Culture.
One word. Seven simple letters that drive action in so many corners of this world. Business. Religion. Society. Government. And, yes, sports.
If you search the Merriam-Webster online dictionary definition 1B for culture is “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization.”
Generally speaking, in the world of football it’s everything.
It’s what new coaches try to change when they replace bad ones. It’s what the great ones create and then ride to consistent success.
In a place like New England, for a coach like Bill Belichick, it’s the be-all, end-all.
And when you’ve spent two decades building the most admired, successful culture in the NFL – maybe in all of sports -- you don’t undermine it for anything. Or anyone.
Enter Jarrett Stidham, New England’s second-year former fourth-round pick. The young passer who for a short time last spring was presumed to be the heir to Tom Brady.
The same guy who seemed to fade into the Beta background – literally and figuratively – when Superman former NFL MVP Alpha Cam Newton signed with the Patriots this summer.
The same guy who dealt with a minor injury that set back his progress in training camp.
The same guy whose only playing time to date this season has come in mop-up duty and garbage time for the 6-7, headed-nowhere Patriots.
From outside the walls of Gillette Stadium there have been loud, consistent calls for Stidham to get his shot. Have a start. Play a full game after a full week of preparation. He couldn’t possibly look worst that Newton, right?
And yet Belichick has been clear, “Cam is our quarterback.”
That’s come after he’s declared on multiple occasions that Newton – who has five touchdown passes, 10 interceptions and the NFL’s 31st passer rating -- was and is the best player the Patriots have at the position. Belichick has heaped endless praise on the fledgling former No. 1 overall pick’s energy, work ethic, leadership and investment in the process of this strange, challenging season.
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has expressed similar support for his top passing (well, at least running) pupil.
No. 1 remains the No. 1 QB.
Why?
Culture.
Mike Lombardi, a longtime friend and former assistant of Belichick’s whose son is the current Patriots wide receivers coach, has pointed to the idea on that Stidham clearly hasn’t earned playing time or the starting job through his work during the week and on the practice field. Forget about open tryouts for the future.
“The future is, he’s worried about winning the next game,” Lombardi told OMF on WEEI last week of Belichick. “He’s going to make sure he tries to become 9-7, which is the best record he can be.”
Culture starts at the top. It runs seamlessly through the most important roles. Owner. Head coach. Quarterback.
Playing time isn’t just given, it’s earned in winning organizations.
Belichick has made it clear that indeed just getting Stidham playing time, including mop-up duty in consecutive blowout wins and losses in New England’s recent two-game trip through L.A., is “not really the point.” The point is to win.
Interestingly, a more detailed, passionate explanation of the situation that’s seemingly playing out in New England may have come from the strangest of places this week. Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce, a man who helped Philly upset the Patriots in Super Bowl LII before going on a celebratory bender, articulated the players’ perspective while playing out the string on hugely disappointing season in the City of Brotherly Love.
“At all times in the NFL, the focus should be on winning the football game,” Kelce said, oozing raw emotion. “Nothing else takes precedence. No player evaluation. No amount of curiosity from anybody within the organization. Everything is focused—in my opinion—in this league upon winning games.
“You see a lot of losing teams sustain losses for a number of years when they have bad cultures. They have cultures where you don’t try and win every week. Where you’re trying to finish (with a bad record): ‘What are we going to do in the draft? What are we going to do in free agency? What can we do over here?’ In football, this isn’t basketball. One draft pick isn’t going to make us a Super Bowl champion. It might be a big start to a Super Bowl championship, but it’s always going to be about the team.
“That’s the greatest thing about this sport, and culture and the way guys fight and the way guys go to prepare and the way guys go about their business is a huge reason for success in this league and in this sport. Nothing takes precedence over trying to win a football game.
“I don’t care who you’re trying to evaluate. I don’t care if you’ve lost every game, you’re 0-15 and it’s the last one you got. Everything is about winning in this league. I know that won’t appease a lot of people out there that always want to talk about getting better draft position or getting looks at certain guys to see what you’ve got for the future. But, again, the moment a team feels like you as an organization aren’t doing your job for me to go out there and win. All of the sudden, you’ve shown who you are. You don’t care about me or this team. You care about the future. You care about this. That’s not what the focus here is. That’s not what the focus of any winning organization’s team.”
Kelce was sharing his views about his team, the Eagles. But he just as easily could have been talking about and defending what’s going on or not going on these days in New England.
So with the Patriots chances at making the playoffs on life support, down in the single-digit percentages, why isn’t Stidham starting? Why isn’t Belichick “seeing what he has” in the second-year QB?
Culture.
It’s the same reason Belichick and the Patriots didn’t go down the Tank for Trevor road, not even when the then-2-5 team trailed the winless Jets by 10 in the fourth quarter on the road in early November.
Culture trumps all.
Culture is too valuable to give up, whether it’s for a run at the highest draft pick possible or to find out what a young, backup quarterback has to offer for the future.
It’s the championship culture built over two decades that says you play to win the game. (H/T Herm Edwards). The culture that says you earn playing time based on practice. The culture that says, as captain Lawrence Guy has put it a number of times in recent weeks, that the Patriots “aren’t a bunch of quitters.”
It’s about the culture.
It’s always about the culture under Belichick in New England, whether outsiders like it or not.
