FOXBORO -- Bill Belichick is a fan of projects. He'll give assistants on his coaching staff or in his front office "projects" to handle on all manner of topics. But he took on his own project last spring.
As a co-host for the NFL Network's All-Time Team program -- alongside NFL Media's Rich Eisen and NBC's Cris Collinsworth -- Belichick had the opportunity to analyze each of the 100 players and 10 coaches (including himself) named to the team All-Time Team by a 26-person panel.
As part of the gig, of course, Belichick had research to do.
"I learned a lot," he said this week after the first episode aired, featuring 12 running back selections. "It was a great experience. I watched a lot of film of players in the ‘30s, the ‘40s, the ‘50s and the ‘60s. I watched quite a bit of that over the summer and last spring, and it was very enlightening in studying the great players in different eras and how the game was played. You see some plays, you see some strategy, but you also see the players, and not just the guys you’re watching, obviously, but the other guys that are involved there.
"Two-way football, the kicking game, there were a lot more kicking plays. It’s all just continuous film; it’s not really broken up into offense and defense. That didn’t start until a little bit later in the ‘60s and so forth, but the earlier games it’s just sequential, so you’re watching guys go both ways and both sides of the ball and so forth. So yeah, I learned a lot about the players, a lot I learned about the history – how things, I would say, evolved to a degree. And then, as part of the Top-100 shows there, actually being able to talk to some of those players and get their perspective and reflections on the game, and other aspects of their career and life, that was great.
"The interaction with some of the great people that are on the panel, that are on this committee, and their insights . . . I think in a way it’s definitely made me a better coach from the things that I’ve learned. It’s reinforced some things, and it’s also opened my eyes to some, I would say, other areas of coaching that I don’t want to say were overlooked – that would be the wrong word – but the emphasis maybe has been more, since I started doing that, on certain fundamental things that are I think critical to the foundation of successful plays and successful teams and successful football.
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"So yeah, it was a very great honor to be a part of it, and very educational, informative, and I would say, motivating to indulge in those in the process."
Deciding the team, though, was a challenge. For Belichick, as one of the individuals helping to make determinations on who would onto the All-Time roster and who wouldn't, one of the most difficult parts of the process was comparing players from different eras.
But Belichick's explanation for why players from decades earlier made it over more recent players -- for instance running back Earl "Dutch" Clark, who played in the 1930s and is described on NFL.com as the league's "last dropkicking specialist," made it over LaDanian Tomlinson -- was classic Belichick.
The more you can do.
“The toughest thing about the whole process is really comparing two-way players to one-way players," he told WEEI earlier this week. "The two-way players that played through, let’s call it the mid-40s, to even some degree the late 40s, but at that point it really became one-way football. So you have a great receiver, a great quarterback, or a great defensive back, or a great linebacker. Then how do you compare them to a player who was a two-way player who was maybe not as good at the specific skill that a player in later years had, but was an all-around player -- played on everything, played on special teams, played on offense, played on defense?
"It’s kind of apples and oranges. The great players in the earlier years probably weren’t as skilled as the players that have played in let’s call it the modern era, the one-way players. There’s a lot of one-way players that could not have played both ways."
There are reminders every year of how much value Belichick places on versatility. Versatile offensive linemen gain roster spots over specialists up front. Versatile defensive backs and receivers may get longer looks in the pre-draft process. Versatile linebackers are viewed as chess pieces who can handle multiple roles in Belichick's ever-evolving game plans. And those who can contribute in the kicking game have immense value to Belichick.
A player like Jonathan Jones -- who didn't make quite as many flashy defensive plays in training camp a few years ago as fellow undrafted rookie corner Cre'Von LeBlanc -- made the team thanks in part to the fact that he was deemed a real special teams talent. Jones had more value because of his ability to do more than one thing. He's now a defensive starter. LeBlanc, a reserve corner for the Eagles, has had two special teams tackles in three seasons.
Even in this special project -- something Belichick called a "fantastic experience" and a "once in a lifetime opportunity" -- versatility mattered. Why would anyone expect otherwise?
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