As if FC Bayern had forgotten how to play soccer
The NFL is visiting Germany for the second time this season. This time, the club with the largest German fan base will be competing. Nevertheless, much is less glamorous. On the contrary: in sporting terms, the second game is a ride through the ghost train.
In purely sporting terms, you have to imagine it like this: German soccer is sending Union Berlin, bottom of the Bundesliga, and VfL Wolfsburg, a team whose position in the table no-one can easily shake off their sleeves, to the USA with the task of promoting our sport. Both teams would be bid farewell with good prayers and simply wished the best. That's probably what the NFL did when the mediocre Indianapolis Colts and the football giant New England Patriots made their way to Frankfurt for the second Germany Game.
The only difference: both American teams have glorious pasts. The Colts, however, have a long history, while the Patriots still have fond memories. They are, if you like, the FC Bayern of the NFL. One that is now bursting at the seams. Which made much of this afternoon particularly painful. Especially the New England fans, who outnumbered the fans in Eintracht Frankfurt's stadium, who had come in the jerseys of their old heroes Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, and had to suffer for almost two and a half hours. However, they didn't let the party get in their way. Whenever the game was interrupted, they sang the anthems "Sweet Caroline" or "Wonderwall", endured the "Vengabus" and got involved in the smooch or show-me-your-muscle cam. The spectacle, which was a debacle in sporting terms, had delivered. The mission had been accomplished: The NFL had arrived in Germany.
Was that it for Bill Belichick?
The game, small spoiler, delivered what was to be feared. Or even less. At times it was cruel on the pitch. As bad as a dreary 0-0 draw in the pouring rain without a roof over the stands. In sporting terms, you were just glad when it was over. The weak Colts defeated the even weaker Patriots 10-6 - the last time such a paltry result had been achieved in the NFL was on November 16, 2015 - and they flew back home with a lot of frustration and even more questions. And the one that looms over everything is: Is this it for Bill Belichick? Will the greatest coaching legend in the best football league in the world really not survive this turmoil and the worst start in 23 years? Was the 71-year-old's longest tour of duty also his last? Until now, Europe had been a place of bliss and spectacle for New England. The two previous appearances in London ended in gigantic victories, against Tampa Bay in 2009 (35-7) and against the St. Louis Rams in 2012 (45-7). Those were different times, the Patriots a perennial championship contender.
The starting coach, who won the Super Bowl eight times, had already done the Houdini once before and freed himself from a sporting false start. In his first season in 2000, the franchise also had a record of 2:8 after ten match days. The drop was different back then. It was low, now it is gigantic. Just four years ago, the Patriots were the NFL champions. One last time with the brilliant combination of Belichick and Tom Brady. The star quarterback was the fearsome figure on the field, the coach the brilliant mastermind on the sidelines. The aura of the two alone was enough to reduce opponents to frightened dwarves. But success came with Brady in 2020. To Florida, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The playmaker succeeded there, while his former team experienced a merciless downfall that is still unstoppable today. And it is closely linked to the retired quarterback and his position.
Double quarterback blackout
First Cam Newton took over, then Mac Jones. But his time as starter may well have run out for good this Sunday. The Patriots' game was designed solely to get the egg out of his hands as quickly as possible. The quarterback handed off to running backs Ezekiel Elliot and Rhamondre Stevenson in mumbling monotony. It worked somehow, okay at the beginning of the first quarter and at the very end, but never sustainably. But because the Colts hardly managed anything either, apart from two big plays after passes from Garner Minshaw to Alec Pierce and Michael Pitman Jr. and an early touchdown thanks to some good running plays by the very conspicuous running back Jonathan Taylor, victory for the Patriots was always close, but always distant due to their own inadequacy. For the third time this season, the team failed to score a touchdown. That is, yes, pathetic. And Jones, who was also thrown to the ground five times, got his comeuppance. An absurd interception, his tenth of the season (with just ten touchdown passes), just before the end zone ended all hopes of a happy ending to this grudge match.
Jones threw the ball into the arms of Julian Blackmon with four minutes remaining. The Colts, who were far from repeating the offensive performances of recent weeks at all times, played their way forward with difficulty and once under massive pressure and spectacularly with an outstanding catch by Josh Downs, but once again failed to put anything together. After two scoreless quarters, a strong 51-yard field goal from Matt Gay was enough to close out the game. However, the Patriots had one more go, but without Jones. For the fourth time this season, he was "given" by Belichick. "The coaching staff just told me I was out. I wasn't good," explained the 25-year-old about his substitution: "It's a tough decision, but at the end of the day I want my team to win. But I know I have to play better".
Bailey Zappe took over for him. Presumably not just on this Sunday, but for the rest of the season. Even if, after a brief polite interlude before the matchday, the oddball Belichick was now back to his usual taciturn and grumpy mumbling for an answer. "We'll see what happens with him next week." Jones' replacement Zappe was not really able to promote himself either. He first made two quick first downs, but then also made a bitter interception. With the next inexplicable blackout, the Patriots' fate was sealed.
The coaching god had become a human being
And that of Belichick? A report in the Boston Globe had raised the question of the future of the coaching legend. The duel in Frankfurt had been hyped up to the point of a game of fate. Every word suddenly weighed infinitely more. Even that of club owner Robert Kraft, who had hoped for a completely different season and was "very disappointed" even before the game. The 71-year-old parried questions about his future in classic Belichick style. "Well, I just do my best every day." Without a doubt, he did not have his best day. The quarterback plan didn't work and when the Colts punted, there was suddenly no punt returner on the field. Was that intentional? "Not exactly," said the coach. A few journalists laughed, Belichick didn't.
He doesn't have any good reasons for it either. The magic that once surrounded him has evaporated. The coaching god has become a 71-year-old man on the touchline. He can no longer do what he used to do - turn cheap players into key players. Without Brady, it's like Asterix without Obelix, like Batman without Robin.
And yet there will probably be no dismissal. Not in the middle of a season that can no longer be saved anyway. That's the word from the local media, as our US correspondent Heiko Oldörp reports. "They'll spare him that, he's simply done far too much for the team for that." Another scenario is conceivable after the season. "He may be offered the opportunity to split the two posts of general manager and coach. I can well imagine that Patriots would want to continue with coach Belichick, but not with general manager Belichick." In this role, he is responsible for squad planning. And once again it went badly wrong. New England is now one of the worst teams in the NFL and is barely competitive at any position.
Despite the NFL's successful arrival in Germany, the second game was a challenging spectacle in sporting terms for both the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots. The Patriots, known as the nucleus of the NFL, struggled significantly during this game, contrasting their glorious past.
Moreover, the NFL’s glamour reached German shores once again with the American Football giants clashing in Frankfurt. Despite a triumphant past, the rivalry of the latest New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts' clash wasn't their finest hour, offering merely mediocrity.
Source: www.ntv.de
