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Super Bowl 49 from A to Z

By Will Osgood

Jan 22, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; General view of the NFL Experience at the Phoenix Convention Center in advance of Super Bowl XLIX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 22, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; General view of the NFL Experience at the Phoenix Convention Center in advance of Super Bowl XLIX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 18, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (right) holds up the Lamar Hunt Trophy as he is interviewed after the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 18, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (right) holds up the Lamar Hunt Trophy as he is interviewed after the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports /

B

Bill Belichick

PSA: We are not speaking of “deflategate” in this slide. Instead, we will focus on the brilliance of Bill Belichick, who by earning his sixth trip to the Super Bowl in 15 years as the head coach of the Patriots, has probably earned the right to be considered the best NFL coach of all-time.

I placed him third in my NFL coach power rankings back in December.

Mr. Hoodie is 175-65 (.729 winning percentage) in 15 regular seasons coaching the Patriots, and 211-109 (.659) for his career when adding in his five seasons coaching the Cleveland Browns before Art Modell up and moved them to Baltimore.

Belichick is the stereotypical football lifer, who sleeps nights on a couch in his office and works 20 hours a day. Even at 63, he appears to be the do-it all, take charge, control freak who essentially coaches both sides of the ball AND runs the Patriots’ personnel department.

Though he never coached a game for them, Belichick, like his opponent in the game, Pete Carroll, was employed by the New York Jets as head coach in a truly odd situation, which probably needs its own ESPN 30 for 30.

Brady, Tom

As with Pete Carroll, and some of the other great storylines and characters in this game, I’ll assume you know the story of the meteoric rise of Tom Brady from Michigan co-quarterback in his senior year to 10-time Pro Bowl QB and two-time All-Pro.

Of course, he has been the starting quarterback in all six Super Bowl appearances that the Patriots have made under Belichick. Together, they won the first three, and have lost the past two.

He is fifth all-time in career passing yards with 53,258 and also fifth in career touchdown passes. In both categories he trails a short distance behind Drew Brees—a fellow Big Ten quarterback who came into the league in the same season (interestingly he’s also fifth in career passes completed, again trailing, you guessed it, St. Drew).

Brady has been credited with four playoff comeback wins and seven game-winning drives, according to Scott Kacsmar of Pro-Football-Reference.

Next: A coach, player & team highlight letter C

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