Wednesday Links

- congrats to jimmy rollins for his mvp season

- phil sheridan says the eagles need "swagger" to beat the patriots. one bill belichick would disagree:

The Patriots gave their defense six concepts to remember entering the week of preparation. "Don't ever make the mistake of thinking [Marshall] Faulk is staying home to block,'' the Pats' game plan that week said. "That's either a screen or he's going to have a delayed release out of the backfield.'' And: "Remember, no matter what your eyes tell you, you'll never see the same play twice. It may look like the same play, but it's not. Don't play the actual play. Play whatever your assigned concept is.'' And "Be physical with them at all times. They don't like that.''

Belichick told Holley: "We're not going to say, 'Watch out for these 50 things.' It's too overwhelming. The concepts will get it done the majority of the time, as long as we don't give up the big play ... [If] they hit an out for 10 yards, life goes on. Let's take away something and then we'll try to scramble to handle the things that we know we're not quite as solid on.'' Faulk gained 130 yards in the game, but never hit a home run. Neither did the Rams. New England won 20-17 in one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history.

Football is a brutal business. Belichick is brutally frank with his players. In front of his team after a 28-10 loss to the Packers in 2002, Belichick said: "We have a lot of smart guys in this room, but on the football field we play like a bunch of f------- morons.'' Holley writes: "If you are one of the players flinching at the harshness of these words, you might as well begin packing. There is no way you are going to last as a New England Patriot. This is one of the reasons the Patriots' college scouts are asked by their bosses, 'Can this player handle tough coaching?' ''

Belichick doesn't buy the canned and cliché stuff you hear in the press all the time. As the Patriots struggled trying to repeat as champs in 2002, he read in the paper one day that one of players said the team had to get its "swagger'' back. That day, in the team meeting, he said: "You know what? We didn't have a 'swagger' last year. What we had was a sense of urgency about playing well, being smart, and capitalizing on every opportunity and situation that came our way ... It wasn't about a f------- swagger. You can take that swagger and shove it right up your a--, OK?''

what's the single biggest difference between bill belichick and andy reid -- tough coaching. reid believes in individual responsibility and empowerment. he's the barney of NFL coaches, "everyone is special", "we're all winners". you'll note the patriots only give their players 6 things to think about for an entire gameplan. the worst coast offense gives players 30 things to think about on every play.

- david aldridge asks the anti-iverson crowd whether they're happy with the "team" now that they're fully into rebuilding mode and losing by 30 every night. for those of you eager to turn the page on the reid/mcnabb era, this is what we're looking at when the eagles go into rebuilding mode. does anyone seriously think that billy king has the foresight and wherewithal to trade andre miller? he should have traded him last season, f-ing billy king.