History -- like the decisions made which help define it -- is complex.
There are plenty of lessons from history that you learn from. There are plenty of personal decisions in life that you learn from as well and then there are some you vow never to repeat, no matter the circumstances.
After last Thursday night’s deflating loss to the Los Angeles Rams, I listened intently to Bill Belichick’s sarcastic answer to a perfectly appropriate question. It was asked by the ESPN's Mike Reiss regarding the state of the Patriots quarterback situation. It was the one question that many Patriots fans with functioning eyeballs were staying up late on a school night to hear.
Paraphrasing: Are you considering a quarterback change?
The sarcasm and snarkiness of Belichick’s answer are not what stood out to me. Neither was his defiant defense of his starter, Cam Newton. What stood out to me was how fully loaded the coach’s response was.
Ready. Aim. Fire. Boy was Belichick was ready for that one. Some scars from history leave a permanent mark. I’m thinking of Belichick’s first heading coaching foray in Cleveland with the Browns, circa Fall of 1993.
Back to that in a moment ...
Belichick’s stance on his QB situation reminded me of a conversation my mother and I had a few years ago, while reminiscing about why our family could barely get out of the driveway on day one of our family summer vacations. The answer? My dad.
My mom said, “When your father was in the Marine Corps they told him when to stand up, sit down, speak, go to the bathroom, go to bed and wake up. I think once he got out, he decided he wasn’t going to move for anyone else ever again.”
Trust me, that’s true and that’s why, what should have been a 60-minute trip to the Sagamore Bridge always took over three hours. Before the Griswald’s had the ‘family truckster’ the Hackett’s had the powder blue Ford station wagon. Packed and ready for the Cape by 9 a.m. and on Route 128 by 12:30 p.m. Just in time for my sister and I to complain about how hungry we were and why we were the only family still using ‘the vent’ to blow hot engine air all over us for a 90 minute trip that would now take three hours. But I digress ...
The point is, like my dad committing to never moving on anyone else’s clock ever again, I think Coach Belichick will never immerse himself in a quarterback controversy ever again. He may change his mind on who starts at some point this season, but just like my family couldn’t get out of the driveway on vacation day, you aint’ getting any straight answers, rationale or thought process on this one.
The comical and cringe-worthy Belichick awkward pauses and uncomfortable silences that we have all come to enjoy, can and will become appreciably worse when any questioning of the quarterbacking situation gets surfaced. He’s not blind to what’s happening and not happening on the field, I simply believe this is a game Belichick refuses to play.
Once bitten and forever scared.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback controversy of 1993 between the incumbent Ohio favorite son, Bernie Kosar and Belichick chosen successor, Vinny Testaverde is one of the most reflexive references anyone goes to when the topic of a quarterback controversy or even a potential quarterback controversy is surfaced. This one was ugly and intimate. It was also very public with the emotions of those in Kosar’s corner pouring it out at every turn and doing so loudly. This was also happening during the glory days of ESPN and they were all over this one 24/7.
Belichick was stuck right in the middle of it. Younger and far less experienced and if you can believe it, far less comfortable with media. This one was heated from the day Kosar was pulled in an early September game, to his eventual release that same November and it only got uglier as the season wore on.
Simply said, I think hard lessons were learned, never mind the fact that Belichick’s decision at the time has long since been proven to be correct. That fact aside, it was the public media carnage that seemingly forever changed his future cautious approach with the media. Add in a quarterback controversy, or even hints of it, and Belichick’s caution and shall we say, ‘content economy’ is trumped by a pure unwillingness to participate. He won’t engage. Not on this one.
So for those who want to keep asking him about it, I say Godspeed and good luck. I’ll see you in Chatham in about 3 1/2 hours.