Patriots’ way is the right way — for them
New England winning by filling spots with smart, hard-working players
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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Matt Chatham is a linebacker in his sixth year with New England, one of a number of obscure Patriots who just happen to have three Super Bowl rings.
In fact, you can argue, the only fans outside New England who know his name are the 71,525 who were at Reliant Stadium in Houston on Feb. 1, 2004. They watched him tackle a streaker who ran on the field at the start of the second half of New England’s Super Bowl win over Carolina.
Even that was overshadowed by Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction.”
But Chatham is the perfect example of why New England is seeking an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl win.
He’s started only four of the 51 games he’s played since being picked up on waivers from St. Louis five years ago. He’s a special teams star, a decent fill-in at outside linebacker, and could be tried inside to help fill the gaps left this season by the illness of Tedy Bruschi and the retirement of Ted Johnson.
“A lot of times a player has a lot of versatility. That’s really what their strength is and what their role is,” says Bill Belichick, to whom role players like Chatham can be as important to success as Tom Brady.
“If you put them in one particular spot, you might have a guy that’s better at that one thing than they are. But when you look at the player’s versatility, his intelligence, his physical skills, his ability to adapt to different situations, he just has so much value on a broad base, that’s really more valuable to your team than a guy who’s better at one individual position.”
In other words, Belichick knows it takes 53 players to win three Super Bowls, not 22 (or 23 counting Adam Vinatieri). And the Patriots build their roster that way, not by accumulating stars, as Dan “The Fan” Snyder has done in Washington while missing the playoffs for five straight seasons.
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Chatham, who will make $540,000 this year for running under kicks and filling in, knows that.
“I probably could have gone somewhere else and competed for a starting position, maybe made a little more money,” he says. “But I love it here. The winning, the things we learn, just the way the team keeps functioning.”
The Patriots are unique — their record says that. That’s why Brady re-signed for less than market value and Roman Phifer, a 37-year-old journeyman linebacker, waits at home, keeping in shape to see if he’ll be called back to help fill the Bruschi-Johnson gap. Phifer, who has 14 NFL seasons behind him, has spent many of them in Belichick’s system and will be ready, if needed.
Of course, there is luck involved in their success. They are among 32 teams who passed continually on Brady before he was drafted in the sixth round in 2000, the 199th player taken.
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Belichick, personnel director Scott Pioli and the rest of the scouts and coaches involved in the draft defy conventional wisdom with a unique rating system. It lists players not in order of their overall ability but in order of their value to the Patriots. Thus Dan Koppen, a center from Boston College, was ranked 18th overall on the Patriots’ board in 2003, but lasted until the fifth round, 164th overall.
Since then, he has started 31 of 32 games, plus six in the playoffs, including two Super Bowls.
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