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The Blueprint[How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower] [BLUEPRINT] [Paperback]
The Blueprint[How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower] [BLUEPRINT] [Paperback]
Paperback
First published October 16, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 3, 2022
It was really good to revisit the early history of the Patriots dynasty from the inception of the 21st century. Much of the focus is on how the coach (Belichick) and the owner (Kraft) got along, how they worked together to avoid getting in each other's way in order to focus on the things they needed to do to build an organization with long-term success. The opening chapters on the pre-history were important as well.
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January 18, 2018This was a great book. I loved how it talks about the patriots and what type of decisions they had to make as a organization to make the team better. This book made it feel you were there with the team.
January 10, 2011
Not badly written. Just horribly edited. Was it edited at all? I'm always stunned when I buy a book or get one from the library and find a ton of grammatical mistakes, typos and words omitted from sentences. These are professionals, aren't they?
At one point there were quotes from Bill Belicheck. And two paragraphs later, almost the exact same quote. Shouldn't someone have caught this.
It's not a bad book. But it doesn't cover much of what I didn't already know. And there are NO new interviews; just about everything is taken from other sources. I liked that the book tried to stay on the topic of how the Patriots built their team, the philosphy behind it and how they went about it. It's solid analysis. Just could've used a lot more of it.
At one point there were quotes from Bill Belicheck. And two paragraphs later, almost the exact same quote. Shouldn't someone have caught this.
It's not a bad book. But it doesn't cover much of what I didn't already know. And there are NO new interviews; just about everything is taken from other sources. I liked that the book tried to stay on the topic of how the Patriots built their team, the philosphy behind it and how they went about it. It's solid analysis. Just could've used a lot more of it.
August 1, 2020
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I'm not sure I learned much in this book that wasn't in David Halberstam's Education of a Coach. It was interesting to see how Belichick is open to new approaches to football and management theory. It's also interesting to read something written before the nearly undefeated season but after the third championship since it's a parallel perspective to where the Patriots are today with Brady's departure. I was disappointed in the editorial quality of the book, however. Clumsy phrasing, grammar and syntax errors, and using the same quote within a page (just once) detracted from the overall quality.
December 7, 2016
Belichick is a weird dude.
April 24, 2021
Man. This was good stuff, some good stories, some stuff I hadn't read about before. Enjoyable.
Why not 5 stars? Feels harsh for the author, but this must be one of the poorest edited books I've ever read. So many occasions where it spoiled the work. You'd think it wouldn't but when it's this noticeable.
Some examples:
A paragraph regarding a season where the Pats beat the Raiders, giving the final score. Same paragraph, it explains they then meet in the playoffs, and the Raiders only lost one game - and explains it was to the Patriots by the final score. I KNOW! I just read it!
A sentence where two different things are described as astonishing. There wasn't another word?
The number of people who are first mentioned by their surname alone, as if you should already know who they are (and, by the way, some of the references in the index aren't correct with this either). It's a good job that I knew who Steve Smith Sr, the former WR for the Panthers and Ravens, is, as discussing Superbowl XXXVIII with a quote from "Smith" from the Panthers is really, really poor.
A bit ranty, but this stuff is simple, and I kind of expect a professional publishing house to at least do the basics of editing before they send books to print. It takes the sheen off the stories, and that's a shame.
Why not 5 stars? Feels harsh for the author, but this must be one of the poorest edited books I've ever read. So many occasions where it spoiled the work. You'd think it wouldn't but when it's this noticeable.
Some examples:
A paragraph regarding a season where the Pats beat the Raiders, giving the final score. Same paragraph, it explains they then meet in the playoffs, and the Raiders only lost one game - and explains it was to the Patriots by the final score. I KNOW! I just read it!
A sentence where two different things are described as astonishing. There wasn't another word?
The number of people who are first mentioned by their surname alone, as if you should already know who they are (and, by the way, some of the references in the index aren't correct with this either). It's a good job that I knew who Steve Smith Sr, the former WR for the Panthers and Ravens, is, as discussing Superbowl XXXVIII with a quote from "Smith" from the Panthers is really, really poor.
A bit ranty, but this stuff is simple, and I kind of expect a professional publishing house to at least do the basics of editing before they send books to print. It takes the sheen off the stories, and that's a shame.
March 26, 2017
very very fun to read and very engaging
July 19, 2022
This book lays out the reason the New England Patriots have been able to sustain a high level of excellence over the past seven years in an era of salary cap limitations that aggressively promotes parity. Despite this, the Patriots have appeared in four of the last seven Super Bowls, winning three of them. This year they posted an 18-0 record before being defeated in Super Bowl XLII 17-14 by the New York Giants in a rather poorly played game on the Patriot's part.
How do they do it?
First, Robert Kraft is no longer the meddling owner he was when Bill Parcels was the head coach. He lets the football people make the football decisions, especially on personnel.
Second, Bill Belichick is clearly one of the smartest coaches when it comes to strategy (Super Bowl XLII being an exception). But he too has learned from his mistakes as head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He treats his players a little differently and has more control over personnel, even though his media skills still lack something to be desired.
Third, Belichick doesn't try to do everything. It's impossible. While he has final say over all football related matters he relies heavily on Scott Piloli, head of player personnel. Piloli has been with Belichick for a long time and their scouting department turns up high character players who fit Belichick's system. Their drafts under Belichick have been very good, for the most part, which is critical for building a team.
Fourth, Belichick mostly lets the players police themselves. The veterans on the team know what it takes to win championships and the team first philosophy that permeates the organization is not just lip service. The veteran players work to make sure everyone stays on this course.
Fifth, the Patriots adroitly manage the salary cap. Unlike a lot of teams they don't sell out by signing players to huge contracts and guaranteed money to make a one time championship run. Doing this can hamstring a team for years as players with large signing bonuses count against the salary cap for years, even if they are no longer productive or even on the team. Further, there is no sentimentality to their decisions. They cut Lawyer Malloy, a mainstay at strong safety for several years and a favorite of fans, players, and coaches alike. Because of a contract dispute where they felt the amount of money he wanted was not in the long-term interests of team, they cut him.
And finally they have Tom Brady. Successful teams must have a decent quarterback at the helm. Brady, a sixth round draft pick, has turned out to be one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Having mostly a solid defense and Brady at the helm of the offense has been critical to the team's success.
Overall this book is reasonably well written and is an excellent modern day history of the New England Patrtiots franchise. The first part of the book deals with pre-Kraft Patriots history. It was necessary to set up the rest of the book, but there is nothing particularly new here. The rest of the book does a good job of laying out just why the Patriots have been successful over the past seven years.
That said this book needed a better copy editor. There are many places where conjunctions are missing, which is annoying to the reader. And in once chapter a quote by Belichick is repeated within a few paragraphs of each other. At times the author tells us something and then basically repeats the same information in different words, which is what happened with the redundant quote.
Nevertheless, this is a book that Patriots fans and football fans in general, should greatly enjoy.
How do they do it?
First, Robert Kraft is no longer the meddling owner he was when Bill Parcels was the head coach. He lets the football people make the football decisions, especially on personnel.
Second, Bill Belichick is clearly one of the smartest coaches when it comes to strategy (Super Bowl XLII being an exception). But he too has learned from his mistakes as head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He treats his players a little differently and has more control over personnel, even though his media skills still lack something to be desired.
Third, Belichick doesn't try to do everything. It's impossible. While he has final say over all football related matters he relies heavily on Scott Piloli, head of player personnel. Piloli has been with Belichick for a long time and their scouting department turns up high character players who fit Belichick's system. Their drafts under Belichick have been very good, for the most part, which is critical for building a team.
Fourth, Belichick mostly lets the players police themselves. The veterans on the team know what it takes to win championships and the team first philosophy that permeates the organization is not just lip service. The veteran players work to make sure everyone stays on this course.
Fifth, the Patriots adroitly manage the salary cap. Unlike a lot of teams they don't sell out by signing players to huge contracts and guaranteed money to make a one time championship run. Doing this can hamstring a team for years as players with large signing bonuses count against the salary cap for years, even if they are no longer productive or even on the team. Further, there is no sentimentality to their decisions. They cut Lawyer Malloy, a mainstay at strong safety for several years and a favorite of fans, players, and coaches alike. Because of a contract dispute where they felt the amount of money he wanted was not in the long-term interests of team, they cut him.
And finally they have Tom Brady. Successful teams must have a decent quarterback at the helm. Brady, a sixth round draft pick, has turned out to be one of the best quarterbacks of his generation. Having mostly a solid defense and Brady at the helm of the offense has been critical to the team's success.
Overall this book is reasonably well written and is an excellent modern day history of the New England Patrtiots franchise. The first part of the book deals with pre-Kraft Patriots history. It was necessary to set up the rest of the book, but there is nothing particularly new here. The rest of the book does a good job of laying out just why the Patriots have been successful over the past seven years.
That said this book needed a better copy editor. There are many places where conjunctions are missing, which is annoying to the reader. And in once chapter a quote by Belichick is repeated within a few paragraphs of each other. At times the author tells us something and then basically repeats the same information in different words, which is what happened with the redundant quote.
Nevertheless, this is a book that Patriots fans and football fans in general, should greatly enjoy.
September 22, 2010
This book has told me a lot about the football organization the New England Patriots. The rise to success of where the Patriots are now wasn't so easy to get to. There were many bumps in the road to get where they are today. Being a Patriot fan wasn't easy from about 1960-2000. During this time frame the Patriots didn't win a single super bowl. It wasn't because they were a bad football team. In the 60's there wasn't much success at all but that changed in the 70's. During the 70's they were a good football team, and would've made it to the super bowl if it wasn't for the horrible officiating call against the Raiders that prevented them from making it. In the 80's they made it to the super bowl against the beloved Chicago Bears but were highly over matched and lost 46-10. The 90's included a trip to the super bowl against Brett Favre's Green Bay Packers in the year 1996. The 2000's was were it got interesting for the New England Patriots. Not much happened in the year 2000 for the team.It was 2001 that was big for the Patriots. Very early in the season the highest paid Player in the NFL Drew Bledsoe went down. Drew Bledsoe was the Patriot quarterback at the time. When he went down backup quarterback Tom Brady came in the game. Bledsoe would never start in a Patriot uniform again. He had a shattered blood vessel that would have him miss a few weeks. When he was healthy to play Coach Bill Belichick decided to go with Tom Brady instead. It was a good choice because Tom led them to the super bowl and for the first time ever in franchise history the New England Patriots won the super bowl. Brady would go on to lead the Patriots to another in 2003 and repeat as champions in 2004. With the help of people like Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Tom Brady and many others the Patriots became the last great NFL superpower. The Patriots haven't won since 2004 but they remain a very good football team.
January 14, 2015
The book, The Blueprint: How the New England Patriots Beat the System to Create the Last Great NFL Superpower, by Christopher Price was very informative. The Patriots in the book are the opposite of the Denver Broncos of today in a way. The Broncos got top of the line free agents such as Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward, DeMarcus Ware, Emmanuel Sanders, and Peyton Manning. The Patriots, on the other hand, only went out and got quality veteran free agents toward the end of the players’ careers. The writing in this book is very effective. A strength of this book is that it goes in chronological order. There aren't any big weaknesses in the book. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes football in general because the book describes how the Patriots drafted well and developed most of their players. This included scouting in college football. If this book was part of a series I would definitely read the rest of the series.
January 4, 2008
If you love the Patriots and are interested in learning about how they pick their players, management, front adm. staff this book is for you. It also tells the ridiculous history of the Patriot's organization.
February 3, 2008
A workmanlike account of the New England Patriots' rise to football greatness written by the Sports reporter for the Boston Metro (who knew such an august paper of record even had a sports reporter?). One for the Belichick is a genius crowd.
July 9, 2010
Marketed as Moneyball for NFL fans, it's more of a neat history of the Pats with some interesting, but not relevatory, information on how the Pats do business now. Probably not a great read for someone who follows the team closely.
December 31, 2010
This is one of those books that really helps apply the lessons of sports to business and real life. After all, pro-football is big business; but it requires some translation to get to the lesson and this book does a great job of it!
June 7, 2008
I've seen an advance copy, and man it is going to take the world by storm!!!
January 24, 2008
This is the perfect book for me, a PATRIOT fan!! (especially during their rotten years)
February 24, 2009
A must for a Pats fan...It give a great insight into Belichek's philosophy on building a TEAM not just compiling a collection of players...It really does explain the patriots dynasty.
May 5, 2010
A rehash of other books....
June 17, 2012
If I read this book before Patriot Reign, I would have loved it but it was a repeat of Patriot Reign and Tales from the Patriot Sidelines.
January 3, 2013
meh.
some good stuff, but it dragged out.
not much insight into team building rather than talking about it over and over.
some good stuff, but it dragged out.
not much insight into team building rather than talking about it over and over.
February 21, 2008
Probably one of the better books out there on the New England Dynasty.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews