Michael Holley-Patriot Reign

Anyone who has followed the New England Patriots over the years knows that the past few years have been among the most exciting in the history of the team. The Pats won the Superbowl twice, and became reigning champions for both the 2001 and 2003 seasons. It’s been lots of fun, and those of us like myself who have stuck with the team over the years through thick and thin have finally received our just rewards.

And the fun ain’t over yet. As I type, the Patriots have won their first three games for 2004, as well. Of course, no one can predict the fortunes of football, and there’s no way to predict how New England will come out this year in the playoff scheme of things. But one thing is for certain: Patriots fans will have another rollicking season of great football as their favorite team advances through the close of the year.

That’s pretty much a given, but why, one might ask? The explanation, of course, lies in great degree to the power behind the team on the field: the coaches, owner, and manager who have brought such success to Foxboro. Anyone who doubts this need only read Patriot Reign: Bill Belichick, The Coaches, and The Players Who Built a Champion.

This, the first book by Michael Holley, a former sports columnist for the Boston Globe, is a fascinating behind-the-scenes study of the team some are now referring to as a dynasty. Holley examines the Patriots in just about every way imaginable: from the back office to the fifty yard line, from the training rooms to the practice field.

To a degree, Patriot Reign is a history. And it’s a biography. The book analyzes the reasons the Pats won the Superbowl for 2001 and 2003, and explores why they missed the playoffs for 2002. It explores the pasts of Bob Kraft, the beloved owner of the team; Bill Belichick, the star-crossed coach; and Tom Brady, the young quarterback some are already comparing to Joe Montana.

Football is much more than the physically intensive game you see on the field. It’s a game of strategy, as intense and cerebral as chess. Each and every play in a game must be carefully planned for it to go off just as the coaches want it to. And in Patriot Reign, Holley shows us just why the Patriots plays are pulled off as well as they are. Because of the careful planning and genius of Belichick and his staff.

Then too, Holley provides us with the players’ perspective. How they inter-relate with each other, the coaches, the fans, the opposing teams. Ever wonder just what goes through the mind of a player like Adam Vinatieri, as he walks on the field with seconds left to go in the Superbowl, game hanging on his field goal attempt, not once but twice? Holley gives us an idea.

Certainly, Holley couldn’t pass up throwing a bit of drama into his tale. The rivalry between Belichick and his former mentor Bill Parcells is touched upon briefly, as is the huge debate that raged in New England when Belichick decided to replace popular quarterback Drew Bledsoe with Tom Brady.

At 237 pages, Patriot Reign won’t take up lots of your time to read. You can likely polish it off in the time it takes to watch a couple of games. But it will give you a much better understanding of the game of football.

Do you have to be a New England Patriots fan to enjoy the book? Not at all. Patriot Reign is a brilliant study into the workings of a championship team, one that anyone who enjoys the game of football can appreciate.