Three Reasons You Cannot Blame Bill Belichick

I strongly dislike being that guy that everybody hates when it comes to situations like this. In major sports discussions I normally find myself supporting the guy or team that only .01% of all sports fan support. I normally stand behind the referees decisions, no matter how bad they may be. I normally stand behind coaches decisions, no matter how idiotic they may appear in hindsight. So really I expect nothing different from myself regarding this most recent incident. Anybody who knows how to spell the word 'sports' knows what happened in the Indianapolis and New England game this past Sunday. I actually did not get to watch the game but I read all about it. As I perused major media outlets such as TSN, ESPN, and CBS just to name a few, I came across the same response from almost every article I read. It does not take a very intelligent person to realize that this response was a criticism of Bill Belichick and his play calling. I should mention that there were a few articles out there that were indifferent or even came out in support of the play call but this number was about as high as the number of liberals who will go out and buy Sarah Palin's new book. It was actually one of these articles that motivated me to write what I am fixing to write. Here are three reasons you cannot blame Bill Belichick for that play call.

The NFL stands for National Football League. Can we all agree on that? We all understand that professionals play in the NFL. You have to be really good. You cannot be a scrub. Now if you disagree with me on anything I just said there is no need for you to proceed with reading this. One of the articles mentioned that Kevin Faulk bobbled the pass. I have watched the replay 26 times on YouTube now and I would say there is a pretty good chance that if Faulk catches that pass cleanly we are talking about how incredible Belichick is right now. Can we all agree that professionals making big money should be held responsible for catching two yard passes thrown perfectly? Good, I thought so. We all know Faulk did not cleanly catch the pass but I would say it can definitely be debated that despite the bobble if this play could have been reviewed it might have resulted in a first down. Remember, I do not criticize referees. According to ESPN stats (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/stats?playerId=1798), Kevin Faulk has caught 406 passes for 3503 yards with an average of 8.6 yards per catch since 1999 (should be mentioned all of this has happened with the Patriots). Even more important, out of the 406 passes he has caught, 159 of them went for first downs. 39.16% of every pass Faulk has caught in his career has gone for a first down. Can we all agree those are pretty solid numbers for a running back? I think it goes without saying that Kevin Faulk was not a bad option in this situation. In fact, I believe he was the best option.

Everybody in that stadium thought the ball was going to Randy Moss or Wes Welker. Most probably thought Moss but that is besides the point. The emphasis of the defense was going to be put on these two guys making Faulk an even better option for this time period in the game. In response to people saying that Belichick did not trust his defense, I would not trust a Pro Bowl defense against Peyton Manning and his receivers. I saw Peyton Manning bring his team back from 72 points in 4 seconds against the Bucs years ago. A measly six point lead with two minutes remaining, why not just concede the game. I would argue that Belichick actually had more faith in his team than most. When a team is on offense they can have more influence on what is fixing to happen. I mean the offensive team knows the general direction of where the ball is fixing to go. When a team is on a defense they have to set up a scheme based on a play that could go 15 different directions. I am not arguing that offense is more important than defense but rather that when a team is on offense they have more control over the immediate future of the game. It was not that Belichick did not trust his defense, but rather he had confidence that his offense would dictate the immediate future of the game and there would be no need for a defense that (even if it was all-world) would have to read and react to one of the best 2 minute offenses of all time.

Finally, the real reason everybody is hating on Belichick is related to the same reason people hate the Yankees. Steinbrenner always goes out and spends 500 million dollars and all non-Yankees fans spew their fountain of hate on Steinbrenner while secretly loving the man and wishing their owner would spend 1/50^th of what Steinbrenner does. How many times has your favorite team been in the same situation that the Patriots were in, only to punt the ball away and see the opposing team go down the field in 1 minute and 12 seconds and put the game away? Your coach never had the guts to make a play call like Belichick, heck you never even had the guts to make a play call like Belichick did when you were playing Madden 2010 with your best friend. You are so jealous that this guy has so much confidence in his team to make a bold call like this when your coach would not even consider going for it on 4^th and inches from the 50 yard line.

I must admit that there is no doubt that had the Patriots punted the ball away this game could have ended much differently. Just as Kevin Faulk has a 40% first down catch percentage, Peyton Manning has probably almost the same exact percentage if not higher for scoring game winning touchdowns in the waning moments of big games. I will take Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and a guy who has proved himself time after time in short yardage situations (Faulk), over any defense that lines up against Peyton Manning and the Colts.