Adam Jones: You're Selling Belichick Short If You Think 2013 Is His Best Coaching Season
BOSTON (CBS) - Adam Jones has heard the case being made in recent weeks about Bill Belichick having his best year as the Patriots head coach, and he disagrees to the maximum.
"Honestly, to call this Belichick's third, or fourth or fifth best job that he's done sells his overall body of work short - a little bit short," said Adam Jones Thursday morning.
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Sean McAdam of Comcast SportsNet New England joined Adam Jones from 10am-2pm filling in for Gresh & Zolak, and he had some thoughts on the topic as well.
"We hear this every December when the Patriots are on the verge of winning their tenth, eleventh or twelfth game," said Sean McAdam. "Just like any NFL team they've dealt with injuries - but some years are worse than others. It's a testament to his remarkable consistency," said Sean McAdam.
Another thing fans hear a lot (typically on this station from 2-6pm) is that the AFC East is one of, if not the weakest divisions in all the NFL, which explains why the Patriots have won 11 of the past 13 division titles.
But is it the worst division in the NFL? And does that somehow diminish, or take away from what the Patriots have been able to accomplish the past decade-plus?
No way, says Adam Jones.
"Is the division good? No. There's certainly been years when the division has been better, but do people forget that Seattle won their division two or three years ago with seven wins? To call it the worst division, or say it's more watered down - all these things go in cycles and the Patriots are the class of the AFC East."
Adam Jones then went on to make the case that this is not Bill Belichick's best year as Patriots head coach, and thinks fans are operating on a short-term memory when it comes to his résumé.
"Do you forget in '03 and '04 - as talented as they were - that they had all kinds of things to deal with? In 2003 the Patriots had the backdrop of the Laywer Milloy release, and the Tom Jackson [of ESPN] comment: 'They hate their coach' - that was the backdrop of that season. They started 2-2 and never lost another game."
"In 2004, Troy Brown was playing defensive back, as was Earthwind Moreland and Hank Poteat. That was an excellent coaching job."
"Even though they were one-and-done in the playoffs, 2010 was another excellent coaching job. They traded Randy Moss midseason, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez were rookies and just getting their feet under them that season - that's another impressive job that gets lost in the wash."
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"In 2006, Belichick got that team to an AFC Championship game, and Brady essentially had zero receivers on that team. And nevermind going undefeated for the first 18 games in 2007 with the backdrop of Spygate - or even getting the 2011 team to the Super Bowl, that was still generally young with all the rookies from the year before."
"I think to say that 2013 is above any of those, or even in the mix with any of those at this point in the calendar, I honestly think that sells Belichick short."
Listen below for the full discussion:
