SPORTS
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2015
7A
SUPER BOWL XLIX
Hoodie and scowl hide
coach Belichick’s impact
AP Photo/John Froschauer, File
Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider watches the second half of a presea-
son NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Seattle Aug. 22.
Manager Schneider has been
architect of Seahawks success
PHOENIX (AP) — Give
Pete Carroll the opportunity
to campaign for someone or
something he believes in and
he’ll gladly jump at the chance.
Usually it’s for a player, or
a cause. But Carroll’s drive this
year was getting recognition for
general manager John Schnei-
der, the co-architect of the Seat-
tle Seahawks’ rise who usually
tries to avoid the spotlight.
“He has just worked tire-
lessly to continue to compete,
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healthy, competitive roster,”
Carroll said. “I mean the hun-
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guys. The continuation of
that, it changed in terms of the
numbers, but the attitude, the
approach, John just continued
to battle for it.
“I don’t know how he
couldn’t be recognized with
the drafts that he’s had, with
the free agency success he’s
had, with the success of our
lower draft picks that have
come through.”
Five years after being se-
lected by Carroll to be the
second piece of the Seahawks
hierarchy, Seattle is in a sec-
ond consecutive Super Bowl
thanks largely to a roster con-
structed by Schneider. He’s
received little recognition for
what Seattle has accomplished
during his tenure and while
Schneider doesn’t care, Carroll
would like to see him honored.
“His insight and his ability
and really the creativity that he
brings couldn’t have been more
obvious,” Carroll said. “But the
rest of us, I don’t know. We’re
just playing a game and we’re
a team. But I think his situation
here really should stand out and
should be recognized.”
The 43-year-old Schneider
has not rested on what Seattle
has accomplished during his
tenure, to the point where the
Seahawks were holding pre-
draft meetings this week in
Arizona leading up to Sunday’s
game against New England.
Asked recently if he could have
imagined Seattle’s success after
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can’t look at two conference
titles and four playoff appear-
ances from a broad perspective.
“We are so focused and
consumed about getting better
in every area on a daily basis
that it has just built like that
over the years,” Schneider
said. “I know you guys have
heard me talk about being a
consistent championship-cali-
ber team. And with that comes
really tough decisions, like,
every day. Obviously, it’s what
you strive for. Everybody just
kind of knows that. We don’t
talk about it. Yeah, of course
everybody wants to be a world
champion, everybody wants
to win Super Bowls. But the
manner in which we did it was
a blast, the whole group. The
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New England Patriots
Seattle Seahawks
vs.
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OFFENSE
Total yards DYJ
Total yards DYJ
Passing
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Passing
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257.6
107.9
203.1
172.6
Postseason
314.0
First downs
5XVKLQJ
Passing
96
228
95.5
Penalty
37
Postseason
225.5
147.0
First downs
5XVKLQJ
Passing Penalty
144
160
24
Postseason
Postseason
35 4
18
1
20
15
DEFENSE
Yards allowed DYJ 344.1
Passing
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239.8
104.3
Yards allowed DYJ 267.1
Passing
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185.6
81.5
Postseason
109.5
209.0
Postseason
200.5
133.5
SCORING 33*
29.2 Points for
19.6 Points allowed
Postseason
Points for
40.0
19.0 Points allowed
24.6
Points for
15.9 Points allowed
Postseason
29.5
Points for
15.9 Points allowed
PLAY SELECTION 3&7
Regular season Postseason
Regular season Postseason
PASS RUSH
PASS RUSH
PASS RUSH
PASS RUSH
58.2 41.8
61.9 38.1
53.6 46.4
54.8 45.2
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AP
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culture that we are in is just
awesome.”
While Schneider and Car-
roll are 20 years apart in age,
they often act like brothers.
That relationship developed
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partnership when Seattle went
through hundreds of roster
transactions trying to remodel
its team. They often pull lines
from movies like “Step Broth-
ers” in meetings to lighten the
mood.
“It’s a cool relationship be-
cause John will come through
and check with coach all the
time, every move he’s going
to make. Coach will go ahead
and say ‘I agree with you,’ but
at the same time they’ll have
their differences and they al-
ways come to an agreement
and they’re always on the
same page,” said Nate Carroll,
an assistant coach for Seattle
and Pete’s son. “It’s very pow-
erful. It’s a comfortable setting
to work in. Those guys are
great.”
What Schneider has con-
structed relies on a mix of el-
ements: Hitting on gems in the
draft more often than not; dis-
covering undrafted free agents
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Ilwaco over Naselle
Ilwaco 53, Naselle 40
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combined for 35 points to help lead the Fishermen past Naselle,
53-40, in a nonleague boys basketball game Wednesday night.
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Tapio scored 14 with eight boards.
Cole Bergeson had 13 points and Conner See added eight
for Naselle.
that can contribute; and sprin-
kling in key free agents when
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structure.
Schneider knows time
is running out for having so
many key contributors play-
ing for cheap by NFL stan-
dards. Richard Sherman, Earl
Thomas, Kam Chancellor, K.J.
Wright and Michael Bennett
are all taken care of for at least
a few more seasons. But loom-
ing is an expected new deal for
quarterback Russell Wilson
this offseason.
“It presents challenges,
there is no question. We hav-
en’t sat down with his repre-
sentatives,” Schneider said.
“We are still going to be draft-
ing young players and playing
young players, so we might
not be able to dip into free
agency like you may want to
here and there or compensate
somebody else that you want
to compensate that is already
on your team. But just the fact
that we’re going to continue to
keep drafting players and play-
ing young players should help
us compensate for whatever
level of compensation (Wil-
son’s contract) is.”
PHOENIX (AP) — He’s
been called the Evil Genius,
and he’s been fined for spy-
ing on an opponent. And
now there are questions
about deflated footballs.
Any visual portrait of
Bill Belichick likely has
him wearing a hoodie —
and a scowl. Many of his
media duties are marked by
terse answers or outright
stonewalling.
All of which masks the
impact and longevity of
the New England Patriots
boss, the winningest coach
in postseason NFL history.
Belichick is about to
lead his team into its sixth
Super Bowl in 14 seasons.
No one, not Chuck Noll or
Tom Landry or Marv Levy
or Bill Walsh — all Hall of
Famers — managed that.
Since Belichick took over
the Patriots in 2000 after
a five-season flop as head
man in Cleveland, there
have been 119 coaching
changes. In the AFC East
alone, which the Patriots
have won 12 of 14 seasons,
17 coaches have come and
gone, according to STATS.
Belichick is the constant.
“I think Coach is always
pretty consistent with how
he’s dealt with our team,”
Tom Brady said. “You don’t
ride the highs and lows of
the season. Whether it’s one
win or one loss, you just try
to get better and make im-
provements, and you’ve got
to play your best at the end.
“It’s hard to make our
team. Coach Belichick puts
a lot of pressure on guys in
training camp. If you make
the team, you know that
you have the confidence
of the coaches that you can
help us win. Everybody’s
got a skill. Everybody’s
got a skill set. Whoever is
on the field has to be able
to go out there and perform
their job.”
In the face of the contro-
versies and criticisms the
Patriots have faced during
his tenure, Belichick’s ap-
proach remains the same.
Yes, he often comes off as
ornery, but that’s because
he’d rather be coaching,
rather be teaching, rather be
dissecting film.
But according to Vince
Wilfork, other than Brady
the longest-tenured Patri-
ot, Belichick has changed
somewhat. Out of neces-
sity.
“Yeah, I’ve seen the
difference in Bill in the 11
years that I have been here,
and I tell him he is getting
soft,” the defensive tackle
joked. “But this is a differ-
ent era of football now with
how the team is shaped up,
and how a lot of guys are
younger guys. You don’t re-
ally have that veteran team
that he used to have. When
I first came in the league,
he had a veteran team that
didn’t take much to get
those guys going.
“But he’s more under-
standing now. I think when
you get so used to having
AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick walks
the sidelines during the second half of an NFL division-
al playoff football game in Foxborough, Mass, Jan. 10.
a certain quality of players
and it changes, it’s hard for
you to adapt to change. And
I think Bill had to do a good
job of that ever since I’ve
been in the league because
we’ve changed so much.”
Pretty much every suc-
cessful Super Bowl coach
had to follow that path. Cer-
tainly Noll did as Pittsburgh
evolved from the Steel Cur-
tain-dominated squads to
a high-scoring bunch. So
did Landry, several times,
depending on if he had a
Doomsday Defense or a
potent attack built around
Roger Staubach.
Belichick’s first Super
Bowl team back in 2001
was fundamentally sound
on both sides of the ball,
but far more aggressive on
defense, his specialty. In-
deed, Brady was almost a
caretaker that season.
Belichick knew he had
something very special in
Brady, though, and when
the quarterback rapidly
developed, the coach loos-
ened the reins. When they
won their consecutive titles
for the 2003 and 2004 sea-
sons, Brady was a budding
star.
When Belichick recog-
nized that, he built an un-
stoppable offense around
Brady. In some ways, he
was ahead of the game,
again. While the NFL was
evolving into pass-crazy
league, the Patriots already
were there with Brady
throwing to Randy Moss
and Wes Welker.
By 2007, Brady was
the best quarterback in the
league, breaking records
and guiding New England
to a perfect regular season.
Don’t think other coach-
es around the NFL haven’t
paid attention. His coun-
terpart in this Super Bowl,
Seattle’s Pete Carroll, ac-
tually was replaced in New
England by Belichick.
“I know that when (own-
er Robert Kraft) was mak-
ing his choice to hire coach
Belichick, I had one op-
portunity to say something
to him about that,” Carroll
said. “And I thought that
was really a unique hire, a
special hire and a guy that
would really fit in well if
(Kraft) let him do what he
was capable of doing. I
think Bill is a very open,
free-thinker and a guy that
needs that kind of control to
be at his best.
“It’s worked historically
and in extraordinary fash-
ion.”
To Wilfork, nothing has
changed, yet so much has
changed.
“We were a veteran
team, (then) it was a young-
er team; at one point we
were the youngest team
in the league,” said. “So I
think he had to try to find
the identity in what works
for that team. And I think
he’s done a great job over
the years of doing that.
“But at the end of the
day, he is still Bill. He
coaches the same way. He
demands everything the
same way. But I think he’s
got a little soft heart now.
Over time, he got a little
softer, though.”
Even if he is loath to
show it publicly.
SUPER BOWL XLIX
Establishing supremacy between No. 1 seeds
The Patriots seek their fourth championship in the Brady-Belichick era. Seattle (14-4) is after a second
straight crown, the first team since New England to manage that in a decade. Of course, the Patriots
(14-4) also lost their last two trips to the big game, both to the Giants. The oddsmakers have no team
being the favorite, and that seems logical for the top two seeds.
MATCHUP/PICK
AVG. YARDS PER GAME (reg. season)
STORYLINE
This is a classic matchup: potent
offense for the Patriots, stingy
PATRIOTS 27
defense for Seattle. The Seahawks
vs.
SEAHAWKS 24 OT manhandled Peyton Manning and
the Broncos last year. They’ll need
Sunday
to be just as efficient this time
6:30 p.m.
against Brady. With New England’s
EST, NBC
ability to rally, the Seahawks
SOURCE:
recognize they can never relax.
Barry Wilner, AP
PATRIOTS
SEAHAWKS
OFFENSE
Total yards: 365.5
Total yards: 375.8
Passing
Rushing
Passing Rushing
257.6
107.9
203.1
172.6
DEFENSE
Yds. allowed
Yds. allowed
Passing
Rushing
Passing Rushing
239.8
104.3
185.6
81.5
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TODAY
Boys Basketball — Livingstone
Adventist at Jewell, 7 p.m.; Ilwaco
at South Bend, 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball — Livingstone
Adventist at Jewell, 5:30 p.m.
FRIDAY
Boys Basketball — Astoria at
Seaside, 5:30 p.m.; Oregon Epis-
copal at Warrenton, 7:45 p.m.;
Knappa at Vernonia, 7:45 p.m.
Girls Basketball — Astoria at
Seaside, 7:15 p.m.; Oregon Epis-
copal at Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Knappa
at Vernonia, 6 p.m.
SATURDAY
Boys Basketball — Delphian at
Knappa, 6:15 p.m.; Ilwaco at Life
Christian, 7:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball — Delphian at
Knappa, 4:30 p.m.; Ilwaco at Life
Christian, 5:45 p.m.
Wrestling — Ilwaco Beach
Brawl, 10 a.m.
BASKETBALL
HIGH SCHOOLS
Boys
Ilwaco 53, Naselle 40
ILW (53): Nick Griffitt 21, Tap-
io 14, Bannister 8, Sheldon 8,
Schenk 2.
NAS (40): Cole Bergeson 13,
See 8, Carter 6, Corona 4, Ed-
wards 3, Pine 3, Gudmundson 2,
Wulff 1.
Ilwaco
Naselle
11 13 16 13—53
9 4 12 15—40
Tuesday’s result
Scappoose 59, Astoria 46
AST (46): Kyle Strange 15, Fruiht
12, Jarrett 6, Palek 5, Scroup 2,
Johnson 2, Fremstad 2, Keating 2.
SCP (59): Chase Johnson 12,
Ford 11, McNabb 11, Lohman 8,
Wendelschafer 6, Marcantonio
6, Backus 3, Bird 2.
Astoria
13 10 13 13—46
Scappoose
18 15 9 17—59