The clock hadn’t hit 0:00 on Sunday night before many in the press corps were falling over themselves in praise of the ‘genius’ Bill Belichick.  Despite going for it on a 4^th and 2 from his own 28 with the game on the line, many New England apologists tried to justify this decision using words such as gutsy or courageous.  The word that should be used however is idiotic.

We all know the situation and the outcome so there is no need to describe why this inexplicable call was made, but why would the so called ‘smartest man in football’ do such a thing?  In a word, arrogance.  Coach Belichick knew the situation, he knows Tom Brady is capable of getting him the 2 yards he needs to seal the game.  He also knew that Peyton Manning had been carving up his defense, the same defense that was lauded just weeks ago as returning to greatness by many of these same talking heads who are prepared to defend him for any call whatsoever.  More importantly, he knew a few simple facts that made this call quite possibly the worst he had ever made in his coaching career.  Despite giving up 379 yards at that point, he knew that while his defense had given up 4 scores, they had stopped the Colts a total of 9 times (7 punts and 2 interceptions).  In fact, it was just 3:32 earlier that they had intercepted Manning in Colts territory to set up a field goal giving them a seemingly insurmountable 13 point lead with 4 minutes to play.

This is where his ego took over.  Following the touchback, 1 first down would have sealed this game for all intents and purposes.  In the blink of an eye it’s 4^th and 2 and time to send the punt team in pin them back and play defense, the same defense we were used to hearing all night was elite and in the upper echelon of the league.  No, not the ‘mastermind’, he takes his final timeout (yet another blunder) and calls a play that doesn’t yield enough yards.  The rest is history.

Granted, many pundits have not given him the free pass.  They have discussed how it was a terrible call and the mistakes made that led to the 1 point loss.  However they fail to recognize how they got in this position in the first place.  Most notably, is how truly awful this defense is.  While the stats say they are #8 in yards per game allowed on the year, we all know how they feasted on the pathetic offenses of Buffalo, Tennessee and Tampa Bay.  Further, when they face a more dynamic offense such as Indianapolis or Miami you see the yards against rise 25% and 10% respectively.  Belichick has always been regarded as a defensive ‘genius’ first, so why this turnaround?  It appears the players are not of the same caliber, and while most were praising the moves to jettison Seymour, Vrabel and ultimately Bruschi it appears their leadership actually counted for something in the huddle.  This was a major miscalculation by Belichick.  Granted, with 2 minutes left there is no time to point fingers so instead of proving to his defense that he has the ultimate faith in them he sells them out.  And in another arrogant blunder, he assumes he can regain their trust later in the season when he will need to count on them in a crucial situation. 

Those of us who accept the reality of the Patriots winning years and are not willing to give them a free pass on Spygate realize how they have gotten to this point.  Long story short, those years of feasting on lesser opponents with a vast array of knowledge about the other teams playbook has led them to be cocky and arrogant, thus causing them to make seemingly puzzling decisions.  While the so called experts at ESPN are willing to grant a pass to their anointed savior, the fans of the Patriots may start to see an alarming trend as the years progress.  As the competition stiffens and the Patriots don’t have their pick of Grade A talent to go along with their game plans, they will fall closer to the middle of the pack.  They are lucky for now that the three other teams in their division happen to be incompetent and continue to hand New England a division title on an annual basis.

The future is not bright for this organization, and Sunday night pointed out a great many flaws in the vaunted New England empire.  The erosion of talent and arrogance on the part of the coaching staff and players will lead this team to their ultimate demise unless they realize who they are and what they have.  Much like the fall of other dynasties, the decline begins before people are ready to accept or recognize the warning signs.  I believe in this instance, the collapse has already begun.