I recently had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Terry Bradshaw and Jimmy Johnson, and I compiled their answers to the five most interesting questions posed during the call. Among other things, they discuss the Patriots’ place in history, how they would game plan against New England and reflect on what happened to the Packers in the NFC Championship Game.
Last year we had the gentile coaches in Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy, and this year we have two grumpy old men in Tom Coughlin, the tough disciplinarian, and Bill Belichick, who can be kind of ornery. Can you compare these two guys and their methods?
Jimmy Johnson: I think with Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin, you see a certain image on television…but I don’t know that their personas are actually what they portray. I know Bill Belichick much better than I do Tom, but [Bill] is an outstanding good person one-on-one. He’s jovial. He’s got funny stories, and so he’s got a great personality. And I’m sure Tom is the same way.
Terry Bradshaw: One of the things that I think is very apparent as far as both coaches. One is schematics, and I thought that Belichick’s change in his offensive philosophy this year, whether it was dictated by the Indianapolis Colts and the rules changes…He realized that he had a great quarterback and that he needed to get him some more weapons, so he brings in [Donte] Stallworth, he brings in Randy Moss and he brings in [Wes] Welker, and changes from more of a ball control, short-striking team. He opened his offense up and became a passing offense in an area of the country where that’s very hard to do…I applaud Belichick for seeing that and changing the way he approached his offense based on the guy he had throwing the football.
Coughlin, conversely, wasn’t so much schematics as it was the fact that, prior to the season, you heard all the players say that he had become more open to suggestions. He had opened up his ears, and was listening to them. He became more approachable, while still being firm. You can see now the results…Rules are good and their important and you need to be enforcing them because athletes want that.
When you look back on the NFC Championship, how are you going to remember that game – why the Giants won or why the Packers lost?
TB: I thought that, in the second half, Green Bay wasn’t nearly as effective. Brett [Favre] didn’t throw the ball nearly as well, and almost lost his patience a little bit it looked like to me…It was a classic case of a young quarterback in [Eli] Manning, rising to the occasion, when the thinking was…when Eli gets into a big situation he throws a pick or he can’t deliver. Howie [Long] had stated that the New England game was a defining moment in Eli’s career, then he wins on the road at Tampa, he wins on the road at Dallas, playing big in both games. And, last week, I was watching him warm up and I was amazed at how well he was throwing the football with no glove on.
Green Bay let the Giants hang around, and the Giants played with – I asked Pam Oliver, “You were around these guys, what was their attitude?” She said, “They are loose.” And that was the best news I heard because you cannot play those big games uptight. The Giants earned that victory at Green Bay.
Another thing that puzzled me…I was surprised that at Green Bay, there was no home field advantage, when you have weather like that and Green Bay is [practicing] inside and the Giants are [practicing] in 20-degree weather outside. To me, that neutralized home field advantage because they were both going to walk out into that weather for the first time together.
JJ: I don’t know that they had a home field advantage, and I expected them to have a home field advantage. I understand that New York is in cold weather as well, but being in that setting, you would think that Green Bay kind of had a little something special – “Hey, we’re in Packer football weather” – and that didn’t show up…When you have two talented teams, the team that makes the most mistakes, there the one that’s going to come up short. Green Bay made more mistakes and made a critical mistake there at the end of the game, in overtime. They didn’t run the ball, they only had 28 yards rushing. They kind of reverted back to what they had done the first few games of the season.
TB: One of the things that has stood out all year for me was how home field advantage was really not an advantage…Colts lose at home to San Diego. Pittsburgh loses at home to Jacksonville. Dallas loses at home to the New York Giants. And then Green Bay loses at home to the New York Giants. Where is home field advantage? That’s one of the things, as a player, that I so much wanted to have. I wanted to be at home because I know I’m comfortable, that the crowd is into the game and it’s an emotional lift for you. I didn’t see that this year.
It’s been quite a while since the Patriots were caught in the so-called “Spygate,” and a lot of people had strong opinions of what impact that would have and what their legacy is. What do you guys think if they do go 19-0, did they earn all of this?
TB: I don’t have any questions. No reservations. They’ve earned every game. They’ve beat the teams on the field. The Spygate from week 1 is not even a thought as far as I’m concerned…The focus should be on the incredible season they’ve had and the run that they’ve had. I’ve gone so far as to say that I love history, and to be a part of it and to witness it, to me, if they should win this, it would be one of the greatest moments of my life…
What they’ve accomplished so far, to me, is unfathomable. In today’s NFL, I don’t think anybody ever envisioned anything of what we’re witnessing today, a team to be undefeated going into the Super Bowl, with the exception of the ’72 Dolphins.
JJ: I never thought, in today’s football, that it would ever happen. And if they are to go out and win the game…I don’t think anybody’s close to them as far as the greatest coaching job and the greatest team that’s played the game.
TB: And someone tell me, is Mercury Morris moved to Europe? I have not heard from him in a while. Where is he? (laughter)
Putting your coaching hat on for a second, what have you seen with the teams that have had some success slowing down Brady and that offense, is there a common thread there?
JJ: Obviously you’ve got to get pressure on Brady. Anybody that has slowed him down at all, they had put pressure on Brady. The other thing is, they have to use some press coverage and roll up on Randy Moss and keep him in check. When Randy Moss is one-on-one and he has freedom to get off the line of scrimmage, they have put a lot of points on the board. On the other side of the ball, they’ve got to be able to run the ball, eat up the clock, go for it on fourth down a few times and put points on the board. But having done all of those things, it’s very difficult to match them point for point.
TB: Go back and look at last week’s championship game. When you have a quarterback who is so smart, and Tom Brady does a phenomenal job of recognizing the roll ups. When you go three wide receivers now, you saw in one game Welker catch 11 or 12. Then you see Randy shut out. And then you see the back go out in a wing position, so now you roll up the other way and they started hitting the running back, [Kevin] Faulk out of LSU. They do such a great job of formations and there is nothing that New York can do other than take [Michael] Strahan and [Osi] Umenyiora and get pressure from the outside. Tom is not going anywhere, but his mind is so fast…He is so quick to go right to his checkdown, just like [Joe] Montana used to…He hasn’t taken big hits…
Everybody gears up to stop the guy that’s dominating. So I wouldn’t be surprised, in the draft that’s coming up, to see more AFC teams drafting more defensive backs than normal and more pass rushing specialists than normal.
Could you compare the quality of the runs, in relation to how the league was to how it is today, and when you’re evaluating great teams, what do you think the criteria should be?
TB: Runs today, because of the way the system is set up, is not something any of us expected to be a long-haul thing – maybe two or three years because teams can go out and fill a need. They can fill it through free agency. We saw that with New England – Stallworth, Welker and Randy Moss. They did a great job of using the system to benefit them…If New England wins this one, four out of the last seven, that’s just not something that I thought was going to happen.
JJ: I said before that if the Patriots are successful in the Super Bowl, they’ll be the best team that ever played for the simple reason that they’d be 19-0. Nobody’s ever accomplished that. Plus, they have beaten, I think, like eight playoff teams, so the quality of the opponent has been so good.
When you compare teams, I think you have three different eras. You have the era of the ‘50s and ‘60s. I don’t think that those teams can match up with the other two eras for the simple reason I don’t think the talent was as good as what it was in the ‘70s, ‘80s and the ‘90s. The last era is after free agency and after the salary cap…It’s really difficult to compare teams today with the dynasties of the late ‘70s, the ‘80s and the ’90 for the simple reason, back then, rookies would be on the bench for a year or two, or three years. Quarterbacks never really played right off the bat. But because of free agency and the salary cap, young players today have to play immediately…So you’re going to have more mistakes in teams today, but that’s one reason why the quality of the coaching is so special with the Patriots because they have taken new players and they have taught the system and they have been able to be successful with it.
