{"id":29508,"date":"2016-01-26T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T17:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/second-guessing-of-belichick-begins-with-the-man-in-the-hoodie\/"},"modified":"2016-01-26T09:00:28","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T17:00:28","slug":"second-guessing-of-belichick-begins-with-the-man-in-the-hoodie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/second-guessing-of-belichick-begins-with-the-man-in-the-hoodie\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-guessing of Belichick begins with the man in the hoodie"},"content":{"rendered":"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.<\/strong> \u2014 You still see T-shirts around the home of the New England Patriots with coach Bill Belichick\u2019s scowling face and the mantra \u201cIn Bill We Trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

But more than any time since the hoodied football guru began filling the team\u2019s trophy case, fans here are beginning to question his judgment.<\/p>\n

Two decisions to forego a field goal and go for it on fourth down in Sunday\u2019s AFC championship game was just the latest in a series of calls that didn\u2019t work out for Belichick and the Patriots this season. The Broncos won 20-18 to earn a trip to Super Bowl 50 that the defending champions had considered their birthright.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think each of us that competed in the game \u2014 players, coaches \u2014 probably feel the same way,\u201d Belichick said on Monday. \u201cA couple of plays, calls, that you\u2019d like to have back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Patriots wouldn\u2019t have even been in Denver \u2014 where quarterback Tom Brady has a 2-7 record \u2014 but for a rare December collapse by a team that has been one of the league\u2019s best finishers.<\/p>\n

Winning just two of their last six regular-season games, the Patriots finished one win short of home-field advantage through the AFC playoffs.<\/p>\n

Belichick\u2019s decisions \u2014 some risky but reasonable, others downright puzzling \u2014 were a big reason why.<\/p>\n

While only the most extreme talk radio loudmouths would be calling for the head of a four-time Super Bowl winner after a few failed moves, Belichick conceded on Monday that he second-guesses himself \u201call the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among his players, there\u2019s still absolute loyalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne hundred percent, we follow him and the decisions he makes,\u201d long-snapper Joe Cardona said as he cleaned out his belongings in a somber locker room on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe follow him and the decisions he makes,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, he\u2019s accomplished a lot. There\u2019s no questioning our leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are some of the decisions that proved costly in New England\u2019s failure to repeat as champions:<\/p>\n

\n

THE RUGBY KICK: <\/strong>Winners of their first 10 games, the Patriots arrived in Denver on Nov. 29 with a chance to open a three-game lead over the Broncos in the race for the AFC\u2019s top seed. The Broncos rallied from a 14-point, fourth-quarter deficit to win in overtime, taking advantage of a fumbled punt return by Chris Harper \u2014 an undrafted rookie who was called up from the practice squad 12 days earlier.<\/p>\n

The following week, the Patriots again opened a two-touchdown lead \u2014 this time over Philadelphia. After scoring to make it 14-0 midway through the second quarter, Belichick inexplicably called for a rugby-style onside kick from safety Nate Ebner.<\/p>\n

The thus-far overmatched Eagles \u2014 who would fire their coach before finishing a 7-9 season \u2014 fielded it and drove for their first touchdown, then added another to tie it before the half. In all, Philadelphia scored five straight touchdowns after the unusual play.<\/p>\n

\n

THE COIN TOSS:<\/strong> The Patriots won their next two games before playing the New York Jets on Dec. 27. New England trailed for most of the game before Brady hit James White for a touchdown with just under 2 minutes remaining to send the game into overtime.<\/p>\n

Belichick decided to kick off to start the OT period. The Jets went 80 yards on five plays to end it without New England ever getting the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was the best thing to do,\u201d Belichick said.<\/p>\n

\n

THE MIAMI <\/strong><\/p>\n

MISADVENTURE:<\/strong> The following week, the final game of the regular season, the Patriots played the Dolphins \u2014 another team that was mired in the middle of a coach-firing season. Amid questions of whether it would be better to go all-out for the win or rest key players for the playoffs, Belichick opted for a middle strategy.<\/p>\n

Brady played, but he handed off 20 times in 25 first-half plays, and one of the incomplete passes resulted in Dolphins lineman Ndamukong Suh rolling over on Brady\u2019s ankle. The Patriots let the three-time Super Bowl MVP loose in the second half, but it was too late.<\/p>\n

Down two scores in the final minutes, backup Jimmy Garoppolo replaced Brady. The Broncos beat San Diego later in the day to clinch the AFC\u2019s No. 1 seed and, eventually, home-field advantage in the conference title game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t say \u2018What if? If this was that. If that was that,\u2019\u201d special teams captain Matthew Slater said on Monday. \u201cThey were what they were and we had to go there and play. We didn\u2019t play well enough to win. Simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

FOURTH-AND-GO:<\/strong> The playoff victory against Kansas City was uneventful \u2014 if you don\u2019t count the twice-deflected, almost intercepted second-down pass to Julian Edelman when New England was just trying to run out the clock. That landed the Patriots in Denver, where Brady and the rest of the team have struggled.<\/p>\n

With a dominating pass rush, the Broncos took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter. There was just over 6 minutes left when the Patriots faced a fourth-and-1 at the Denver 16. A field goal put them in position to win \u2014 if they could get the ball back and score again.<\/p>\n

Based on the time left and how many possessions he expected to have left, Belichick went for it. Brady completed a pass to Edelman, but he was hit immediately and brought down for a 1-yard loss. \u201cAt that time, there was no hesitation in doing that,\u201d Belichick said Monday.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, the Patriots got two more possessions inside the Denver 20. With 2:25 left, Belichick went for it on fourth-and-6 from the Denver 14. The pass to Rob Gronkowski was over his head.<\/p>\n

The Patriots got the ball back again, and scored. But the 2-point conversion to tie failed, and so did the onside kick attempt with 12 seconds left.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

THE EXTRA POINT:<\/strong> Belichick didn\u2019t shank the first-quarter extra point that wound up costing the Patriots in Sunday\u2019s game \u2014 that was kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who had made an NFL-record 523 in a row to that point.<\/p>\n

But Belichick was one of the proponents for moving the point-after from the 2-yard line to the 15. The league changed the rule this year in the hopes that it would restore some suspense to what Belichick had complained was a non-competitive play.<\/p>\n

Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the rules are, we\u2019ll play by them. We don\u2019t make the rules,\u201d Belichick said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Gostkowski said he felt as if he lost the game for the team. His coach would have none of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery player and coach who participated in the game, I think we all feel that way,\u201d Belichick said. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s my fault. I\u2019m sure that all the other players that played feel like it\u2019s their fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com\/AP_NFL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2014 You still see T-shirts around the home of the New England Patriots with coach Bill Belichick\u2019s scowling face and the mantra \u201cIn Bill We Trust.\u201d But more than any time since the hoodied football guru began filling the team\u2019s trophy case, fans here are beginning to question his judgment. Two decisions to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-29508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29508"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=29508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}