Boomer Esiason Not Surprised With Bill Belichick's Trick Onside Kick
BOSTON (CBS) -- Bill Belichick's decision to go for an onside kick Sunday afternoon against the Eagles left many scratching their head.
The Patriots had just taken a 14-0 lead and the Philadelphia offense couldn't get anything going at the time. But Nate Ebner's pooch/drop kick gave the Eagles the ball at their own 41, and eight plays later they were in the end zone. The short kick completely changed the momentum of the game, as the Eagles rattled off 35 unanswered points before the Patriots staged a late comeback that fell short in a 35-28 loss.
While that play call may have surprised most, that wasn't the case with Boomer Esiason of WFAN and The NFL Today. He's seen Belichick make several decisions like this over his years during his time in the broadcast booth, and said it was the head coach trying to take advantage of an Eagles team that hadn't been playing up to some lofty expectations throughout the season.
"It doesn't surprise me at all. I don't think he was playing loose with the game, I think they thought they had the opportunity to do something special," Esiason told 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich on Monday. "Why not do something with Chip Kelly on the other side of the field? He's the guy that is ripping up the traditional way of doing things in the NFL, and maybe Belichick wanted to send a message.
While Eagles receiver Jordan Matthews said the drop kick was a sign of disrespect after the game, Boomer doesn't agree.
"You try to catch teams off guard and very few coaches in this league have the credibility to try to pull that off," he said. "Bill Belichick kind of has a little leeway when it comes to stuff like this. After the game when he was asked about it he kind of brushed it off; if it was any other coach he would have been laughed off the podium and battered by their own media.
"I understand he's willing to do different things," continued Boomer. "Everyone thinks he's this tried and true, traditional coach, but I've seen him do a lot of things to go against the grain of what other coaches would probably do, whether it's letting teams score or going for it on fourth down on his side of the 50 to keep the ball away from Peyton Manning. There are a lot of things he does and sometimes they don't work, and when they don't work he doesn't really want to stand there and talk about it and explain his thought process."
As for the loss, which dropped the Patriots to 10-2 on the season and into the 3-seed in the AFC, Esiason said Patriots fans shouldn't be too worried about one very bad game that featured a handful of very uncharacteristic mistakes on the New England special teams unit.
"It happens in this league, and when plays like yesterday's happen you burn the tape and look forward to the next game to get the stench out of your mouth," he said. "I wouldn't make too big of a deal out of this. They'll get it right, they'll most likely win their next game and before you know it, they'll be back in the mix for the No. 1 seed.
"This was an aberration," he said. "There is a very good football team there that had an off day in many areas that most likely won't happen again this season."
