Greatest. Cover. Ever.

Pats Offseason Through a Belichickean Lens

Today's Boston Sunday Globe has a lengthy feature-cum-interview of Bill Belichick that gives some rare insight into the Patriots' coach and savant. The piece gives a little bit of insight to everything from the Coach's allegeedly boorish behavior at times in 2006-2007 to his tenure with the Browns, some perspective on his personal life (about as much as outsiders are likely to get from this notoriously private man, anyway), and the relatively disappointing season just passed. In the words of former Globe sportswriter Michael Holley, "I don't think people would say Bill Belichick is a great man. He's a great coach. He's an interesting man."

In a related note, the Patriots offseason has started about as well as any fan could reasonably hope. In the past couple of days New England has come to an agreement with former Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas, one of the gems in this year's free agent group. Ron Borges provides a cautionary note. The Pats have also come to agreements with Kyle Brady and Sammy Morris). Here is hoping that a premiere wide receiver and a cover corner follow. Put me on record as believing that the Pats' system would be able to handle Randy Moss but I also would be pleased to see a Joe Horn, Darrell Jackson or Dante Stallworth on board as well.

One of the problams that I thought the Pats had all last year was that despite a clear lack of depth in some areas the team remained well under the salary cap. This offseason the Patriots appear set to rectify that oversight. There is lots of time yet to go and a little something known as the draft to endure, but so far so good this offseason. That hideous AFC Championship game loss will stick in a lot of craws over the course of the next ten months, which is as it should be. Anyone who counts New England out will do so at their peril. Which is not to say that lots of the experts won't be too clever by half and go out in the preseason and talk about the Pats' era being done and decide that a Bills-Cardinals Super Bowl is in the offing.

Update: By the way, this marks my 1000th post at dcat. I have no idea what that means. It is probably a testament to my opinionated nature, or to having too much free time, or to wanting to avoid working, or to an overdeveloped sense of my own importance, or maybe, just maybe, to the fact that when you separate the faint signal from the considerable noise, I occasionally have something to say that might be worth someone's while. Probably a combination of these factors. here's to the next thousand posts and to thjose of you who have been here from just about the beginning.

Bill Belichick on the Pats

Today's Boston Globe has a fantastic, wide-ranging, state-of-the-team-type Mike Reiss interview with Bill Belichick. If you are a Patriots fan (and you know you should be) you'll realize that this may be the most open that Coach Belichick has ever been and there is lots of fascinating insight about the team, the future, and this past season.