"Oh, [expletive] you, Mason. Just [expletive] you," Belichick was seen saying in 2009 to veteran wide receiver Derrick Mason in Bill Belichick: A Football Life. "Why don't we talk after the game, all right? Just shut the [expletive] up. … Can you look at the scoreboard?!"
The moment captured only about 10 seconds or so of Belichick's Hall of Fame career, but it was one of the many glimpses into the coach and the man that we were all shown for the first time on Thursday night. The documentary was built up for weeks upon weeks, yet somehow, it was as good — if not better — than advertised.
That's not often the case with such media hype, but there's just no denying how great the documentary was. With Belichick mic'd up for the entire 2009 season, the folks at NFL Films had the unenviable task of chopping six months of footage into two hours, blending off-the-field footage of the man while still piecing together a cohesive story of the football season. We're halfway through that tale, but so far, they've done a masterful job.
From a pure football standpoint, it was just excellent. From a Belichick fascination standpoint, it was just as good.
Football-wise, there was almost too much to digest in one hour. There was his one-on-one meeeting with Tom Brady, specifically so the two could game-plan for Ravens safety Ed Reed. Minutes later, you saw the plan come to fruition, when Brady beat a blitzing Reed for a touchdown. You saw Belichick preparing his coaches for an early-season meeting with the Jets, and the head coach knew exactly what the Jets were going to try to do. He told his coaches that the Jets would attack the seam with their X receiver and that Darrelle Revis would take the deep ball away from Randy Moss. Despite his warnings and preparation, his coaching staff and players didn't get the job done.
That alone was one of the more interesting aspects of the entire film. A longstanding debate in New England has always been whether Brady or Belichick is most responsible for the dynasty. That one loss to the Jets provided evidence that it takes both, plus more. A head coach can be a "genius" or a "mastermind," but unless he can prepare 53 players and an entire staff of assistants, it won't matter.
It wasn't all X's and O's and game plans; some of it was as simple as the coach being a coach. In Brady's first regular-season action since his devastating knee injury the year before, Belichick approached his quarterback on his way off the field and told him, simply, to relax and step into his throws. One of the greatest quarterbacks of all time normally wouldn't appreciate such advice, but after a little fighting, Brady realized his coach was right. That game ended with a patented, fourth-quarter comeback for Brady.
You also got a glimpse of Bill Belichick, the football fan. He's never made any secrets about which opposing players he respects the most, as he sometimes can sound like an agent trying to boost his client's credentials at some of his news conferences. Reed has always been one such player who's been on the receiving end of Belichick's praise many times, and seeing the coach interact with the safety wasn't all that dissimilar to a teenage girl meeting Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber.
"You are the best free safety that's ever played this game that I've seen," Belichick told Reed on the field before the game. "You're awesome."
"You're awesome."
A then-57-year-old man who had worked in professional football for three decades went up to a player and said, "You're awesome." That tells you as much about Belichick as you may ever need to know.
But the documentary, of course, went much deeper than the football field. He was funny, reflective and witty. He is dedicated to teaching the intricacies of the game to his son, Brian, just as his father, Steve, did for him. He's a leader who trusts enough in his assistants to carry out a game plan, but isn't afraid to tear into them when things go wrong.
He's also not afraid of offending an entire city.
"The only thing I can cheer for in Philadelphia is the national anthem," he muttered to Brady before a preseason game.
The most surprising part of the debut, though, came in the film room. Belichick tore into his team while going over film, but it wasn't for missing an assignment or a block. It was, of all things, for not celebrating enough.
"You should be excited when you make a play," Belichick told his team. "Hell, look at all the work you put into it, all the time you spent in practice. You should be excited about it, and your teammates should be excited, too."
This was a never-before-seen look at Belichick the motivator, the man who understands that to connect with his players, it takes a whole lot more than strategy and play calls. He recognized that his team may have gone 11-5 the previous season, but he knew there was a missing spark, an extra gear that is necessary for a team to rally together and win football games. It was something he tried to address from the very get-go of the 2009 season.
He was back at it later in the year, when he berated the entire team for its lack of big plays. He pointed out that the Patriots were the only team in the league to not have a pass play of 40-plus yards or a run play of 20-plus yards.
The next game, they beat the Titans 59-0. The first thing he said to his player in the locker room: "Can't say anything more about no big plays."
And he didn't have to. He had taken his own advice, which he has dished out for decades — he did his job.
Part 2 will air next week, and we'll get inside access to the decision-making process behind fourth-and-2 in Indianapolis, presumably a look at Belichick's decision to punish players for showing up late during a snow storm and a brutal and disappointing ending to the season with a blowout loss to Baltimore.
More than all that, though, we'll get more glimpses into the man behind the legend, as it's a rare look at history as it happens. It's inside access to the man who already ranks as one of the best coaches in the history of the game, and it's truly a one-of-a-kind documentary.
And hopefully, we'll get to see a little more of that trash talk.
Screen shot: NFL Films
