Bill Belichick Cites Eisenhower: Preparation Is Everything Until Battle Starts

FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill Belichick knows that preparation isn’t even half the battle.

Belichick cited 34th President of the United States and Army general Dwight Eisenhower in his final news conference before the New England Patriots take on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. Belichick started by saying that there is a point at which he feels his team is fully prepared.

“At some point you get as far as you can go, and you want to get your team to that point, then you let the game unfold,” Belichick said Friday. “No matter how much preparation you do, it’s still going to be different in the game.

“It’s like going back to Dwight Eisenhower’s quote: ‘Preparation is everything until the battle starts and then it doesn’t mean anything.’ Then you’re reacting to what happens in the game, or in his case what happens in the battle. It’s an important part of going into it, but really once you’re in it — I mean it has relevance, don’t get me wrong. But the game becomes the game, and you gotta deal with that. I think you can only prepare to a point. Then once it starts, it’s going to change to some degree.”

Belichick didn’t nail Eisenhower’s quote exactly, but he certainly got the gist of it: “In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless. But planning is indispensable.”

One might assume that the Patriots are better prepared for this game since so many of their players have been in and won AFC Championship Games. This is the Patriots’ fourth consecutive AFC Championship Game appearance, though they haven’t won since 2011.

Belichick considers that experience a non-factor.

“Zero. I think it’s the team that plays the best,” Belichick said. “I don’t think it’s about how many All-Pros or how many playoff games. I don’t think that has anything to do with it. I’ve been on plenty of teams that didn’t have any experience and won. We could go through the league and find just as many examples of that. Zero.”

Thumbnail photo via Charles Krupa/Associated Press