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Do you believe in miracles? Unfazed by a rash of injuries and a lack of superstars, Bill Belichick lifted the Patriots higher than anyone could have possibly expected

Football Digest, Spring, 2004 by Jeff Goodman

NO ONE HAS DONE MORE WITH less than Bill Belichick. The Patriots' head coach, who two years ago led New England to an improbable Super Bowl title, was back at it in 2003--but with fewer playmakers and a succession of injuries.

Belichick's Patriots began the season with a humiliating 31-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills just days after cutting team leader Lawyer Milloy. But that ignominious beginning was a distant memory by season's end. The Patriots closed out the schedule with 12 consecutive victories to finish 14-2 and earn the top seed in the AFC. For his efforts as a master strategist and motivator, Belichick is FOOTBALL DIGEST's 2003 Coach of the Year.

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"He's hands-down the best coach in the league, whether I like what he's doing or not," Patriots cornerback Ty Law says. "If you had asked me [the same question] at the beginning of the year, I'd say, 'Hell, not How can you cut Lawyer Milloy?' But he changed my mind. He's done an outstanding job. In my opinion, he's Coach of the Year. He can get rid of me, I don't care. He's still the best coach in the league."

After their sterling regular season, the Patriots wound up capturing the Super Bowl championship again. And Belichick led them there using smoke and mirrors. New England had to use 42 different starters and 65 players in the regular season. Five players who started in the opener finished the season on injured reserve.

All season long, Belichick found ways to win games without any bona fide superstars. Only two of his players--Law and defensive tackle Richard Seymour--were named to the Pro Bowl. On offense, the closest thing Belichick had to a true difference-maker was quarterback Tom Brady, who rarely made mistakes and came up with just enough big plays. His running attack consisted of Antowain Smith and Kevin Faulk, who didn't exactly strike fear into opposing defenses. The team's top receiver, Troy Brown, missed a month of the season due to a harassing injury, and Belichick was forced to bring in castoffs like J.J. Stokes and Dedric Ward to fill the void.

It was defense--which has been Belichick's forte over the years--that paved the way for New England's surprisingly successful season. Led by Seymour, Law, linebacker Tedy Bruschi, and hard-hitting safety Rodney Harrison, that unit kept the team in games whether the offense was clicking on all cylinders or sputtering.

The Patriots pitched three shutouts and gave up just 22 points in their final six home games during the regular season. In the team's final 24 quarters at home, the only touchdown allowed by the defense was a garbage-time, fourth-quarter score by the Jacksonville Jaguars in a 27-13 Patriots victory.

Belichick has become an icon in New England, although he didn't always have that status. When Patriots owner Bob Kraft dealt away a first-round draft pick three years ago for Belichick, who at the time had a 37-45 record as an NFL head coach, many Patriots rims thought Kraft was crazy.

"I took a lot of hits," Kraft says. "A lot of people criticized me for working so hard to bring a guy here whose record in Cleveland was far from stellar."

The hits kept coming after the Belichick regime went 5-11 in its first season in 2000 and then started the Super Bowl-winning 2001 campaign with a 1-3 mark. But all the negative vibes were erased when the Patriots romped through the playoffs in that 2001 season and then beat the heavily favored St. Louis Rams, 20-17, in Super Bowl 36.

Last season the Patriots took a step backward, finishing 9-7 and failing to reach the playoffs. As a result, a lot of experts thought the team would be merely average in 2003. And after the release of Milloy, the lopsided opening-day loss to Buffalo, and then a season-ending hip injury to the team's biggest offseason acquisition, linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, most people figured Belichick would be a miracle worker if the Patriots finished .500.

That feeling intensified when the injuries kept coming. Linebacker Ted Johnson was out the first half of the season with a broken foot; starting linebacker Mike Vrabel broke his arm; nose tackle Ted Washington, another key off-season pickup, missed six games with a broken leg; Law played on a bad ankle; guard Mike Compton underwent season-ending foot surgery, after just two games; and offensive tackle Adrian Klemm was placed on injured reserve.

"We've had a lot of different people in and out of the lineup," Belichick said during the season. "But the bottom line is that the young guys have really stepped up and done a good job, and guys whose roles have changed have done a great job adjusting to them."

Somehow, despite the rash of personnel changes, the Patriots found a way to reel off 12 straight wins, the third-longest season-ending winning streak in league history. The 12 consecutive victories also set a franchise record, as did the 14 total victories in the regular season. Previously, New England never had won more than 11 games in a season.

Do you believe in miracles? Unfazed by a rash of injuries and a lack of superstars, Bill Belichick lifted the Patriots higher than anyone could have possibly expected

Football Digest, Spring, 2004 by Jeff Goodman

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