New England Patriots as Shapeshifters

Shape shifting is a powerful thread that runs through mythology. That of the werewolf or of a vampire are the easiest images brought to the layman's mind. It can conjure either feelings of confinement to those on which a form is imposed or feelings of liberation to those on which a form is voluntarily taken.

The New England Patriots are voluntary shape shifters. They do not evolve to fit a particular situation, they do not have "their game." They morph to fit the given situation, to attack their opponents' strengths. From season to season; from game to game; from play to play.

Rarely do they get fully beaten by an opponents' game plan: they may be beaten by an opponents' execution, but rarely by their game plan. The greatest strength of their brand of shape shifting is the ability of the head coach to view his team through the lens of an opposing coach that knows his own team's strengths and weaknesses. Super Bowl XXXVI was not decided by an arial assault - 37 total points were scored, 6 of which were scored on a pass interception returned for a touchdown. It WAS decided by the coach's decision to focus on the St. Louis strength at running back and by his knowledge of what his team had the capacity to do to slow that running game down.

He's not always perfect - earlier in the 2001 season, the Patriots lost 24-17 to the Rams - but from those imperfections spring newfound knowledge and opportunities. With that knowledge, they rarely lose twice.

The Patriots can be an offensive juggernaut, capitalizing on their quarterback's ability to throw a long strike to an outstretched receiver and have that ball fall where only that receiver can catch it, all while taking on an overmatched cornerback or safety. They can be a defensive powerhouse, penalizing a very good, but hardly deep team, by refusing to allow them to use their strength.

The 2007 Patriots are a deeply talented team, where their strengths are not only measured in the ability to remove an opponents' strength from a contest, or to use their strengths against an opponents' weakness, but also to impose their strengths even on their opponents' strengths. Previous incarnations of this team were strong in their ability to match their strengths against weakness; this incarnation has no such constraints.

They can morph, and change to fit their own organizational mission. That mission rests not with winning any one particular game; it rests with outperforming opponents and it rests with winning championships. The goal is not to win any particular game; that would be a consequence of the goal. This shape shifting can be a very liberating image indeed.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/previews/2002/02/03/patriots_rams/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapeshifting