Bill Belichick won a pair of Super Bowl rings with the Giants, four years apart. He also lost a pair of Super Bowl rings to the Giants, four years apart. Now, with the Giants’ head-coaching job open and Belichick available for the couch-cushion buyout of $1 million, could Belichick return to New York?
When he was asked about the possibility on Tuesday, Belichick didn’t rule it out. And while it appears that the NFL collectively has ruled him out, it only takes one team to rule him in.
As Chris Simms pointed out during Wednesday’s PFT Live, Belichick has influence over someone in the organization. He’s believed to have been instrumental in the team’s decision to hire Joe Judge in 2020. And Belichick had early notice that the team would be hiring Brian Daboll in 2022, given that he accidentally texted congratulations to another “Brian” in his phone’s contact list.
The challenge becomes getting G.M. Joe Schoen (who’s running the search) on board with the possibility of a Big Blue Belichick reunion. Falcons owner Arthur Blank ultimately didn’t hire Belichick in 2024 after, it’s believed, an internal uprising sparked by concerns that Belichick would neutralize (if not eliminate) much of the front office.
If Belichick has been sufficiently humbled by his post-Patriots NFL snubs to embrace being the coach and only the coach, could it work?
Belichick is regarded by many as the best game-day coach in NFL history, able to whip up a game plan that will allow his specific collection of players to beat the opponent’s specific collection of players, regardless of who the opponent may be. If guardrails can be put in place to keep Belichick from throwing his weight around (and from bringing his consigliere and his creative muse along with him), maybe it could work.
The biggest red flag, frankly, is the 2022 decision by Belichick to put defensive specialist Matt Patricia in charge of the offense. As we said at the time, if any other coach had done that, the widespread reaction would have been to question the head coach’s fitness and/or sanity.
Then there’s the NFL’s dirty little secret of age discrimination. Teams routinely skew young at key positions, with notable exceptions (such as the Raiders hiring Pete Carroll in January 2025). Will the Giants think Belichick, who turns 74 in April, is too old for the job?
Still, if he’s going to coach any NFL team, the most likely team would be the Giants. As Simms speculated on Wednesday, Belichick may have spent plenty of time on Monday and Tuesday working the phones for an opportunity to return to the Giants’ organization.
Given the presence of a potential franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart, maybe Belichick could improve on his 84-104 record in games played without Tom Brady.
As long as Belichick doesn’t make a defensive coach Dart’s primary tutor.
The Falcons list 11 players out of Wednesday’s practice.
The team’s leading receiver, Drake London, didn’t practice due to an illness.
Wide receiver Jamal Agnew (foot), inside linebacker Josh Woods (hamstring), long snapper Liam McCullough (personal), inside linebacker DeAngelo Malone (oblique), defensive lineman Brandon Dorlus (oblique), edge rusher Leonard Floyd (hamstring), offensive guard Chris Lindstrom (foot), offensive guard Matthew Bergeron (ankle), defensive lineman Zach Harrison (knee) and defensive lineman Sam Roberts (knee/ankle) also were non-participants. McCullough was absent for the birth of his first child.
Cornerback Dee Alford (concussion), cornerback Mike Hughes (neck), inside linebacker Malik Verdon (shoulder) and left tackle Jake Matthews (rest) were limited.
Defensive lineman LaCale London (shoulder) was a full participant.
The Falcons also announced offensive tackle Storm Norton (foot) reverted back to injured reserve, ending his season after his 21-day practice window closed without the team activating him.
Malone will head to injured reserve with a significant ankle injury, coach Raheem Morris said.
Panthers running back Rico Dowdle did not practice on Wednesday.
It’s the second straight week that Dowdle has missed the first practice session of the week with a quad injury. He returned to practice on Thursday last week and scored a touchdown in last Sunday’s loss to the Saints. Head coach Dave Canales told reporters that the team is hoping things play out the same way heading into this week’s game against the Falcons.
The Panthers also practiced without linebacker Trevin Wallace. He left the loss to the Saints with a shoulder injury.
Safety Lathan Ransom (hand) was the other player to miss practice. Defensive lineman Derrick Brown (knee) was limited while guard Chandler Zavala (elbow) and wide receiver Brycen Tremayne (hip) were full participants.
Under the NFL’s old overtime rules, it was almost automatic that if you won the coin toss, you chose to receive the overtime kickoff: In sudden death overtime, getting the ball first was a huge advantage.
But now that the NFL has changed its regular-season overtime rules to guarantee both teams a possession, coaches appear to be evenly split on whether it’s better to kick or to receive.
There have been five overtime games in the NFL so far this season, the first year that regular-season overtime has guaranteed both teams a possession. Three times, the winner of the coin toss has chosen to kick. Twice, the winner of the toss has chosen to receive. Thanks to the referee botching the coin toss at the start of the Falcons-Colts overtime, we also know that the Colts would have chosen to receive if they had won the toss.
So of six coaches who have made a coin toss decision at the start of overtime this season, three have chosen to kick and three have chosen to receive.
The only other time the NFL had an overtime in which both teams were guaranteed a possession was in Super Bowl LVIII, after the NFL changed the postseason overtime rules. In that game, the coaches were also split: 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan won the toss and chose to receive, but Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game that if his team had won the toss, he would have chosen to kick.
After choosing to receive prior to his team’s overtime win last week, Jaguars coach Liam Coen said he thinks it’s better to get the ball first to run time off the clock. Regular-season overtime is limited to 10 minutes, and a team that gets the ball first and scores at the end of a long possession can force its opponent to go into hurry-up mode on the subsequent possession. It’s even possible for the team that receives the overtime kickoff to run the full 10 minutes off the clock and deprive the other team of an overtime possession altogether.
The major advantage to kicking off at the start of overtime is that the team with the second possession knows what it has to do: If your defense forces a stop, you know you only need to settle for a field goal on offense to win the game. If your defense gives up a field goal, you know you need a touchdown to win or a field goal of your own to extend overtime. If your defense gives up a touchdown and extra point, you know you can win the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion. Knowing exactly what you need helps in your play-calling and fourth down decision-making.
The overtime rules are new, and five overtime games isn’t a large enough sample to draw any definitive conclusions about which strategy is superior. NFL coaches certainly haven’t drawn any definitive conclusions. They’re split 50-50.
The fans in Germany were treated to a highly entertaining early game on Sunday, with the Colts coming out on top 28-25 in overtime.
Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was the star of the show, carrying 32 times for 244 yards and three touchdowns, including the overtime game-winner.
It was a wild, back-and-forth battle that saw the teams trade touchdowns and the Falcons take a late fourth-quarter lead, only to have Colts kicker Michael Badgley hit a field goal with 25 seconds left in the fourth quarter to tie the game 25-25 and send it into overtime.
After the referee initially botched the overtime coin toss, the Falcons eventually won the re-flip and elected to receive, but their offense couldn’t move the ball and punted after the opening possession. From there the Colts marched the ball down the field, with Taylor doing the bulk of the work and reaching the end zone to win it.
Falcons wide receiver Drake London had 104 receiving yards in defeat, and running backs Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier both played well. But Michael Penix struggled with his accuracy and couldn’t move the Falcons’ offense consistently enough.
The Colts improve to 8-2 and remain very much in contention to earn home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Falcons fall to 3-6 and are falling out of the NFC South race.
