Patriot Reign: Bill Belichick, The Coaches, And The Players Who Built A Champion (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
The nonfictional sports book, Patriot Reign by Michael Holley, is an informational book about the up and coming New England Patriots. Bill Belichick was hired to be the head coach of the New England Patriots in 2000. He took over for Pete Carroll, who was the head coach for two seasons. He had a team with a losing record and would not be expected to win a Super Bowl. The New England Patriots were a team that was full of players that did not play to their full potential and were overpaid. Bill Belichick turned this football organization around. Bill Belichick would eventually lead this team to three Super Bowl victories in his first five years as the head coach. The New England Patriots were finally competing in the National Football League (NFL). The New England Patriots were never taken lightly by any team again. The book also shows how Tom Brady became the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots. Brady was drafted in the year 2000. He became the 4th string quarterback after the draft. During the offseason Tom Brady worked extremely hard and became the 2nd string quarterback after 2001 training camp. During the 2001 season, Drew Bledsoe was injured and Brady became the starting quarterback and has been ever since. The book also goes into how Bill Belichick and his coaching staff come to game time decisions. It shows how they prepare the players for the week’s game. For example, the coaching staff will make the players watch videos of the upcoming opponents’ previous games. After they study the video and learn what they have to do win the game, they are given tests to make sure they paid attention. This shows the coaching staff that the players know exactly what they need to do.An event that I found the most interesting in Patriot Reign was Tom Brady’s rise to be the starting quarterback of the New England Patriots. Tom Brady was drafted as the 4th string quarterback in the year 2000. Most teams would never keep four quarterbacks on one team, but the Patriots believed in Tom Brady’s ability. During the offseason between the 2000 and 2001 seasons, Tom Brady worked extremely hard and became the 3rd string quarterback. During the Training Camp of 2001, Tom Brady kept on showing improvement and became the 2nd string quarterback for the start of the 2001 season. The starting quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, was injured during game 2 of the 2001 season. Tom Brady got the football and became the starter. Once Drew Bledsoe was cleared to play, Tom Brady continued to be the starting quarterback. He stayed in his position because Bill Belichick believed he was the better player. He was right because Tom Brady led them to a Super Bowl victory that year. Tom Brady has been the starting quarterback ever since that 2001 day. This event was the most interesting to me because it is almost unbelievable that Tom Brady made so much progress between the day he was drafted and the start of the 2001 season. It also shows that if you work hard for something, good things will happen. This was also important because it is a good reminder to many people that hard work pays off in the long run.The nonfictional sports book, Patriot Reign was an enjoyable book. It was not the best book I have read because some of the information was uninteresting. However, it was not a bad book. The book gave me insight on how Bill Belichick and his coaching staff prepare for their games. The book was not a biography on Bill Belichick's years as a coach, which would have interested me more. The book showed how the coaching staff can be superstitious just like the players. For example, the coaches would meet at the same hotel every week the night before the Patriots game. At this meeting, they would discuss their roles in the game which was to be held the next day. Also, I was very interested by how Bill Belichick was extremely close with the owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft. The book showed how Bill Belichick always kept Robert Kraft in the loop. He would tell him the decisions he and the rest of his coaching staff came up with. He would also take any suggestions from Robert Kraft. Their strong relationship was important because it was always was for the good of the team. These small details interested me because you would never know them unless you read this type of book. An audience that I see that would most enjoy Patriot Reign would be New England Patriots fans, or any football fan, that would be interested in knowing how the Patriots coaching staff prepared for their Super Bowl game victories.
The story is about the New England Patriots. It was about Robert Kraft and his life long dream was to own the New England Patriots. Kraft bought the Patriots back in 1994. The main characters are Robert Kraft, Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Drew Bledsoe and Tom Brady.The main characters in this story took a team with one of the worst records in the league and built it into one of the best teams in the NFL. The main characters ran into lots of problems, Coach Bill Parcells was a great coach but the team hated him. He was rude and demanding and fought for power and caused a lot of problems for Robert Kraft and the New England Patriots.The main characters had a lot of adventures when Coach Parcells finally left the team and Bill Belichick took over, they had a lot of close games and a lot of heart break but they never lost sight of all the dreams. They could see that the team was headed in the right direction. They made changes in the teams offence and defense and turned the players attitude around and began the trip to the Super Bowl. Drew Bledsoe got hurt and that gave Tom Brady the chance to take over as quarter back.My favorite characters are Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Bill Belichick was really good a putting a game plan together and how he would play defense against other teams in the NFL and how one of the best quarter backs in the NFL, Tom Brady would pass the ball 40 to 50 times a game and out smart the defenses of other teams when they knew he was going to do it.I can relate as far as personally I would like to work towards a baseball scholarship someday and I look at how Tom Brady prepared for his game and the way Bill Belichick studied for the games and got ready to play, it inspires me to do the same which I think would make me a better person and player.I did feel some of the same things that the players do, my coach and I worked on a turning a double play, at first we made mistakes but the more we practiced the better we got.I would recommend this book to another person. This book is a good way to organize and learn to stay on task and make plans for your future and this book shows that if you work hard and stay on task you can achieve anything.I would recommend this book to a person who likes sports and a happy ending and sports greatness.
What do You think about Patriot Reign: Bill Belichick, The Coaches, And The Players Who Built A Champion (2005)?
Read Education of a Coach first. Then read this one. Not living in New England I read some things in this book that I may have read in articles from a Boston sports page if I was there. Am always interested in how successful people deal with others and in particular their staff. This book gave a little insight into Coach Belichick's method. Also found the description of the Patriot draft system interesting. Overall well worth the read. Education of a Coach was a better book as a Belichick biography while this was a better book to understand the "Patriot Way".
—David
I have to imagine the author tried to have sex with Belichick. In between his words, you can clearly see the fact that he wants to make sweet, sweet love to him. That's how biased the account feels when you read it.But, that being said, it's a pretty interesting book. Football coaching is a bit of a black box to me. I constantly wonder how certain coaches can make a team great no matter where they go. What does it? I think Belichick has been a pretty solid coach with a variety of different types of Patriot teams and I think you get a little bit of a view into what has made him great.
—Joe
In the nonfiction story Patriot Reign by Michael Holley, the story of the dominant Patriots team in the 21st century is explained. Bill Belichick is the coach of the team, and Tom Brady is the man who runs the show as the quarterback. These two would combine for three Super Bowl wins. What made it all possible were the draft picks, trades, and behind the scenes moves that helped the Patriots become a dynasty in the 21st century. A possible theme throughout the story is that you must put forth your best effort to succeed, even if you are gifted with talent. Belichick is not the coach to push the boundaries with hustle, as he will cut anyone he feels is not trying their hardest all the time. Bill explained to the media about his disappointment with the team, specifically the effort of the secondary, ”Tebucky Jones missed too many tackles and was going to want a lot of money”(136).My favorite character in the story is Bill Belichick. I think it was intended for this to be the case, as a majority of the events and controversies are presented with his input and thoughts about the topic. Also, Bill rarely gives the media what they want to hear, which is humorous because he does not give them a great deal of attention. He also does not put a lot of thought into his answers. Another reason to like Bill Belichick is how he got to be in the position that he earned in the story. He was the coach of the Cleveland Browns, which was a major hardship for him because he got fired rather quickly. Holley explains about the emotional status of Belichick, “Four months after the announcement, Belichick was dismayed, though not surprised, when the news of his job status was finally delivered. He knew he was going to get fired… it was just a phone call”(8).I would say the book is a quick read for those who are interested in either the Patriots, football in general, or both. It has the ability to not allow you to put it down once you get deep into the story. I recommend it to anyone interested in football. Even if you are not into football, it is a good nonfiction story to read to expand your horizons in terms of knowledge. I enjoyed the book because it is about a topic I enjoy and discuss regularly. It also is about one of my favorite teams, the Patriots, so that alone would catch my interest in a piece of writing.
—Owen K
