Pay Attention To Details

Bill Belichick has four principles that have guided his coaching success:

1. Do your job

2. Work hard

3. Pay attention to details

4. Put the team first

‘Do your job’ is the catchy headline, the memorable motto, the documentary title. But this site isn’t about sexy slogans, it’s about uncovering true craftsmanship. And one of the defining symbols of any master of their craft is attention to detail.

For decades, what has stood out about Bill Belichick’s coaching is his identification of meaningful details within the game. Furthermore, his staff have been able to transmit why those details are the important ones, and painstakingly prepare the team to execute against them during high-pressure situations.

There is perhaps no greater example of this than in the Patriots’ famous Super Bowl comeback against the Atlanta Falcons, where they overcame a 28-3 deficit with two-minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Let me step you through the details that allowed New England to overcome a 99.8% chance of defeat.

Detail 1: Managing half-time

In fifty previous Super Bowls, no team had ever come back from a two-touchdown deficit. Not only were New England down by an historic 21-3 margin at half-time, they were playing uncharacteristically poor.

The team’s standard-bearer, quarterback Tom Brady, had been mediocre, including throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

Similarly, New England’s detail-focused coaching staff mismanaged the clock, meaning they had to kick a field goal as time expired in the second quarter, rather than go for a touchdown.

Despite everything that had gone against them, Belichick resisted the urge to abandon their plan. “We were confident that we could still make the plays that we needed to make to win,” says Belichick.

Asked to recall what had happened at half-time, the players spoke to the level of calm in the locker room.

“There was no great speech,” said tight end Martellus Bennett, who was starting in place of the injured Rob Gronkowski. “There were no guys arguing, throwing helmets or anything. We came in and made adjustments. Everyone was focused on doing what we had to do and that was it,” Bennett added.

Offensive Tackle Nate Solder recalled half-time this way: “Bill said that we have to keep doing what we’re doing, play like we know how to play and not think about what happened. They have to score a lot more points to keep us down. We knew we could score enough points to win.”

“It was one of those games where we didn’t have control of the score, but I didn’t feel like we had lost control of the game,” Belichick told CNBC.

Detail 2: The number of plays

47 plays.

It was one of the details written on the whiteboard at half-time — and one that the Patriots wanted to capitalize on.

The Patriots offence had been on the field for 47 plays in the first half, a high for the season. Despite only generating three points, they saw their play count as an opportunity.

“We’re down 21-3, it’s not a great position to be in,” says Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels. “But we did have an opportunity if we could make the game competitive, that our conditioning could factor in because of the number of times the Falcons had pass rushed.”

The Patriots ran the ball 13 times in the first half, punted 3 times, had 1 fumble.

That means they had forced the Falcons defense to pass rush 30 times in a half.

“Eventually, at some point, there’s got to be some fatigue that sets in,” McDaniels adds.

It was an uphill battle, but the Patriots had been running up hills all year — literally. Built at their practice facility; a conditioning hill.

After every practice, they team would run sprints while Belichick would urge the players to run right to the top — details!

“Put it in the bank,” he would shout. “Put it in the bank so we’ve got it when we need it!”

Detail 3: Adjustment to the outside

While the Patriots didn’t abandon their game plan at half-time, they did make adjustments.

Atlanta were taking away one of the Patriots’ strengths; short passes over the middle to Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola.

“The Falcons did a good job of defending the middle of the field. In man-to-man they usually left a free player in the middle,” Belichick highlighted.

In the second half, the Patriots shifted their attack to the outside, away from the free player that the Falcons left on the inside.

Belichick noted: “When Tom [Brady] went to the perimeter, we moved the ball much more effectively. There was a lot of space out there, and we gained a lot of yardage.”

Detail 4: Exploiting matchups

The turning point of Super Bowl LI arose from a tiny detail that the Patriots recognized, and exploited, within one play.

“Tevin Coleman got hurt. The trainers came out and we saw him going off the field,” Belichick recalled. “So we knew that Devonta Freeman would be in, and blitz pickup was an area that he had some trouble with.”

Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia sent linebacker Dont’a Hightower on a blitz from the outside, which Freeman failed to pick up. Hightower got to Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan as he was throwing, causing a fumble which the Patriots then recovered.

“It was a fraction of a second from being a bad play,” Belichick remembered, “their receivers had some separation, but our rush got there just in time.”

The details matter because small details add up into something much bigger.

Detail 5: 2 x Two-Point Conversions

Two weeks before the Super Bowl, Bill Belichick approached his coaching staff and urged them to include some additional two-point conversion plays.

“I anticipated there were going to be some points scored in this Super Bowl, I didn’t think it was going to be a 10-9 type of game,” Belichick recollects.

Belichick had intended to try a two-point conversion after their first touchdown, hypothesizing that it would add extra scoreboard pressure to be up 8-0.

While the additional two-point conversion plays wouldn’t pay dividends at the start of the game, as intended, they would come in handy at the end of the game. New England were able to claw back a 19-point deficit in just three scores, with a field goal and two 8-pointers enough to send the Super Bowl to overtime.

Detail 6: Stay present

For all of the planning and foresight on show, Bill Belichick has long spoken about his belief that it all comes down to execution — including the execution of his role as a leader.

“I just tried to take it from play to play, and make the best decision for the next play,” he says, adding: “As long as there was still time, I felt we had a chance.”

Cody’s Notes

• There’s no need for extra notes on this post. See details above.