Bill Belichick is the greatest head coach in NFL history, and his performance for the New England Patriots in 2019 has been nothing less than stellar.
The Patriots enter their Week 10 bye with the best record in the AFC at 8-1, and this success has come despite injuries to key players, the lack of an effective run game and plenty of turnover on the coaching staff after last season, among other things.
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer recently polled NFL executives on several topics, and one question posed was: Which coach is doing the most with the least and why? One executive pointed to Belichick and explained why the 67-year-old coach is going a great job this season.
“Bill Belichick is doing the most with least. He’s missing two offensive tackles and a center, doesn’t have a mismatch TE or WR and his QB is aging. They have some Pro Bowlers in the secondary but no game-wreckers up front, and two of their best, Collins and Van Noy, did not play nearly the same with their other teams—neither did Shalique Calhoun, Lawrence Guy or Stephen Gilmore to name a few. Dude is amazing.”
There's no question Belichick's best work in 2019 has been seen in the Patriots defense. This unit is allowing the fewest points per game and leads the league in takeaways. The pass rush also has been much improved with 32 sacks, two more than this defense tallied all of last season.
Belichick is in his 20th season as Patriots head coach, and in a few weeks he'll likely have his 18th season with 10 or more wins over that two-decade span. A lot of this success comes down to preparation -- no team in the league is better prepared each week than the Patriots. The Patriots have the toughest part of their schedule coming up, but luckily for them, they have a Week 10 bye during which Belichick will be able to self-scout his team and make the necessary corrections to ensure a strong finish to the season.
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