Former New England Patriots coach Invoice Belichick going to the Atlanta Falcons seems like Darth Vader serving to Luke Skywalker take down the Emperor and serving to the Rebels defeat the Empire in Return of the Jedi.
Belichick, the co-architect to all of Falcondom’s ache, has officially interviewed with the franchise for its head coaching vacancy, and there is word that interest is mutual.
Falcons proprietor Arthur Clean hasn’t tried to cover that he’s taken with touchdown Belichick to steer his staff after firing Arthur Smith earlier this month. The Falcons have been the principle staff hooked up to Belichick when it comes to outward curiosity, and it seems like, if Belichick needs the job, he’ll get it.
Clean has tried chasing a training legend earlier than in Invoice Parcells, Belichick’s mentor who famously spurned Blank and the Falcons at the last moment to join the Miami Dolphins in 2007.
That call finally labored out in Atlanta’s favor, because the staff succeeded in hiring Mike Smith as its coach and drafted quarterback Matt Ryan with the third-overall decide within the following 12 months’s NFL Draft. Thank the soccer gods for unanswered prayers.
Belichick will doubtless retire as the best NFL coach of all time, having led the Patriots to a staggering six Tremendous Bowls and numerous different achievements. He’s additionally coming off a largely awful stretch with New England within the post-Tom Brady period.
Who would any NFL staff get in hiring Belichick: the world-demolisher who gained six championships and will actually beat any staff or the veteran coach who struggled with buying expertise and choosing the right quarterbacks and assistant coaches to maintain his franchise afloat after Brady left?
It’s the grandest query of the NFL teaching cycle. Belichick remains to be a gifted coach and might subject a ferocious protection wherever he lands. It’s the whole lot else, the failures of the latest Patriots and the shortcoming to discover a correct successor for Brady, that makes you query if he may also help a staff just like the Falcons that want an offensive revival and a brand new quarterback.
The 28-3 jokes are what they’re. Belichick’s Patriots delivered probably the most embarassing loss in Tremendous Bowl historical past to the Falcons in 2017, and the franchise has by no means absolutely gotten over that devastating defeat. Atlanta hiring Belichick could be deeply ironic for that cause alone, however it’s not the principle difficulty to give attention to if you actually dive deep into if this might actually work.
The true query that befalls the Falcons particularly is that if Belichick can resolve the franchise’s particular issues: to discover a quarterback of the longer term, to seek out the appropriate offensive thoughts to ignite a sleeping big, to show the franchise how one can constantly end shut video games, to unlock a significant go rush.
Belichick’s expertise and soccer thoughts would possibly higher match a franchise just like the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, groups with options at quarterback and extra accomplished rosters prepared for significant competition. Even groups just like the Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders have higher options at quarterback (Justin Herbert, a top-two draft decide) than Atlanta.
Nonetheless, the Cowboys and Eagles nonetheless have coaches proper now, and the Falcons could be the staff most keen to offer Belichick no matter he needs. Firing Smith signaled partly that Clean needs to win as quickly as potential, and hiring Belichick could current (in principle) the clearest path to take action. It could possibly be a serious gamble that pays off in an enormous means.
Nonetheless, it may additionally be an actual catastrophe, the Falcons touchdown a longtime coach whose strengths don’t actually match with Atlanta’s largest wants.
If Belichick is the one to lastly carry a Tremendous Bowl to Atlanta, it’d be one of the vital fascinating full circles in league historical past. It’d be the teaching transfer of many offseasons.
If he’s yet one more misstep for a franchise that’s had its truthful shares of these in latest reminiscence, it’d sting much more contemplating the historical past that Belichick would carry with him. No strain, proper?