Arguing That the Failure of Belichick's Coaching Tree is a Bad Reflection on Him is Insane, Even by Colin Cowherd Standards

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The question of "Was it Bill or Tom?" is one of those eternal, unanswerable, philosophical debates that will be around as long as "Nature or Nuture," "Is morality objective or subjective," and "Ginger or Maryann?" And as I've been pointing out for probably 20 years by now, it's a question that's been used by shameless demagogues to argue both sides. If you said Belichick was a the best coach ever, they'd tell you he lucked out by having Brady. Call Brady the GOAT and those same disingenuous frauds would say Peyton Manning was better, he just never had the coaching. 

Personally, I put it close to a 50/50 split. And will die on this hill. Because you'd have to be certifiable mental patient =- who's a danger to yourself and others - to conclude anything less than this was a total collaboration. Two men bringing the very best out of one another and everyone else around them for a preposterously long period of time. The most successful boss/employee relationship of all time. 

Enter Colin Cowherd, who's made a career out of such absurd arguments. This one stemming from the comments made by Tua Tagovailoa about how much he hated playing for Brian Flores:

But rather than look at this rationally and conclude that the branches off Belichick's coaching tree have such a hard time being successful is that they are not, as it turns out, Bill Belichick, Cowherd arrived at a different hypothesis:

"There's a new term and it's used in football. And it's called 'Belichick Guys.' They're all combative.They're obnoxious. Flores, Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, Josh McDaniels, Bill O'Brien. Apparently they used to call O'Brien 'Teapot' - Brady did and Brian Hoyer did, because he boiled over all the time in meetings. And this thing with Brian Flores, it's beyond obnoxious. It's cruel. 

"It's essentially the opposite of the Sean McVay or the Kyle Shanahan tree. The DeMeco Ryans. The Robert Salehs. The Kevin O'Connells. They come out and they're collaborative. They get along with people. They're pro-player. 'Belichick Guys.' And Brian Flores probably watched Belichick dog-cuss Brady for years. I mean, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, people have come out, even people who were favorable to Belichick, and said, "I can't believe what Tom put up with.'

"It's becoming crystal clear - sorry Belichick fanboys and sycophants -  it's becoming crystal clear is that Tom Brady and only Tom Brady elevated Belichick and the entire staff. Josh McDaniels couldn't get along with Derek Carr and Jay Cutler. Matt Patricia couldn't get along with Matt Stafford. Who fights with Matt Stafford? Stafford gets along with everybody. This is what it is."

Well as a very proud, loud, and out there Belichick Fanboy Sycophant, you had me right up until the part where "only Tom Brady elevated Belichick." Because it's not only missing the entire point, it's invalidating the whole rest of the argument. 

Yes, Belichick's style was to be "combative" and "obnoxious." And "cruel." And to use a word I think appears somewhere else in that clip, but has been used so many times if you do word association and give someone the prompt "Belichick," 95% of the time they'll come back with "arrogant." All those things are accurate. And you know what? They were the keys to his success. They worked for him. 

That combativeness took a team in a death spiral under card-carrying member of the Collaborative, Pro-Player Coaches Association Pete Carroll, and turned it into a Super Bowl champion in two seasons. That obnoxiousness kept the wolves at bay. Opposing teams. Officials. The media. The league that took draft picks away and changed the rules in order to stop this franchise from winning. And all that dog-cussing drove the hundreds of players who came through Foxboro to maximize their potential. It turned average players into champions. Undrafted free agents into millionaires. And above average players into Pro Bowlers, All Pros, and team Hall of Famers. And some into Pro Football Hall of Famers. 

Yes, Brady took the hard coaching more than any other player in his class (I know there's only one, but work with me here; I'm rolling) probably ever would. Credit to him. But credit to Belichick to recognize he could. How many times does a successful coach or business mogul tell you it's all about managing people. Recognizing what an individual responds to, and treating them that way. Brady wanted to be coached hard:

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So he got what was best for him, for the team as a whole, and for the coach. 

The fact no one else can pull it off - though many have tried - doesn't invalidate Belichick's approach. Any more than if, say, you thought John Adams was a lousy President (he wasn't; Massholes Rule) so you tried to make the case that means retroactively George Washington sucked too. It doesn't work like that. 

Besides, let's let all these other Coach McFriendlys, these collaborative, pro-player, people person's paper people get to name their boats VIII Rings before we decide they deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the man who already did. Bill Belichick was fantastically, impossibly successful at being himself. The fact that all the "Belichick Guys" couldn't pull off being pale imitations of him doesn't invalidate that fact.