How Bill Belichick's Famous Super Bowl Gameplan Relates To Steelers' Le'Veon Bell
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bill Belichick was a football wizard long before he coached the Patriots. He first rose to prominence as defensive coordinator for Bill Parcells' New York Giants, who won the Super Bowl in the 1986 and 1990 seasons.
Though Belichick was a disappointment in his first head coaching stint in Cleveland, the true birth of the Belichickian "mystique" came with his defensive gameplan when the Giants beat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV.
That gameplan was so famous, it's on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It could still have some relevance today as the Patriots get ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2016 AFC Championship Game.
Super Bowl XXV is much better known as the "Wide Right" game, referring to Scott Norwood's missed 47-yard field goal as time expired to secure the 20-19 win for the Giants over the Bills. What's somewhat lost in the lore of Norwood's all-time choke is that Belichick's defense held what was the most explosive offense in the NFL to just 19 points after they had averaged 29 points in their previous 18 games.
It sounds like a normal defensive gameplan in today's NFL, but in 1990, it was radical and unorthodox. Legend has it that Belichick told his players that they will win the game if running back Thurman Thomas rushed for over 100 yards.
Thomas rushed for 1,297 yards that season, second only to Barry Sanders, and the Giants finished the regular season fourth in the NFL with just 91.2 rushing yards allowed per game. So it must have sounded like Belichick had lost his mind at the time.
"I thought it was a collective brain fart, like what the hell are you talking about?" said former Giants linebacker Carl Banks, according to Giants.com. "And then he reeled us back in and kinda gave us a method to the madness."
The gameplan instead focused on slowing down the Bills' high-powered passing attack while "letting" Thomas run, and it worked. Thomas rushed for 135 yards on 15 carries, while quarterback Jim Kelly went 18-for-30 for 212 passing yards with no touchdowns and an 81.5 passer rating. He was coming off two straight games with 300-plus yards passing and at least two touchdowns, so to keep that passing game out of the end zone with barely over 200 yards through the air was no small feat.
There could be a similar gameplan when the Patriots defense takes the field on Sunday against the Steelers and running back Le'Veon Bell. The fourth-year back averaged 105.7 yards on the ground in the regular season, and in his first two postseason games against the Dolphins and Chiefs, he has rushed for 337 yards on 59 carries.
Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia might be happy to let Bell run the ball 30-plus times at five yards a pop. The real focus should, and probably will, be on stopping quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and No. 1 wideout Antonio Brown from making big plays down the field. As dynamic as Bell is, the Steelers probably can't beat the Patriots in Foxboro by handing it off to him 30 times; they need to make big plays and get into the end zone through the air.
A similar, and more recent, gameplan came against the Denver Broncos in the 2013 regular season. Obviously, the AFC Championship Game that year didn't exactly work out, but in the regular season matchup, Belichick dropped most of the defense into coverage and kept two safeties back deep. Then-Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning responded to this defense as most smart quarterbacks would, by handing the ball off to running back Knowshon Moreno to attack the gaping holes in the first two levels of the defense.
Moreno rushed 37 times for 224 yards and a touchdown, Manning threw for only 150 yards, and the Patriots held the explosive Broncos to 24 points on offense. The gameplan ultimately proved effective enough to secure the 34-31 comeback win.
Of course, these past gameplans are not perfect apples-to-apples comparisons, especially not Super Bowl XXV. Defensive backs were allowed to be much more physical and aggressive on the ball than they are today. Bell is also perhaps the best receiving back in the NFL, so he's not merely a threat on the ground. But if the Steelers believe they can run the ball 30-plus times and outscore Tom Brady in Foxboro, they may be sorely mistaken.
The Steelers' chances of scoring touchdowns and upsetting the Patriots without going through the air may be impossible, to the point that Belichick and the Patriots will gladly let them hand it off to Bell for five-yard rush after five-yard rush. As long as Big Ben isn't burning them for 50-plus down the field with Brown, they will be content to allow their first 100-yard rusher since Week 12 of the 2015 season when the Broncos' C.J. Anderson burned them for 113 - 48 of which came on the final play of the game.
Belichick isn't one to look too far in the past when getting ready for an opponent, especially not 26 years in the past. But it shouldn't come as a shock if he tells his defense this week, "If we let Bell rush for 100 yards, we'll win the game." He's done it before, on bigger stages. On Sunday, there's a good chance he does it again.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.