career wins (Belichick currently sits at 333).

But Belichick’s style is not for everyone, and any NFL team that considers hiring him will have to first address a range of questions. Is he content to simply be the head coach, or would Belichick want a high degree of personnel control? (On that topic, Belichick suggested at a Monday video conference he was open to shared responsibilities around personnel.)

Would hiring Belichick be a short-term fix? Belichick will turn 72 before the 2024 season starts, which would make him the oldest NFL head coach hired to a new job and the fifth-oldest in league history. How long does he want to keep going?

Resolve those questions and suitors will face others that cannot be answered as easily. How much meaning do you assign to the 12-22 record of the past two seasons or a 29-38 record without a playoff win in the post-Tom Brady era in New England? Can Belichick win another Super Bowl or two given the right situation or are there underlying issues that would make winning at a high level a challenge?

ESPN discussed those topics with coaches and executives around the league and sized up the fit for Belichick with each of the current NFL vacancies:

The message from some NFL executives was unequivocal: If you have a chance to hire an all-timer in the history of the coaching profession, you take it.

“I don’t understand how Bill Belichick could not be the hottest candidate,” a high-ranking personnel evaluator said. “I haven’t seen him lose any passion or steam, he still has a deep understanding of the modernized game and details.”

Other NFL observers noted a well-respected coach leaving an imprint on a new franchise is not without precedent. The reigning Super Bowl-winning coach, who was in his mid-50s when he got his second NFL shot, is perhaps a proxy for what Belichick could accomplish elsewhere.

“He can have an Andy Reid-type impact on a new team, similar to when Reid went from Philadelphia to Kansas City,” an AFC personnel official said. “Assuming he’s still got the energy to do it, he’s about as good of a coach as you can hire. Knows what it takes to win.”

Belichick’s prospects will of course depend on the profile of coach an owner desires. While Belichick is as proven as any candidate could be, any organization seeking a new-school approach is unlikely to look his way — at least initially.

“I don’t think teams will be clamoring for Belichick,” one NFC exec said. “Might be wrong but I’m skeptical. He’s older and things got stale in New England. It would take a pretty desperate owner, in my opinion.”

That said, as another front office figure noted, the number of proven candidates in this cycle will not be unlimited.

“[Lions offensive coordinator] Ben Johnson will be high on teams’ lists. [Cowboys defensive coordinator] Dan Quinn probably will be. After that, it’s a pretty uneven field. That’s where maybe Belichick can appeal to a team that needs a coach to get the best out of underachieving players.”

On that point, Belichick was undeniably not at his best in guiding the 2023 New England Patriots, who finished tied for the second-worst record in the NFL at 4-13. The Pats were 31st in offense per ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) amid well-chronicled issues with quarterback play. The defense, Belichick’s longtime calling card, was fourth in FPI, however. Any leadership group that hired Belichick would have to feel comfortable with his plan on both sides of the ball and be able to write off this season’s Pats experience as an anomaly.

“They’ve lost a ton of close games, and if they had even a functional offense they would probably have seven or eight wins,” a high-ranking personnel evaluator said earlier this season.

A major theme among all of those ESPN canvassed was the notion of control. Belichick has owned final say on personnel and other football-related staffing matters throughout his tenure with New England. Is there a world in which he would be willing to relinquish that control? Some within the league believe it will be necessary if Belichick wishes to keep coaching.

“As a coach he’s at the top — as a GM he’s at the bottom (of the list of candidates), and he will want to do both so that’s tough,” an AFC personnel man said. “I do think that’s a factor teams could be turned off by. I can’t imagine he doesn’t want to do everything.”

“Belichick has been around long enough to know he needs a strong support system,” another longtime exec said. “Would be curious to see how he evolves, or if he’s willing. It’s still unclear how much overriding he really [did] in New England. They are known to scout players differently than other teams.”

To be sure, Belichick has worked directly with personnel execs Dave Ziegler and Matt Groh in recent years and seemed to have good working relationships with them. Other names from his past, who graduated to other jobs within the league after their experience in New England, could be candidates for a power-sharing setup. But is there a GM out there who could be expected to work as a true collaborator with Belichick?

“I think, at this stage, he would need a familiarity — one of his past lieutenants like Scott Pioli or Thomas Dimitroff,” an NFC executive said. “Developing a working relationship with someone new could take some time. Not that it can’t be done, but Bill is probably set in his ways at this stage.”

An uncomfortable but unquestionably important factor for prospective Belichick suitors will be the coach’s age. At 71, Belichick is already the fifth-oldest person to coach a game in NFL history according to the Elias Sports Bureau, behind Romeo Crennel, George Halas, Marv Levy and Pete Carroll. Excluding interims, Belichick would be the oldest at the time of their first game with a new team — by quite a distance. Bruce Arians, 66 years old when he coached his first game with the Bucs, currently holds that distinction. With that in mind, how long should teams expect Belichick to coach?

“My guess is three to five years, depending on health,” an AFC executive said. “It’s hard to truly know how long he wants to do it, but that will be a determining factor. The new team will probably want a somewhat loose assurance that he can do it well into his mid-70s.”

Would Belichick be expected to identify a successor in his new home?

“True succession plans are always a bit awkward to me — especially if things go south and you don’t win, then the guy in-house is sort of just standing around. And it’s hard to put stipulations in contracts that this guy has to replace you. Belichick’s new team might just need to wait it out and figure there are good candidates every year.”

Of course, the notion of which teams want Belichick is not the only consideration. There’s also the teams and owners for which Belichick would consider working. Logic suggests a massive rebuild would be of less interest as Belichick chases the all-time wins record. A good situation — with a stable QB in place — is likely preferable.

“I’d be surprised if he goes to a place with a young quarterback — Carolina doesn’t really work, and I don’t think [owner David] Tepper wants to go that route anyway,” an NFC personnel man said.

“Take a team like the Chargers — they’ve got the QB, a defense with talent but have underachieved overall — that’s perfect for him.”

A closer look at current NFL vacancies, and how Belichick might fit into the hiring picture:

Atlanta Falcons

Belichick fits talented, underachieving teams such as the Falcons, who are the proverbial “quarterback away.” He would have an owner in Arthur Blank who doesn’t meddle in the day-to-day operation. Atlanta’s recent setup is 50-50 personnel split with head coach and GM Terry Fontenot, which Belichick might not embrace.

Carolina Panthers

Might be the least likely fit, as owner David Tepper and Belichick do not seem like a match. Carolina seems intrigued by the idea of a young offensive head coach and general manager with an analytical or salary cap background. Plus, the Panthers’ roster is at least a year away.

Las Vegas Raiders

Hard to imagine Raiders owner Mark Davis seeking out the Patriot Way after the Josh McDaniels debacle. Plus, if minority owner Tom Brady is involved in the search, those two might not be eager to share an employer once again. But Belichick could win there. And the connection between Bill Parcells (Belichick’s old boss) and Davis runs deep, which could help Belichick’s chances.

Los Angeles Chargers

Similar setup to Atlanta as a talented yet underachieving team, only the Chargers have a quarterback in Justin Herbert. The Chargers likely need a cap overhaul, which Belichick can navigate. It’s uncertain whether the Spanos family would relinquish control to Belichick’s liking. But a decent fit overall.

Seattle Seahawks

Seattle offers quality talent on both sides of the ball. Belichick would likely improve the league’s 30th-ranked defense. This is a fit from an on-field standpoint. But it wouldn’t surprise if the Seahawks go younger after moving on from 72-year-old Pete Carroll, implementing fresh ideas under a fairly new owner in Jody Allen. It’s perhaps notable that Belichick succeeded Carroll (who is staying in Seattle in an advisory role) as New England’s head coach in 2000.

Tennessee Titans

This doesn’t fit Tennessee’s purposes at all, a rebuilding team looking for someone to coalesce with second-year general manager Ran Carthon. Exchanging Mike Vrabel for Belichick seems excessive. But he would make the Titans competitive.

Washington Commanders

Belichick is an Annapolis, Maryland, native who appreciates the D.C. area, and Washington football carries plenty of tradition that could appeal to him. The Commanders’ ownership group led by Josh Harris is dedicated to finding a winning system. The franchise has much to offer, with nearly $80 million in cap space and five picks in the top 100 of April’s draft, including the No. 2 pick. But will it look for a coach on the upswing of his career?

THE PICKS

Our tradition of postseason picks, sometimes good, sometimes not so good will continue.

In the AFC:

Cleveland wins on the road at Houston is a good, middle-scoring game, call it 24-21.

The Bills struggle some with Pittsburgh in the bluster of Orchard Park, but end up with a 23-13 win.

The Dolphins freeze up against Kansas City.  Call it 24-6.

In the NFC:

Green Bay does its best, but at home, Dallas prevails 34-21.

This is the game of the weekend.  Matt Stafford rallies the Rams late, 28-27.

Neither the Bucs nor Eagles impress anyone, but we’ll call it 16-13 Buccaneers.