Belichick Going Hard at Patriots

Following the Patriots' 36-35 preseason loss to the St. Louis Rams on Thursday night, head coach Bill Belichick has not been shy when it comes to ripping into his team for their poor performance on many levels.

"He gave it to us pretty good," quarterback Tom Brady told WEEI about Belichick in their last two team meetings on Friday and Sunday. "There's always a running joke with our team, the humble pie. He was serving it on Friday. It was just what we needed. We didn't go out and play very well."

For many players, that statement is accurate. The defense was lackluster and the running game was nonexistent. But for the QB himself, Brady was quite stellar. 18-for-22 and 273 yards is pretty impressive, not to mention his 3 scoring strikes including the 65-yarder to Randy Moss. Once they found a rhythm, the passing game was mighty efficient.

Still, you almost get the feeling that Belichick wanted to disrupt their rhythm at times. On a fourth and inches from midfield, he pulled off the offense and sent out the punting unit. In what was a very uncharacteristic move for Belichick since the emergence of his high-octane offensive unit, Brady half-jokingly admitted that his coach may have had a plan to go along with that call.

"I think he wanted to do it just to yell at us," Brady said about the decision to punt the ball away. Whether it was for that reason or many other potential reasons -- I, too, believe that there may have been some agenda for doing that. He may have wanted to get more looks at the defense, which had a distinctly different style on Thursday night. Games 1 and 2, the DBs were jamming at the line and getting in the faces of receivers. This week, they were giving them 5-10 yards at the line and dropping back into coverage. My view is that Belichick wanted to get a look at guys like Devin McCourty playing strictly coverage and not being aggressive. You need to find out what different guys are capable of -- jam the line every time, and the good QBs will burn you on it. Additionally, the fact that Maroney and Taylor got no carries may suggest that this week's game wasn't an exact simulation of what the regular season gameplan will be. So, for that, I have no worries.

But regardless of the gameplan or the tactics, there were plenty of physical mistakes out there and plenty of justification for coach Belichick to rip into his squad. It's been a clear theme this season with that staff. They took down all the memorabilia of the past Super Bowl championship teams in New England. He's serving the humble pie, reminding his guys that they aren't entitled to greatest by dawning the uniform -- they have to earn the privilege to dawn the uniform and work even harder to find that greatness.