Colin Cowherd: “My wife used to always tell me: ‘STAY CURRENT.’ The coaches that did in the NBA won titles, those that pushed back on the three-point shot, Popovich, a regression of wins. Renovations, tweaking, adapting... Belichick wasn’t built for a lot of changes. Let’s be honest, he’s an NFL historian. Historians tend to seek the rear-view mirror for answers. He looked backwards a lot, but Tom Brady was the protective shield. Brady was such a brilliant player and brilliant mind offensively that Tom could take care of that side of the ball, and Bill just worried about culture, details, and defense. Whenever you’d push back on Belichick, he’d always say ‘WELL, OUR RESULTS HAVE BEEN PRETTY GOOD’... They HAD been pretty good. Belichick not only lost his way, I think most of it was because he no longer followed HIS rules and ‘The Patriot Way.’ No more sacrifice, no more adjustments, no more all about winning. All of it took second place to whatever made Bill comfortable, and increasingly in the last 7-8 years, what made him comfortable frustrated Brady to the very end. He was adding his kids to the staff, hiring familiar fired retreads, drafting players he wanted to coach, stockpiling picks and not taking any big swings. Simply put – Bill got lost in his own sauce. Bill was into ‘Bill’ and whatever made him comfortable. He didn’t stay current. Seven years ago the league was transitioning to speed, more perimeter-based speed players, dual-threat quarterbacks, get young, get fast... New England hasn’t drafted receivers, tight ends, or offensive speed in a decade worth a you know what. But they collect picks. Last year’s draft symbolized the issues. The slowest offense in the league drafted three interior linemen and two kickers. They are now embarrassingly slow. No Pro Bowlers, offensively tone-deaf, out of touch, and inept. The Kraft family deserve some blame too. They gave Belichick too much power. Being an NFL head coach is a 24/7 job. Being an NFL GM, similarly, is an exhausting, relentless occupation. Bill basically was both. You can’t do both well. Bill’s drafting unraveled his coaching. For anybody in any field, it really comes down to this... STAY CURRENT because this is how it almost always ends for the old successful baseball manager, or the legendary college basketball coach, or even Bill Belichick. You are shown the door not on your terms. Bill may have separated due to Tom Brady in the height of his career, but it’s ending in a very familiar fashion for those who don’t stay on top of things. He’s shown the door. To the end – clunky, old school, and protective... that is NOT the way to age well. What is? Nick Saban.” (Full Segment Above)
Watch Colin Cowherd on FS1’s The Herd discuss the breaking news of the New England Patriots officially parting ways with five-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick, and detail how Belichick’s downfall in the wake of Tom Brady’s exodus was easy to predict and depressingly obvious for Patriots fans.
Check out the segment above as Colin lays out the reasons why he believes Belichick failed to ‘adapt’ to the modern NFL, and as a consequences got phased out and ultimately pushed out of the same game he once mastered.
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