What to expect from Pioli: Explaining the "Patriot Way"

[OnTheWarpath15]

Since there's been so much talk about what to expect from Pioli, especially regarding the draft, I thought I'd share some excerpts from the book "Patriot Reign" in which author Michael Holley is given 2 years of access to all parts of the organization.

It's a really good read for those of you who want to see how a championship organization is built.

Belichick and Pioli have a "manual" that they abide by regarding the organization.

Part of this manual is expectations for their QB:

1) Be the mentally toughest and hardest working player on the team.

2) Be able to take a big hit, and then walk into the huddle and call the next play.

3) Have his head screwed on straight enough to handle all the pressure and scrutiny to which all NFL QB's are subjected. (A Ryan Leaf fiasco can cripple a franchise for years - "You couldn't get anyone to say anything nice about Leaf when he was leaving," Pioli said. "His teammates were happy to see him leave Washington State. He was an asshole.")

4) If you want to know who the good QB's are, watch the passes they complete under a heavy rush. Watch the 1st downs they get on 3rd and long, passing into heavy coverage. Listen to what their teammates say about them.

Regarding the combine:

The Patriots were getting a feel for the players they wanted in the draft. None was a workout star.

They liked a center from BC, Dan Koppen, who had short arms and whose forty-times averaged 5.26. They needed help on the DL, that wasn't news. But who would have guessed they were falling for the shortest lineman there? A kid from Temple named Dan Klecko that wasn't quite 5-11?

They were eyeing Asante Samuel, who was one of the lightest CB's at 185 pounds. On his strength reps, Samuel bench-pressed 225 pounds nine times, which tied for the fewest among DB's. Not good.

It wasn't about numbers and stats. The Patriots said it, and they lived it.

Regarding the draft:

They love picks. Lots of picks. They had traded Tebucky Jones to New Orleans for picks, the night befor the draft, they took one of those picks from the Saints and made a swap with the Dolphins: The Patriots 3rd round pick for the Dolphins 2nd round pick the following year.

They were going into this day with 13 picks, and the plan was not to use them all. Those picks are your passport, allowing you to go wherever you wanted. You could stalk the board, getting who you wanted, and where you wanted them.

More on the draft:

Belichick and Pioli apply a theory to the draft. Write down the names of 25 college players they wanted to see on the Patriots. Put them into two categories, 1st day draftees and 2nd day draftees. If they needed to move up they had enough capital to control the board. They had a plan to strengthen the Patriots with draft choices.

[Mecca]

Boy that sure puts a big punch to the face to anyone that thinks any QB will get hurt behind a bad line....

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Boy that sure puts a big punch to the face to anyone that thinks any QB will get hurt behind a bad line....

he said be able to take a hit not take a have to take a hit

[Direckshun]

****ing great shit, OTW. Keep it up.

[Direckshun]

By the way, speaking of the QB.

I remember when Tom Brady had to lead the Patriots on a final scoring drive in the last 30 seconds of last year's Super Bowl.

He obviously wasn't able to do it, but one thing stunned me when he tried.

On that monumental play when the rookie DT for the Giants broke through and planted Brady on his ass for a sack, Brady was literally thrown to the ground and pancaked by this 300 lb. assassin.

Brady immediately sticks his hands up, with the DT still on top of him, and calls a timeout.

That's just outstanding focus and intelligence in the most heated moment imaginable, and it's why he's perhaps the greatest of all time.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

he said be able to take a hit not take a have to take a hit

Yea and we just dealt with people running the team that felt a guy who frankly couldn't take a hit was our franchise QB...

Even QBs behind the best lines will get hit...

I also like that the Patriots built their Oline outside of the 1st round outside of 1 guy taken with the last pick of the 1st so hopefully I'll never have to hear about taking 5 lineman with 5 1st round picks again.

[MGRS13]

Originally Posted by Mecca

Yea and we just dealt with people running the team that felt a guy who frankly couldn't take a hit was our franchise QB...

Even QBs behind the best lines will get hit...

I also like that the Patriots built their Oline outside of the 1st round outside of 1 guy taken with the last pick of the 1st so hopefully I'll never have to hear about taking 5 lineman with 5 1st round picks again.

Oh come on you know you'll hear it again. Some guys on this board think we should spend the next 5 or 6 years putting together the best o and D lines in the history of the league and then and only then begin the process of finding a QB. Because you know that makes so much since. By the time that QB is really ready to play those guys on the lines will all have 1 more year to play.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

By the way, speaking of the QB.

I remember when Tom Brady had to lead the Patriots on a final scoring drive in the last 30 seconds of last year's Super Bowl.

He obviously wasn't able to do it, but one thing stunned me when he tried.

On that monumental play when the rookie DT for the Giants broke through and planted Brady on his ass for a sack, Brady was literally thrown to the ground and pancaked by this 300 lb. assassin.

Brady immediately sticks his hands up, with the DT still on top of him, and calls a timeout.

That's just outstanding focus and intelligence in the most heated moment imaginable, and it's why he's perhaps the greatest of all time.

From the book:

The "manual" began to read like Brady's biography. He was everything the Patriots wanted. "A QB for the Patriots must make the right decisions, and make them fast," reads part of the manual. "Just because a person is smart does not necessarily mean that they can make quick decisions under pressure."

[OnTheWarpath15]

One of my favorites, regarding the day following their 2001 SB win:

Belichick sat next to Pioli on the plane (back to Boston) and compared their lists for the expansion draft. Their Lombardi Trophy wasn't even 24 hours old. But shortly after takeoff, they had already begun thinking about how they could win another one.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

****ing great shit, OTW. Keep it up.

A lot of it is flat-out too much to type, because some background is needed.

But I'll post what I can.

[eazyb81]

In regards to Klecko, Koppen, Samuel, and countless others, did they go into detail on what they saw in those players that made them look past their measurables? That's great that they found some gems, but I wonder what specifically they saw that convinced them they were going to be great NFL players. For instance, Koppen had short arms, so what else did he bring to the table that made them think his short arms were being discounted too heavily by scouts?

I'm sure BB and Pioli don't go around telling their secrets on personnel evaluation, but any info on that aspect from the book would be appreciated.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

This is quite a bit different from, "It's my birthday. Can I have Brandon Carr as my birthday present?" type bullshit we've been exposed to the last few years.

EDIT: I am happy with Brandon Carr, it's the selection methodology I am disimpressed with.

Yep, and the fact that Herm keeps getting credit for our great draft, yet he has said himself that Carr was the only guy that was really "his" pick.

[OnTheWarpath15]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

In regards to Klecko, Koppen, Samuel, and countless others, did they go into detail on what they saw in those players that made them look past their measurables? That's great that they found some gems, but I wonder what specifically they saw that convinced them they were going to be great NFL players. For instance, Koppen had short arms, so what else did he bring to the table that made them think his short arms were being discounted too heavily by scouts?

I'm sure BB and Pioli don't go around telling their secrets on personnel evaluation, but any info on that aspect from the book would be appreciated.

In a word, attitude.

The idea, is that the obligations of the job - and devotion to and mastery of the job - are the player's top priority. The Patriots are attempting to stack their roster with productive players who either think that way now, or are on the cusp of a conversion.

They don't want to be paternalistic figures asking the players, "Did you put in extra film time?" They want the kind of players who want to do it without being asked.

Pioli:

My job is to find players for a HC who wants football to be the most important thing in their worlds. I believe in it.

I know your looking for something more concrete, but shy of posting the entire book, this will have to suffice.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by MGRS13

Oh come on you know you'll hear it again. Some guys on this board think we should spend the next 5 or 6 years putting together the best o and D lines in the history of the league and then and only then begin the process of finding a QB. Because you know that makes so much since. By the time that QB is really ready to play those guys on the lines will all have 1 more year to play.

Let's be honest, it's entirely possible, maybe likely, that KC will never have an OLine as good as you had in 2003'ish in the next 25 or 50 years.

That's not the goal. You don't have to have the greatest freaking OLine in history to win the SB... In fact, you mgiht spend so much effort on that that you're weak elsewhere...

You can't be GREAT at EVERY position...

[MGRS13]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

Let's be honest, it's entirely possible, maybe likely, that KC will never have an OLine as good as you had in 2003'ish in the next 25 or 50 years.

That's not the goal. You don't have to have the greatest freaking OLine in history to win the SB... In fact, you mgiht spend so much effort on that that you're weak elsewhere...

You can't be GREAT at EVERY position...

I know that, it's just some people on this board look for any excuse not to draft a qb in the first round. I can tell you if we had pro bowlers at LT,LG,C and RT there would be more then a few guys on this board that would be pissing and moaning that we can't take a QB in the first cause we HAVE to get that RG with the 1st rounder. Its really really silly. I can't tell you why they are so afraid of first round QBs but they are. It seems to have worked out pretty well for every team that made the playoffs from the AFC this year though.

[eazyb81]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

In a word, attitude.



Pioli:




I know your looking for something more concrete, but shy of posting the entire book, this will have to suffice.

Good stuff. I have a Borders gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so I'll probably go pick up the book this weekend.