New England Patriots

Super Bowl 51: Bill Belichick, Patriots Come Full Circle

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:11 p.m. ET

Fansided, Russell S. Baxter/FanSided via NFL Spin Zone

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is back in the Super Bowl. This meeting with the Atlanta Falcons should bring back memories.

Talk about things coming full circle. As we are all well aware of by now, the New England Patriots will square off against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium in Houston. Meanwhile, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will get an opportunity to revisit the kind of matchup that he was known for many moons and Lombardi Trophies ago.

Let’s go back to the end of the 1990 season as Bill Parcells’ New York Giants were getting ready to to try and defuse the powerful offense of the Buffalo Bills. Meanwhile, Belichick was an assistant on that team. As you will recall, New York used a ball-control attack to keep Jim Kelly and company off the field. Meanwhile, when the Bills did have the ball, the Giants punished Andre Reed and his receiver mates off their lines. As for the results that day? The Giants defied the odds in a 20-19 upset win in Super Bowl XX.

Hence, fast forward through numerous stops for Belichick, including five years as head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Later, there were assistant stints under Parcells with the Patriots and New York Jets. In 2001, in his second season as the sideline boss of the Pats, he guided an unlikely bunch. Once again, the challenge in the Super Bowl was slowing down a potent offensive attack. All told, New England defenders would go on to punish Kurt Warner and the St. Louis Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” in a 20-17 victory.

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However, the script flipped and it was Belichick that is in possession of the seemingly-unstoppable attack in 2007. Tom Brady threw 50 touchdown passes (23 to Randy Moss) and only eight interceptions. Meanwhile, the Patriots scored a then-record 589 points (still second all-time). However, it was actually the pass rush of the New York Giants that was the deciding factor in Big Blue’s stunning 17-14 win.

To prove it wasn’t a fluke, Tom Coughlin’s defense held New England in check in a 21-17 triumph in Super Bowl XLVI. That season, the 2011 Pats scored an impressive 513 points. Once again, the team with the better defensive effort triumphed on Super Sunday.

On Feb. 5, it’s Belichick’s Patriots vs. Dan Quinn’s Atlanta Falcons for all the NFL marbles. While the former was allowing a league-low 250 points, the Falcons were racking up 540 points—tied for the eighth-highest total in league annals. And in case you felt that was a fluke of sorts, Atlanta put a combined 80 points on the board in their two playoff wins.

Once again, it’s that irresistible force vs. that immovable object kind of game on Super Sunday. On the other hand, who better to be involved than a man who has coached both the irresistible and the immovable on this very stage?