A few weeks back, I wrote a speech for my public speaking class on why I believed Belichick to be a legend. I thought I would share my insights and hope to show you exactly why he is a legend.
The poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “To be great is to be misunderstood.” My topic today is a great man and yes, he is often misunderstood; however, I shall convince you he will become a legend in due time. Personally, I am a committed football fan and a die-hard supporter of the New England Patriots. My passion for the Patriots includes everything about the team; its players, the stadium, the atmosphere and importantly-the head coach. Bill Belichick, the head coach of the Patriots, is a great man. Today, I am going to defend that assessment, plus provide insights that will cause most to believe he will become a football legend. There will be three components to my argument: One being Belichick’s accomplishments to date, second, the accomplishments of football legends-who are record holders compared to Belichick and thirdly how he's not the most loved coach in the league.
Bill Belichick has become a legend in his years of coaching. The Patriot fans love him, and the opposing fans hate him. He competes at the highest level and teams playing against know they will be challenged. In his head coaching career, which still is young by legendary standards, Belichick has gained an impressive record of success.
He’s the number one ranked head coach in the NFL between the teams in this decade. He’s led rookie quarterback’s 6-0 in their first game. For example, Tom Brady who won his first game 44-13 after Drew Bledsoe, the quarterback of the time, took a serious injury. Matt Cassel won 19-10 who hadn’t started a game since high school. Then Jimmy Garoppolo who won his first game 23-21 from Brady being suspended. Belichick pays attention to detail and he’s a great ‘X and O’ coach, not to mention he has outstanding judge of talent. From the ESPN website, he was rated 7th overall NFL coach just behind Paul Brown who is said to have created the ways of coaching today. Back in 2007 the Patriots got an average of 38.6 points making it a 16-0 season; the only other team who has done this was the Miami Dolphins back in 1972. Belichick is reaching the status of other legends who coached decades ago.
He’s reaching heights like legends Don Shula, Tom Landry and eventually Vince Lombardi. Don Shula coached the great Miami Dolphins from 1970-1995. Don Shula has been to the super bowl six times as a head coach and has 347 victories. Belichick has been to the super bowl six times just in 15 years with the Patriots, compared to Shula’s 25. Then, Tom Landry had 270 wins, the only other coach to top that was Shula. Belichick, with 246 wins, only has 24 more wins to reach Tom Landry’s score. Then the legend himself, Vince Lombardi, the one the Super Bowl trophy is named after, got the Green Bay Packers in the conference title six years in a row and two back to back super bowl wins. Belichick has his team in the conference title game seven years in a row (it will be eight if he makes it again this year) and he had two back to back super bowl championships. Not to mention, Belichick has 13 AFC east title games under his belt, and counting.
A NFL media analyst, Elliot Harrison, wrote an article about “NFL Coach Power Rankings” and states that Belichick has achieved “10 [AFC] conference title games in the past 15 years. Only Tom Landry has equaled that kind of fun. No other coach has led his team to six Super Bowl appearances- or five for that matter.” With his famous line of “Do your job” Belichick expects the best for each player, and for each player to be their own person and work on their abilities. The team then rises as one and with that kind of coaching gets teams to the big titles. With reaching legend status, there is bound to be the people who hate him.
He’s the most hated coach in the league. Everyone who isn’t a fan hates him just because he’s won so much. Belichick has had a few cases against him, for which they only appeared out of spite. Spy-gate was back in 2007 and dealt with the Patriots wrongly filming a game against the New York Jets. Deflate-gate, back in 2014, dealt with the fact that the Patriots won the Super Bowl yet again and everyone claimed the footballs were drained of air. Everyone just seems out to get Belichick.
The CBS Boston website posted an article stating “Whenever a franchise, in any sport, scores enough success to approach dynasty status, a begrudging dislike naturally forms outside its own fan base. Everyone loves an underdog,” and Belichick is no underdog, yet “With four Super Bowl titles since the turn of the century, New England rarely qualifies under that heading.”
In conclusion, Belichick, in this decade, is ranked the number one head coach for his outstanding ways of coaching. He’s too great for his enemies, and he’s getting to be legendary status with the amount of titles he keeps on gaining. Will all of these points it just proves that Belichick is becoming a legend.
After a shut out game on September 22nd 2016, a former member of the Patriots, Vince Wilfork states “Bill Belichick is always going to have his team ready.”
