PHOTO: Bob Donnan – USA Today Sports



Don’t look now, but the season that seemed destined for failure just a few weeks ago is suddenly looking more and more like one of Bill Belichick’s career masterpieces in the making.

I believe 2001, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2018 will stand as his best work given different circumstances in each of those seasons, but with a third straight win on Sunday, the 2021 season might have a spot on the list when everything is all said and done.

Let’s run down that list real quick…

2001 – Obviously.

2007 – Perfect regular season, almost finished it off. Result aside it was still an undeniably historic achievement.

2011 – Largely has Billy Cundiff to thank, but got that team to the Super Bowl with receivers playing DB and if not for another absurd throw from Eli he has another ring.

2014 – As much as Matt Patricia likes to take credit for the Malcolm Butler pick, we all know why he was prepared and in the right spot to make that once-in-a-lifetime play. Don’t forget this was in the face of Deflategate too.

2016 – Of course 28-3, but more importantly Bill and Brady hated each other like poison at this point and he kept it together enough for ra fifth ring.

2018 – Same as 2016 except Brady probably wanted him dead at this point. Still, kept it together enough to get that sixth ring.

The 2003 and 2004 seasons were simply a formality with how talented that team was, that’s the only reason they weren’t on that list.

Now, the Patriots are 5-4 and only a half game behind Buffalo for first place in the AFC East. There are still plenty of boneheaded mistakes and stunning sideline communication issues – like taking a delay of game out of a TV timeout – but in terms of getting a lot of new and young guys to buy in and getting guys to play their roles to the best of their ability, this is turning into one of his finest performances.

There’s a long way to go and given that the offense still lacks some big-play capability there’s reason to still have some doubt about this team, but it’s hard to deny this collection of players in particular is drinking that proverbial Patriots kool-aid more so than many teams in recent memory.

Perhaps the best example has been Matthew Judon. Judon continues to be the voice of the locker room and he’s also leading on the field. When talking postgame, it was almost like Willie McGinest or Tedy Bruschi talking back in the 2000’s, not a free agent who’s only been here for seven or eight months.

“One game at a time. I think if you ask anybody on this team, that is how we have been taking it,” he said. “We had some tough games and we had some tough losses, but right now it is one game at a time. We have to continue to stack the wins and not get too far ahead of ourselves. We have good opponents in the next coming weeks and we have got a short week coming up. So, we have to make sure we stack these wins. It is one week at a time.”

Christian Barmore has been a dominant force and a steal in the draft for Belichick. He helped make Sam Darnold’s life a nightmare on Sunday and the young rookie acknowledged the defensive unit had a great day, but quickly went back into his version of ‘we’re onto Cincinnati’ mode.

“It was a real good day, you know what I’m saying? We’re just going to keep getting better every day, go to practice and get even better,” said Barmore.

Jamie Collins’ phenomenal, leaping interception was arguably the highlight of the game. Collins snagged a ball that was absolutely hummed by Darnold directly in front of him, but he quickly praised Belichick’s coaching for the play during his postgame availability.

“…as Bill [Belichick] says, practice execution becomes game reality and I always do it in practice,” Collins said. “Like how I said, it’s something I always do in practice. I don’t know. It’s just something about it. I always do it in practice. It just so happened to come together in the game. 

How about the rookie Mac Jones? It wasn’t his best day, but he too did enough to help the team win a third straight game. The confidence the young QB continues to show started somewhere and that somewhere was Bill deciding to go with him in the first place. Jones more than anyone has sounded like a broken record with the Patriots cliches, but it’s working for him.

“Obviously, getting a win on the road in the NFL is really hard to do and we have done a good job of that this year,” he said. “I am just proud of everybody and how they played. The defense played lights out. Definitely feel like I could do better. I just have to look at myself in the mirror and figure out what I can do better.

“But, I don’t think we quit and we just tried to play the full 60-minutes to the best of our ability. I think it’s just a great example of a good team win. The defense did expectational, so hats off to them. I am super happy for those guys, so hopefully we can just continue to play well.”

I fully acknowledge that with eight games remaining this could still all go south in a hurry, but with the win total continuing to go up and new faces, young faces and old faces all buying into the teachings of this 69-year old coach to the extent that they are, it’s getting harder to ignore how great of a job Belichick is doing.

Will it be one of his top coaching performances ever? That probably only comes with a seventh Super Bowl, but right now there’s no one I’d rather have coaching this version of the Patriots than Bill Belichick.