As well as New England played defensively yesterday, I don’t think that was one of Bill Belichick’s five best defensive games. He’s been at it for a lot of years, and he’s taken down a lot of high-powered offenses.
Back in the ‘80s, recall, Belichick was designing the defenses for the Giants under Bill Parcells, and a lot of his best work came with that franchise, dueling against Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs.
Five times in playoff games, Belichick has gone against the league’s highest-scoring offense, and his team has won all of those games. They’ve been less successful against teams finishing 2nd in scoring – beat the Rams, but 0-4 in their other four games.
Everybody’s got their own opinions, but these are Belichick’s 10 best defensive efforts in the postseason in my opinion.
1. 2001 Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Super Bowl) St. Louis looked pretty much unbeatable, leading the league in both yards and scoring. New England was able to slow them down and win with a field goal at the end.
2. 1990 Giants 20, Bills 19 (Super Bowl) Buffalo looked pretty similar to the Greatest Show on Turf, only 11 years earlier. Using their K Gun offense, the Bills had beaten the Raiders 51-3 the previous week. New York was able to dominate time of possession and come up with timely stops.
3. 2004 Patriots 20, Colts 3 Indianapolis led the league in scoring, with Peyton Manning throwing a record 49 touchdown passes. New England was able to completely bottle them up at Foxborough, moving on to the AFC Championship.
4. 2018 Patriots 37, Kansas City 31 (OT) Maybe this game should be ranked a spot higher. They had to win it at Arrowhead. Like the three opponents ranked even higher, Kansas City had a smoking hot quarterback (Patrick Mahomes). He passed for 295 yards and 3 TDs, but he never really got into the kind of rhythm he had in the regular season – completed only 16 of 31 passes. Kansas City at least scored 31 points, so for defensive purposes, I’m putting this game 4th instead of 3rd. As with the win over the Bills in 1990, the defense was helped along mightily by the offense dominating time of possession.
5. 1990 Giants 15, 49ers 13 San Francisco look pretty much unstoppable – 14-2 and seemingly headed for a third straight Super Bowl win – and New York was able to slow them down enough at Candlestick, then make a few key plays at the end. The Giants pulled this off despite playing without their starting quarterback (Phil Simms) and running back (Rodney Hampton). I’m ranking this game down at 5th because while that San Francisco offense ranked 2nd, it was only 8th in scoring.
6. 2003 Patriots 24, Colts 14 Indianapolis ranked 3rd in yards and 3rd in scoring, but the Patriots were able to take them apart at Foxborough. Peyton Manning had a great year but threw 4 interceptions.
7. 2018 Patriots 13, Rams 3 Los Angeles ranked 2nd in yards and 2nd in scoring, but New England had Jared Goff rattled for the entire game. Rams punted on their first eight possessions. Three points ties as the fewest allowed in a Super Bowl.
8. 1985 Giants 17, 49ers 3 This was the season after San Francisco wiped out Dan Marino and the Dolphins. This 49ers offense wasn’t quite as dominant (2nd in yards, 5th in scoring) but Giants held them to only a field goal.
9. 1986 Giants 49, 49ers 3 This was Jerry Rice’s 2nd season – the year he became a true superstar. Giants were able to shut him down. Joe Montana completed only 8 of 15 passes, with 2 interceptions, before being sidelined with a concussion.
10. 1986 Giants 17, Washington 0 This was Belichick’s only postseason shutout, and it came in the NFC Championship game against a team that would win the Super Bowl the following season.
With Belichick having such a large body of work, there are a bunch of other very good defensive games I was unable to fit into my top 10. That includes Super Bowl wins against the Broncos (1986), Falcons (2016), Seahawks (2014) and Eagles (2004). The Falcons offense had led the league in scoring. New England was able to win an AFC Championship game at San Diego in 2006 against a 14-2 opponent that had led the league in scoring. And some consideration must be given to a 21-10 loss at San Francisco to a 15-1 team that would win the Super Bowl – that game was pivotal in the Giants realizing they had the potential to win a championship the next year.
Once the postseason rolls around, with Belichick having the time to dissect film and study what an offense is doing, he’s the best at cooking up a scheme that allows his team to come out on top.
—Ian Allan