Word: belichick
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...same star treatment will be given to the New England Patriots' Bill Belichick and the Carolina Panthers' John Fox during Sunday's Super Bowl XXXVIII, in Houston. Fox may try to mute the two coaches' importance--"He and I aren't going to play a single snap"--but he can hardly be modest about his achievement since taking the Panthers' reins early in 2002. No other NFL team has gone from a 1-15 season to the Super Bowl in just two years. Underdogs all this season, the Panthers relied on an insistent running game and a demolishing defense. They...
...paternal goodwill with a physical (read: brutal) defensive strategy and made no-names like quarterback Jake Delhomme and wide receiver Steve Smith into overachievers. "He's not a rah-rah guy," says ABC commentator and Super Bowl coach John Madden, "but he's a lot more rah-rah than Belichick. He's in the middle of the rah-rah scale...
Madden recalls Belichick when the Pats guru was a defensive coordinator for Parcells: "He could act like a mad scientist, locking himself in a room, drawing up defenses." That didn't suit Belichick for the p.r. functions of a head coach, and he failed in a stint at Cleveland. He's still ill at ease in press conferences, but he has a lighter side. Quarterback Tom Brady, another no-namer promoted to Super Bowl glory when the Pats took it all in 2002, insists his coach is "very witty, very intelligent." Asked for a few gems of Belichick stand...
...Belichick's aggressive management style pays dividends. "The players say we're not on a 14-game winning streak," says Pats owner Robert Kraft. "We're on 14 one-game winning streaks. That's a reflection of Bill's attention to the task at hand." Wide receiver Dedric Ward calls Belichick "the wizard, a guy you never see but know he always has a hand in what's going on." Says a colleague: "He's thinking about the next game plan as soon as he's on the plane. Everyone else has to take a nap, or is all about...
...Gandalf type, Belichick has a wild side, sort of: he's a fan of the band Bon Jovi. At a concert, the coach will stand for hours in driving rain, hands clapping, feet tapping. Says Jon Bon Jovi: "The guy has as much fun as he can without falling down. He's so self-deprecating. I'll congratulate him on a good job, and he'll say, 'Yeah, right, it's no big deal,' and I'm like, 'Christ, Bill, take a bow once in a while...