Is Bill Belichick Losing the Patriots?
It's common in coaching professional sports for a coach to eventually lose influence in the locker room, players getting tired of hearing the same messages, etc.
The one guy in the NFL who seemed immune to that was New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. Since arriving in New England, he's done nothing but maniacally produce football-playing, Super Bowl-winning robots. But since the Patriots 18-0 run ended with a Super Bowl loss two seasons ago, the Pats have lost a bit of their luster.
They put together a good season last year despite losing Tom Brady, although they didn't make the playoffs, then traded promising Brady replacement Matt Cassel for an underwhelming haul from Kansas City.
This season, the team has had up and down moments, culminating last week with two things that rarely, if ever, happen to the Belichick-era Patriots:
Key players, including Randy Moss and Adalius Thomas, were sent home for being late to a team meeting. Even more surprising, Thomas criticized the head coach in the media:
"Motivation is for Kindergarteners. I'm not a Kindergartner," Said Thomas. "Sending somebody home, that's like 'He's expelled, come back and make good grades.' Get that [expletive] out of here. That's ridiculous. Motivation?"
It's going to be interesting to see how Belichick handles the first real instance of open, public defiance as Patriots coach.
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