Keller @ Large: Appreciating Bill Belichick As The Greatest
BOSTON (CBS) -- It's been a staple of discussion among local sports fans for years. Who is more important to the Patriots' success: their greatest-of-all-time quarterback, or their greatest-of-all-time coach?
After Sunday night's game, my friends at the Sports Hub are going to have to come up with another go-to topic to fill slow periods.
Tom Brady, due to a ludicrous persecution of trumped-up charges by bitter, jealous competitors, was unable to play, and Bill Belichick and his staff were ready.
They constructed a game plan for fill-in Jimmy Garoppolo that maximized his skills and minimized his flaws, and got just enough points out of it to win. They rebuilt a team that's been emphasizing offense throughout the Brady years to now lean more heavily on the defense, and stalled out the Arizona offense, one of the league's most potent.
Add this to the evidence provided during the 2008 season, when Brady got hurt in the first game and Belichick guided the team to a winning season with a merely-adequate backup, and let's face it, Brady is terrific, but Belichick is the man.
Perhaps when his coaching career is over, Belichick will drop his contempt for the media and offer some real insight into how he does it. I suspect he has plenty to say about managing an organization, understanding human nature, and providing leadership.
Lots of people talk a big game about what winners they are. Belichick has the results to prove it.
Someday we'll learn the full brilliance of what he does.
But for now, let's acknowledge that the who-matters-more argument is over.
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