Patriots players thought Belichick was crazy for taking the wind
By Josh Sanchez
Bill Belichick is a mad genius. If we weren’t already certain that the New England Patriots head coach was willing to do anything he wanted and avoid the conventional way of thought, we got confirmation on Sunday night when the Patriots took midfield for the overtime coin toss against the Denver Broncos.
It was a wild, windy day, so whenever the Patriots won the toss Belichick decided to put the ball in Peyton Manning’s hands and take the wind.
The decision was immediately questioned by everyone on Twitter, but the Patriots players were also shocked their head coach wanted them to give up the ball to start the extra time.
“We all looked at each other like he was crazy — then we all asked again and again and again,” Mankins, who is one of the team’s captains, told Comcast SportsNet’s Postgame Live. “And we just wanted to make sure we were doing exactly what he wanted.”
As far as tight end Rob Gronkowski was concerned, it was the right call and he supported the decision from his coach 100 percent.
“Great decision,” Gronkowski told WEEI. “He is our coach [and] we’re behind him with everything, especially Coach Belichick. Whatever he has, we’re behind him. So it was a great call because we won.”
Like Gronkowski said, it was the right decision because it ended up working out. If the Broncos would have taken a drive right down the field to get the win, people would have thought differently.