One was once dubbed the Mastermind for his offensive ingenuity.
The other is the league’s reigning Genius, in part for his varied 3-4 defensive packages.
On occasion, the NFL will bring them together to match wits, and more often than not, it will be Mike Shanahan, the Broncos’ coach with the offensive bent, who will get the better of Bill Belichick, the defensive guru of the New England Patriots.
They will go noggin-to-noggin again tonight at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The rub to this one: Shanahan in some ways will try to beat Belichick at his own game.
With an offense geared off Jay Cutler’s passing and Brandon Marshall’s receiving, and a defense that has gone past the experimentation stage of the 3-4 set, the 2008 Broncos more closely resemble the 2007 Patriots of Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the Belichick principles than they do, say, the Broncos of 2006, which is the last time these two X’s and O’s minds met.
“There are similarities,” Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. “We have passed more than we have in the past. You know every coach probably looked at what made New England so successful. You’d have to be an ignorant coach to not at least look at everything they do.”
No one inside the NFL world is ignorant to what the Patriots accomplished in 2007. They not only went 16-0 during the regular season, for the longest time they obliterated opponents by whatever score they chose.
For NFL coaches, offseasons are made for film watching, and Shanahan couldn’t help but study the habits of the ’07 Pats.
“I study every offense during the offseason,” Shanahan said. “But they were off the charts. I mean, their whole offense was very good, but Tom Brady separated himself last year from the rest of the pack by how he played the quarterback position.”
The Patriots often use a three-receiver, two-tight-end, no-running-back spread offense. Brady would throw high- percentage passes down the line of scrimmage to his receivers, who would be bunched together one time, spread out another. Or he would strike a receiver zigging off another route that zagged, as if the Pats were running a basketball three-man weave with Brady at the point.
And then, as if to remind everyone that they first played the game in somebody’s backyard, Brady would exchange sophistication and precision for a chuck-it-deep heave to Randy Moss.
Belichick noticed how the Broncos, in their second game this season against San Diego, lined up with empty backfields. Cutler, who had never thrown for more than 304 yards in his first two seasons, threw for 350 yards and four touchdowns and Marshall had 18 receptions in a 39-38 shootout win.
“The Broncos have opened it up more,” said Ron Jaworski, the former quarterback and NFL analyst for tonight’s game on ESPN. “It all revolves around Jay Cutler and the fact you can do more with him. I have seen a more wide-open style, particularly in the early games before people started falling by the wayside.”
Copying what works
There has been more running back Michael Pittman and the Broncos’ trademark, play- action bootleg passes than seam-route throws to Eddie Royal and Tony Scheffler in recent weeks. But until injuries robbed Cutler of nearly all his favorite receiving targets not named Marshall, the Broncos seemed intent on duplicating the Patriots’ passing feats of last year.
“You’ve got Randy Moss and you’ve got Brandon Marshall,” Broncos slot receiver Brandon Stokley said. “Jay Cutler and Tom Brady. Everybody kind of puts me and Wes Welker together. Another thing I’ve always noticed about Belichick is he’s never shy about taking chances and going for it on fourth-and-2 in the fourth quarter.”
Shanahan is like that, too, on fourth down or even going for two. Calling the plays for the Patriots is 32-year-old offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. The Broncos rely on 32-year-old assistant coach Jeremy Bates.
Even if no copyright infringement laws were broken, there clearly are some similarities.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Shanahan said. “But we change week by week. We have a lot of different formations, shifts, running game, play action. They’re just a different style.”
Not as different as they used to be. The Broncos’ defense has also been somewhat Patriot-ized, at least in concept. The Patriots employ a more conventional 3-4 system, where the down linemen cover two gaps, while the Broncos ask their big men to cover one. But the most notable feature of the 3-4 — varying the nonlineman who becomes the fourth pass rusher on a particular play — has at least turned Shanahan, at 56, from observer to tinkerer.
“They’ve mixed that in a little bit, and they’ve mixed in kind of like a 3-2 dime where they use an odd front,” Belichick said. “Defensively, they give us some different looks. They bring them up to the line of scrimmage, they back them off, play zone, play different blitz combinations.”
Tethered to their QBs
Before everyone came to know Belichick as the brain he is today, Shanahan was the valedictorian of the NFL coaching class. John Elway never won a Super Bowl in his first 12 seasons with two coaches, then won two in four years with Shanahan.
But while Shanahan was embarking on the difficult post-Elway era beginning in 1999, Belichick drafted Brady in 2000. Hmm. Think it’s a coincidence that great coaching parallels with great quarterbacks?
Belichick has 14 postseason wins in the new millennium, including three in the Super Bowl. Shanahan has one and none.
But if football were truly a game of chess, as people say ad nauseum, Belichick would be Boris Spassky to Shanahan’s Bobby Fischer. Shanahan has won five of six games against the Belichick-Brady combination. Against everybody else during that time, Belichick is 102-26.
When these sharp coaching minds meet again tonight, Shanahan will have Cutler while Belichick counters with Matt Cassel, who became the Patriots’ quarterback following Brady’s season-ending knee injury.
Something else Shanahan and Belichick may have in common tonight: They’ll be only as smart as their quarterback plays.
Mike Klis: 303-954-1055 or mklis@denverpost.com
Genius vs. Mastermind
Patriots’ Bill Belichick vs. Broncos’ Mike Shanahan: Category Belichick Shanahan
Age 56 56
Seasons NFL head coach 14th 16th
Overall regular season 130-83 142-92
Current team 94-39 134-80
Overall postseason 15-4 (14-3 N.E.) 8-5
Super Bowls 3-1 2-0
Overall wins (NFL rank) 145 (18th) 150 (17th)
Head-to-head wins 2 5
Pro-football-reference.com/The Denver Post
