Belichick's Biggest Triumph?

“The Patriots did it again.”

“Classic Bill Belichick.”

And while the entire football world continues to slob on Bill’s knob as usual, here’s what is truly impressive about the Albert Haynesworth trade…

Bill Belichick has done the unthinkable. He has single handedly made himself impervious to media scrutiny. Not a single thing he does is wrong. Everything he does is genius. No one dares criticize him. Not only does this amaze me, but it absolutely sickens me.

Now… let’s make this 100% clear. I’m not criticizing Belichick or the Albert Haynesworth trade. This is geared towards the wishy-washy media and “experts” who will make their stance on a player or football topic 100,000% clear… and then completely backtrack once Belichick gets involved. We all know Belichick is a living legend among the coaching ranks, his resume doesn’t even need to be repeated.

But this has been boiling my blood over the years. As soon as New England makes a big move, it’s instantly called “Classic Belichick” while completely abandoning previous criticisms. And while it’s happened millions of times before, I can’t seem to remember any specific instances at the moment.  I’m sure it happened with Ryan Mallet, and a few other situations as well... But instead of letting this particular instance slip back into the recesses of my bad memory, I’m going to jump all over it.

So I was watching NFL Network yesterday...

I tend to leave it on all day and night, so it just kept repeating and repeating and for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to just turn it off. I must have heard Warren Sapp tear Albert Haynesworth a new one in 10 or 11 NFL Total Access episode reruns last night.

Sapp looked like he wanted to jump across the desk and body-slam poor Fran Charles when Charles tried to suggest that Haynesworth was an elite player pre-Redskins. Warren was heated and frequently made references to how Haynesworth was struggling against 2nd and 3rd stringers on tape. But Charles continued to suggest Haynesworth had a good career in Tennessee, and again Sapp would give him that nasty glare and make reference to the following stats, suggesting Haynesworth was a two year wonder.

Haynesworth’s Career:
2002-2006: 9.5 Sacks
2007-2008: 14.5 Sacks

Now I didn’t particularly disagree with Sapp. His points were valid, and who better to criticize another defensive tackle than Warren Sapp? He had a great career and he was more than credible with his assessment.

But what the hell happened 24 hours later?

I couldn’t WAIT for Sapp’s response when Derrin Horton asked him what he thought of the Patriots/Redskins trade. I half expected his frustration from the previous night to actually manifest itself in a physical nature on the set this time. Maybe that’s why Charles wasn’t around, because Sapp dealt with him off the air the night before. But Sapp’s face said it all. He had that same look of disgust as he did the previous day, but then it instantly changed to a wide eyed look of approval.

“Actually, I like it!” Sapp said excitedly. He proceeded to make his point but I turned the T.V. off.

Of all the things Belichick has done in his career, this is easily what impresses me the most. The aura about him turns everyone into a supporter, a believer, a hard worker. The media respects him, players respect him and want to work hard for him.  Players with questionable character or work ethic will turn a new leaf in his mere presence.

The Patriots will continue to be dominant in this league as long as Belichick maintains this credibility among his peers. And while this respectability among his fellow coaches and NFL players is amazing, the way the media bows down to him is even more so.