Bill Belichick Has No Interest in Advance Metric Websites
By Kyle Koster
Despite my co-worker’s belief that Bill Belichick is losing his touch, there’s no argument on this point: he’s one of the best football coaches to don a hoodie. One can quibble with his methods but the results speak volumes.
Today we learned those methods don’t include visits to “advance metric websites.”
Lots to digest in Bill Belichick morning presser. Belichick was asked about advance metric websites. "What the hell is that?" he responded.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) November 18, 2016
"You can take those advance websites and metric them with whoever you want. I've never looked at 1. Wouldn't care to look at 1" - Belichick
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) November 18, 2016
His statements are the latest chapter in a what has been a complicated public relationship with numbers. Belichick holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wesleyan University. He’s on the record as a reader of David Romer’s academic paper on fourth-down theory.
On the other hand …
Belichick has also shared his misgivings about the online world, from MyFace to YourFace to InstantFace. After an internal Patriots scouting report of Johnny Manziel leaked, he referred all questions to the “geniuses online.”
It seems reasonable to suggest that some members of the New England organization consume and apply advanced metrics. It also seems reasonable that Belichick wouldn’t want to have a prolonged discussion about those figures because it might take away from CINCINNATI or SEATTLE or whomever is on the schedule on Sunday.