To beat the Patriots you must know the Patriots. You must understand the laboratory that operates inside the Gillette Stadium offices and the mind of coach Bill Belichick. You must know that he already understands everything you do and he will have a way to beat it.
“You have to be smart to beat them,” said Charley Casserly, an NFL Network analyst and former general manager of the Redskins.
New England has won two of the past three Super Bowls, coming back late to win both. Last year the Pats were 14-2 and many suggest they can win all their regular-season games this fall despite a challenging schedule.
There are always theories about stopping the Patriots, like generating enough of a pass rush to make quarterback Tom Brady uncomfortable, but few teams seem to do that. Of course any discussion about beating the Pats must include the suggestion that opponents must keep them from cheating. Regardless of past indiscretions with video cameras or partially inflated footballs, the Patriots have many, many ways to beat you.
The best way to stop them is to study what they do different from everyone else and attack it. Here is a guide:
Play them in September
The four luckiest teams on New England’s schedule are the Chiefs, Saints, Texans and Panthers. These are the teams assigned to play the Pats in September, and therefore should have the best chance to beat them. How many times in recent years has New England limped into mid-October with a mediocre record, looking up at a fast starter in the AFC East as the questions — “What’s wrong with the Patriots?” — swirl only to have the Pats storm off to another division title?
Offseason practice limitations in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement have pushed Belichick to experiment more in the season’s first month. In 2012 and 2014 the Pats started 2-2. Last year, one of their two defeats came in an early 16-0 loss to Buffalo.
“They are definitely a better second-half team,” Casserly said. “It seems the players learn the system more then and Belichick learns more about the players and then they get better and better as the games go on.”
New England’s September record since the new CBA is 16-5, which is still excellent, but when you are trying to beat perfection it’s a vulnerability that can be exposed. However, none of their four opponents this year are from the AFC East — the first time in 12 years the Patriots have not played a division opponent in the first month.
Be versatile
Patriots players have long described a culture in which Belichick tears up game plans from week-to-week and yet does it in a way that never makes them feel burdened. While all teams make adjustments for opponents, coaches worry about throwing too many wrinkles at their team. Belichick seeks players who can handle a lot of information, but also is careful to not make things too complicated.
When new concepts are introduced in Wednesday team meetings, several players have said he makes his presentations in easy-to-digest film clips that have struck many as geared to those on the team who have the slowest comprehension. While the changes might seem complex to those watching on Sunday, they are actually easy to make.
“You have to be creative in your system [if you are going to beat them] and you have to have smart players,” Casserly said. “You have to be versatile yourself. You better have two or three options if there is something you do really well. If you rely a lot on one wide receiver you better have a second- and third-receiver option.”
Former NFL cornerback Shawn Springs, who played his last season with the Patriots, remembers the assignment Belichick gave him before a playoff game against Baltimore. Just tie up Ravens tight end Todd Heap early. Do that and quarterback Joe Flacco will panic because he can’t get to his favorite target.
“Whatever your best thing is he will find it and take it away,” Casserly said. “You better be able to beat him left-handed because he will take away your right.”
Understand Belichick knows everything about you and your players
When new players come to the Patriots they are always brought to meet Belichick and they are subjected to an interrogation like none they have had in football.
“He will pick your brain,” Springs said. “He will ask: ‘How did you do this? How did you do that?’ He’s learning every time he brings in a veteran.”
Any player who steps on the field against the Pats will not be a mystery to their coach whose precise study of their film will have yielded clues on stopping them. Does anyone forget just how prepared the Patriots were to blow up the goal-line pass Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson tried to throw to Ricardo Lockette at the end of Super Bowl XLIX? The Seahawks loved that play on the goal line.
To beat the Pats it’s best to not rely on old favorites.
Realize Tom Brady does not look at your defense like a quarterback
Brady has been able to play into his 40s by the virtue of great offensive lines that keep him from getting hit. But Brady is also one of the best at quickly finding open receivers and getting the ball to them before a pass rush can get started. It’s uncanny how he knows just who to throw to and when. It’s also not an accident.
Brady knows a ton about opposing defenses and he does so because he has learned to watch film like a defensive player.
Just before the 2001 season, Belichick took over the quarterback meetings. Brady was just starting his second year as a little-known backup. When the starter, Drew Bledsoe, was lost to a sheared blood vessel in his chest in Week 2, Belichick and his new starter Brady bonded in the film room. Belichick, a defensive mastermind, taught Brady to look at defenses through the eyes of a defensive coordinator and not an offensive coach.
“He would make a video package of say 15 plays of Champ Bailey,” said Damon Huard, the third quarterback in the room that year. “There would be 15 clips of what Champ Bailey does when the ball is thrown to him. Or we would look at all the balls thrown at Charles Woodson and see how he breaks in Cover-2 or man-to-man defense.”
Most who observe Brady do so in the context of the Patriots offense, but to really grasp what Brady is doing you must understand he is looking at the other team like a defensive player.
Beware of the wily veteran
Belichick’s teams always have older players who fit perfectly in the Pats scheme. In the past, fallen stars such as Corey Dillon and Randy Moss have revived their careers in New England, but just as deadly are those overlooked players who suddenly thrive as Patriots.
A perfect example is gifted pass-rusher Lawrence Guy, who bounced through three organizations as a part-time player before landing this summer as the Pats starting left defensive end.
Springs said it takes a certain kind of player to be able to do this — one who can swallow his ego and buy into whatever role Belichick has in mind. Several smart, gifted players who seemed like natural fits have washed out while other, more obscure veterans have done well.
Those who are there, like Guy and ex-Bengals running back Rex Burkhead, should be watched closely because they will be beating someone when they least expect it.
Take care of those little things
Geoff Pope, a reserve cornerback on the Giants team that beat New England in Super Bowl XLII, remembers the team preparing for that game. From their study and from later talking to players who have been with the Pats, he has come to one conclusion: “The aura in their locker room is weird.”
A lot radiates around Brady who has been the team’s leader for almost all of this century, but much of that atmosphere comes from Belichick’s demand his players never make mistakes. Recall running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis who never fumbled in his four years with the Patriots? He went to Cincinnati in 2012 and dropped the ball five times the next two seasons.
Belichick puts an extra demand on things other teams ignore, like special teams. He has employed essentially two kickers since he became coach in 2000 — Adam Vinatieri and Stephen Gostkowski — rather than running through a new kicker every year like many teams.
Several of the experienced players he adds are on the team solely to play special teams. The goal is to win a field-position battle. To upset them it’s a fight you will have to win.