Lost in all the soap opera-style stories about divorces and breakups, egos and goodbyes, is this fact.
A football game will be played Sunday night.
On one sideline will prowl perhaps the greatest football coach in NFL history. A defensive genius whose gameplans reside in Canton, soon to be joined by a bust in his likeness. On the other sideline stands his former quarterback, a player that helped the coach win six Lombardi trophies. They will play in a stadium they built, in a sense, and under six banners acknowledging their shared accomplishments.
Beyond that aspect there is this: Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady know each other better than you can imagine. While Belichick made his mark as a defensive wizard, as we know from an incredible installment of the “Make Defense Great Again” podcast from Chris Vasseur, Belichick spent the bulk of his time each week not coaching up his defense, but coaching up his quarterback.
The most interesting thing from this doesn't come from me. It's from Dean Pees on @CoachVass's podcast, saying that Belichick spent most of his week's prepping Brady for defense, which i think adds another layer to the Brady-Belichick debate. pic.twitter.com/6uj06Qfk6m
— Steven Ruiz (@theStevenRuiz) November 5, 2020
That should be the major storyline of this game Sunday night. The soap opera angle, focusing on the relationship between Brady and Belichick, is interesting, but far more interesting might be how Belichick, with such a familiarity with Brady and how his former quarterback plays the game, looks to stop him on Sunday night.
Trying to get into the mind of The Hoodie is often a fool’s errand, and as someone who has carved out a little cottage industry in doing so, I know this first-hand. But here is how Belichick might try and scheme for his former quarterback Sunday night.
Also see: