‘Great’: A gruff Bill Belichick makes it clear that the Patriots still have their edge
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
COMMENTARY
Goodnight, Kansas City.
Farewell, Denver or Pittsburgh. Arrivederci, Carolina, Seattle, Green Bay, or Arizona.
Bill Belichick just crushed your dreams.
Let’s be clear, the New England Patriots should win the Super Bowl. They should squeak past the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend in the divisional playoff round at Gillette Stadium. They should beat either the Broncos in Denver or the Pittsburgh Steelers at home, and should get by whichever entrant the NFC offers in Santa Clara, Calif. next month.
At least, that was the assumption as little as eight weeks ago, back when the Patriots were chasing perfection and buoyed by the perceived wrongdoings of a power-hungry commissioner.
But following a 2-4 finish to the regular season, a host of injuries to key personnel, bizarre play-calling and game management from the sidelines, and the percolating thought that the Patriots head coach might have been losing his firm grip on the locker room, it was fair to wonder if this New England team, the defending Super Bowl champions, had instead run out of gas while revving for another run.
Nope.
It’s been a strange week in Foxborough. On Tuesday, Belichick showed up to his press conference with a mysterious black eye, only to be followed up by increasing revelations in the whole Chandler Jones mess, aka the Town of Foxborough Redaction Caper. As far as distractions are concerned, it’s not quite on the level as slightly-deflated footballs, but the peripheral story lines still resurfaced questions as they pertain to the Patriots’ priorities.
After all, Belichick had quite literally kicked away an opportunity for home-field advantage in the final two weeks of the season, when the coach proceeded in such a bizarre fashion that it had Patriot fans stretching to the length of reason as to why supposed layups against the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins went so against the grain. Perhaps the revenge factor, the supposed edge that was erected in the wake of the NFL’s offseason pursuit of “integrity’’ in its game, had also come to a close somewhere along the way, mixed in with injuries to Julian Edelman, Dont’a Hightower, Dion Lewis, and Nate Solder.
Instead, Belichick made it clear on Thursday that The Middle Finger Tour has only just begun.
This was, for sure, the Patriots head coach at his ornery finest, leading his morning press conference with a brief statement about the well-being of Jones, who has been at practice all week despite his Sunday morning visit to Norwood Hospital, and then deftly and cantankerously avoiding all follow-up questions.
“We’ll find out on Saturday,’’ Belichick said when asked how much playing time the defensive end might see Saturday against the Chiefs. “I could just Xerox you a copy of the gameplan, and you could just send it over to Kansas City. Might be easier for all of us.’’
It was at that moment that any lingering fear about the mental state of this Patriots team preparing for postseason was wiped away faster than Ernie Adams’ Pink Stripes on the dry erase board.
Surprisingly, Belichick attempted to cut the Chandler business off at the pass upon stepping to the podium, addressing the situation out of the gate. “Relative to Chandler’s situation, there is nothing more important to me personally than the health and well-being of our players, staff and support people in the organization. That’s the way it is with this organization and me personally, and I don’t think that will ever change. We issued a statement on that, and I really don’t have anything to add to it.’’
Then, after an odd opening question about Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton (even the coach seemed a bit surprised by that one), Belichick started swatting Chandler flies.
Q: Do you think the fans have a right to know about what happened to Chandler on Sunday?
BB: I’ve already covered this.
Q: Do you guys probe more deeply on something like that?
BB: I’ve already covered it.
Q: But not that aspect…
BB: I just answered a question.
Q: But do you go more deeply into that?
BB: I’ve said there is nothing more important than the health and well-being of our staff and players. So to me, that covers it.
Q: Have you addressed it with the team overall also?
BB: What I say to the team is between me and the team. I talk to the team every day.
Q: Matthew Slater said the other day that everything in that locker room stays in that locker room, but we are a close-knit unit and we care about each other.
BB: I agree with that, yeah.
Q: Is there a level of disappointment that this crops up so close to a playoff game?
BB: I mean are there any more questions about the Chiefs here? The rest of it, I’m done talking about. We issued a statement, that’s it.
It was quintessential Belichick, gruff and unapologetic.
The coach was clearly in no mood to discuss anything other than the Kansas City Chiefs. At one point, a reporter inquired how his shiner felt, and if he could elaborate on how he got the black eye.
The response: “Great.’’
Great.
If it had felt like something intangible was off with the Patriots, Belichick did his best to squash those fears in his first public remarks since news of Jones’ police visit broke on Tuesday. Here there was the trademark defiance that he’s laid as a foundation for his team, the arrogant flippancy that suggests the Patriots are out to prove themselves yet again on a landscape of antagonism.
Now, here come the Chiefs, winners of 11 in a row, up against the Patriots as we remember them, boasting a chip on their collective shoulder and quietly salivating at the three-week task ahead of them.
“We try to prepare our team to play the opponent that we’re playing – this week, Kansas City.’’ Belichick said. “It’s the same way we do against every other team that we face. It’s really not that hard.’’
Sorry, everyone. Message delivered.
It’s really not that hard to figure out where we go from here.
Contact Eric Wilbur at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @GlobeEricWilbur and Facebook www.facebook.com/GlobeEricWilbur
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