Parcels or Belichick?

by Brady's Revenge on Feb 5, 2010 10:38 PM EST Comment 14 comments

Is it possible that Bill Parcels had a more profound impact on the direction of the Patriots organization than Bill Belichick? From 1989 to 1992, the Patriot coaching carousel was spinning faster than ever, churning out three different coaches in four years. The Patriots endured 1-15 and 2-14 losing records and had not made the playoffs since there Super Bowl loss in 1986. They were in dire need of a coach who could stabilize this team from its losing ways and Bill Parcels was that man. He brought attitude, style, swagger, and credibility to a team that needed to forge new paths of winning traditions. Parcels only had two winning seasons of four year tenure, but instilled a direction for this teams winning success for years to follow. When comparing the draft from Parcels era with that of Belichick's, doesn't it seem clear that he had just as big of an impact in helping this organization move forward? Now I know that when all is said and done all that matters is the rings, and Parcels did not deliver. Parcels only drafted 40 players during his reign to Belichick's 89, but comparing the quality of players he brought in through the draft seems just as equal. So tell me Patriots Nation who would you give the edge, Parcels or Belichick?

QB Bledsoe vs. Brady
DE Seymour vs. McGinest
G Mankins vs. Rucci
LB Banta-Cain, Mayo vs. Slade, Johnson, Bruschi
RB Maroney vs. Martin
T Light vs. Lane
WR Branch, Givens vs. Brown, Glenn

The views expressed in these FanPosts are not necessarily those of the writers or SBNation.

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tough call as to who has had a "bigger" impact

But I fully agree with you; I don’t think the Patriots get to where they are now without either of these coaches. Also don’t overlook Kraft’s influence as well — while he and Parcells may have been at odds at the end of the Tuna’s tenure, as a fan, I will take his ownership of the team any day to the mess that preceded him.

by jctsai12 on Feb 6, 2010 1:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I Agree

I wanted to take out ownership and the fact that Bill has traded a good amount of his picks during his tenure and only concentrate on the talent of the draft picks choosen.

by Brady's Revenge on Feb 6, 2010 8:31 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

gotcha

Well, in your choice of picks, I’d go with:

Brady (B)
McGinest (P)
Mankins (B)
Slade, Johnson, Bruschi (P)
Martin (P)
Light (B)
Brown, Glenn (P)

So I guess I wind up on the Parcells’ side of the ball in terms of picks only for these big ones. I’d have to take a harder look at the mid-tier draft picks to really figure out where I stand overall.

by jctsai12 on Feb 6, 2010 10:39 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Why are you only limiting it to the draft?

Belichick is the undoubted master of running the gamut of trades/free agency/drafting in a salary-cap era. Drafting can work – the Colts and Steelers draft most of their players and do pretty well. But wangling great trades and free agent deals kinda helps, too. So why limit it to only drafting? It’s rather arbitrary, especially when Hoodie has wangled trade deals for very, very good players in exchange for draft picks. Randy Moss for what, a 5th round draft pick? Wes Welker for a 2nd and 7th? Umm. Yeah. Slightly better receivers than Terry Glenn, you know. Curtis Martin was a pretty good RB, but Corey Dillon broke the Pats records and won a Superbowl, and he was another guy who was gained via a trade-for-draft-pick.

Why ignore free agent signing? How about turning Mike Vrabel from an also-ran LB in Pittsburgh into a Pro Bowler in NE? He’d rate higher than Ted Johnson in “LBs of the decade” voting. Rosie Colvin had his moments, as did Stallworth, Gaffney, etc.

Merely limiting it to draft picks when Hoodie is prone to either trading down for roster-fillers or trading them out for very servicable players is a little artificial. Maybe if you’re included Randy Moss or Wes Welker or Corey Dillon as ‘draft choices’, it’d look a little less contrived.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.

by Comedic.Sans on Feb 6, 2010 5:32 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

Your Missing My Point

We all know the tendencies of Belichick when it comes to draft day, trade up and get more value for your picks while adding more picks for the future. We all agree on that and that he has made some wonderful trades with his picks to help out this team. I was strictly going with the talent chosen with his draft picks, nothing more than his pure skills of choosing and evaluating players. I wanted to stick with the draft.

by Brady's Revenge on Feb 7, 2010 7:11 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Why, though?

That’s like saying “your job consists of x, y and z, but for the sake of comparing you to some other coach, we’re only going to look at x. No real reason, but we feel like it”.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.

by Comedic.Sans on Feb 7, 2010 10:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Yes

I felt like writing about the talent of drafting both coaches have done for this organization. Who has drafted better, that’s all!

by Brady's Revenge on Feb 8, 2010 5:50 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think it's a legitimate comparison...

…to see how our scouting division works. As a whole, I’d say that Belichick has done a better job of the Patriots organization. When it comes to pure drafting and evaluating of college talent, that’s up in the air.

by Richard Hill on Feb 8, 2010 9:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

In that case, though...

do you include the pure players-for-draft-pick trades? It only seems fair to me to include them – Belichick weighed up whether Moss would contribute more than a 5th rounder WR and pulled the trigger; likewise for Welker.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.

by Comedic.Sans on Feb 9, 2010 1:06 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs