Bill Belichick confirms he’ll be more involved with defense

Speaking to Willie McGinest, Bill Belichick confirmed his intention to be more hands-on with defensive play-calling and coaching than in previous years.

The New England Patriots are well into training camp at this point, and they still don’t have an official defensive coordinator. As it turns out, however, they might unofficially have the best one in the business already hard at work on the sidelines.

Head coach Bill Belichick, who cut his teeth working as a defensive assistant and then eventual coordinator for the New York Giants in the 1980s, has seemingly been poised to resume his old for months now. Ever since de facto coordinator Brian Flores left to take the vacant head coaching job with the Miami Dolphins – and then longtime friend and associate Greg Schiano abruptly left the Patriots to focus on his faith and family – there has been a noticeable void at the position in New England.

Some had wondered if perhaps longtime player and now first-time coach Jerod Mayo might be considered for the role. The truth is, as talented and intelligent as Mayo is, he’s still too green-around-the-gills for such an important responsibility. As the current inside linebackers coach, he’s been given opportunities throughout Patriots OTAs and now in training camp to call plays in to the middle linebackers, so it stands to reason that if he continues to show promise in his present role, he could eventually be groomed to take over the coordinator role in some capacity.

Until that point in time, though, it seems there will not be a defensive coordinator for the Pats this season – officially or unofficially – as Belichick himself will take the reins. He confirmed as much during a recent interview with the NFL Network’s Willie McGinest, cited here by Boston.com’s Hayden Bird.

“I think I’ll be more involved this year defensively than I was in recent years,” Belichick told his former player. “Although I’ve always tried to be involved in all aspects of the game, especially the defensive side of the ball. But this year it will be a little bit more, but I’m enjoying it and eventually I’ll have less of a role. For right now, just to try and get things underway this year, I’ll try to be as involved as I can.”

Belichick’s defense looks positively loaded in 2019, with most of the same players returning from last year’s team that so effectively neutralized the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53.

"“I think we have a good group, we’ll see what we can do this year. I like the way they work, I like the way they communicate. It’s a smart group. We have good size, we’re tough, we seem pretty aware, so hopefully we can play well together and if they get any kind of good coaching, they’ll probably be alright.”"

The future Hall of Fame coach spending more time with his defense and special teams players than his offense is certainly nothing new.

It helps when your offensive coordinator is the brilliant and innovative Josh McDaniels, a perennial head-coaching candidate with a proven track record for making the scoreboard light up any given Sunday in favor of New England. It also helps to have Tom Brady as your starting quarterback, the ultimate veteran who at this point in his career has seen just about everything there is to see on an NFL football field.

Still, it will be interesting to try and track just how different things look during games with Belichick verbally confirming his intentions to ramp up his personal involvement with defensive coaching and play-calling this season.