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Belichick, the Patriots, and doing 'your job'

Bill Belichick has been involved in nine Super Bowls, seven as a head coach. Only one of them has been decided by more than six points. He also has been accused of deflating balls and filming opponents' practices, but it all boils down to one thing:

No one, in the history of the game, has tried, or been better at, anticipating his opponent's next move.

Remember after Super Bowl XLIX when safety Malcolm Butler said the Patriots had prepared for the goal-line slant that he stepped in front of? On a play when the entire world expected bruising Seahawks back Marshawn Lynch to punch into the end zone and finish what he started, is it possible Belichick didn't?

And this year. Geez. We forget that after New England pulled to within 28-20 with 5:53 left, the Falcons moved almost too efficiently from their own 10-yard line to New England's 23 in a little more than two minutes. Game was over. Done. Run the ball a few times, milk the clock, force the Patriots to use up their timeouts, ice the win with a field goal.

Instead, as Andy Reid and Doug Pederson had done a year before in a playoff game against the Patriots when they milked the clock while trailing, Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan played right into Belichick's hands with three consecutive dropbacks by Matt Ryan. The first resulted in a 9-yard sack, the second a holding penalty (to avoid a potential sack), the third an incompletion that forced a punt and enabled New England's tying drive.

Here's what I think: Belichick has built such a reputation for getting into an opposing coach's head before games that it occurs during them as well.  Shanahan likely called consecutive pass plays because he read a run defense. Pete Carroll saw a defense that begged for that ill-fated pass, right?

It almost seemed, in retrospect, that they called exactly what he wanted them to call.

As for Andy and Doug? Ah hell, I still don't understand their thinking. Other than it's much slower than Belichick's.

But again, that describes most, if not all of his peers. The Patriots coach is fond of telling his players to "just do your job.'' The paradox, of course, is that he's become the most successful NFL coach ever by coaching his team, and yours, too.