Doug Flutie had seen it all by the time he joined the New England Patriots in 2005, but even he was taken aback by Bill Belichick’s genius.
The Patriots served as the final stop of Flutie’s 21-year professional career. The Boston College product appeared in five games in New England that season while serving as Tom Brady’s backup, with his lone highlight being the infamous drop kick he executed in the Patriots’ regular-season finale.
During an appearance Monday on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Flutie shed light on his experience playing under Belichick. While the Patriots coach is renowned for being mum during media availabilities, it’s clear there’s a method to the madness.
“The thing that amazed me was the amount of information Bill would take in early in the week to prepare his game plan,” Flutie said. “He has people reading every article. Every comment that comes from an opposing locker room gets read, filtered through. The amount of information you can pick up from all the interviews the other players are doing — the things they say about a game plan, they don’t mean to be telling it. But there is a lot of information that’s given away. That’s why Bill Belichick is the most boring interview in the country. Bill is not going to give you one thing. He’s gonna get on top of his guys not to say a word. Be generic, be bland, don’t give away information because there’s a ton of information to be given away. It amazed me, in their scouting reports and in their game plans, how detailed they could be and how right on they could be because of information that came out of a press conference.”
Belichick truly never leaves a single stone unturned, and his unmatched preparation has helped pave the way for six Super Bowl championships in the last 17 years. Candor shouldn’t be completely condemned, but maybe opposing teams should start being a little more tight-lipped.
