Bill Belichick.’ What can you say about the guy?’ Three Super Bowl rings, 87-39 with the Patriots, 13-3 in the playoffs with the Patriots, coached a team to a perfect regular season. And for the first time in Super Bowl XLII, he was out-coached.

Belichick, who usually is brilliant in the X’s and O’s of the game, was (for the first time that I have seen) beaten by Tom Coughlin and his staff. They came out with a great game plan, and did not move away from it. But for the Patriots, the team who makes the best adjustments, nothing was different as the game went on. The Patriots came out in three and four wide receiver sets, which meant only one or two other guys stayed in to help the offensive line.

After being sacked three times in the first half, they did not leave a running back in or a tight end to help up front, causing even more pressure and another sack. The running game was non existent, like most of the regular season. But this also caused problems. The play action pass does not work unless you can run the ball. The Giants did this, and it worked.

The Pats’ defense was not a factor either. They had some pressure on Eli, and when an all-out blitz was called late in the fourth quarter, Ellis Hobbs, a 5’9′ corner was man to man with 6’5′ Plaxico Burress. The latter tried to play both bump and run and space to the receivers, yet when they did one thing, the Giants’ offense ran a different play to change it up. Everyone will go back to the fourth and 13 with six minutes to go in the third quarter. Belichick decided to go for the first down instead of the field goal. It would have been a 48-yard field goal, in a dome. The Pats lost by three, that field goal.

Belichick’s adjustments and calls were virtually non-existent. If there were any small adjustments, they didn’t make a difference in the outcome. Maybe next time he should just stick to the gray sweatshirt and give up on the red.