0:01 -- No Respect

	Belichick's recipe for success left the Rams shaking their heads.

Bill Belichick knows how to get inside a player's head. That's how he beats you. Not with a roster full of All-Pros, but with a week of prep time to hatch a game plan. Then -- presto! -- your strength becomes your weakness. If the Patriots' Super Bowl upset of the Rams didn't convince you, ask Peyton Manning. The NFL's poster boy for brainy QBs is a career 2-4 against Belichick D's. In two '01 losses to the Pats, the Colts QB was sacked six times, surrendered three picks and threw just two touchdowns. Mention Belichick's name, and the normally affable Manning turns to stone, saying he'd rather not comment. Belichick's schemes make you think you're getting somewhere (the Pats gave up 334 yards per game in '01, 24th in the league) when you're actually going nowhere (17 points per game, sixth). It's maddening. That's why Belichick is 3-1 in Super Bowls as a D-coordinator or head coach (he was Bill Parcells' guru with the Giants in SBs XXI and XXV and with the Pats in XXXI). "Belichick's teams are so well-drilled," says former 49ers coach Bill Walsh. "He's simply ahead of the game defensively. Always has been." Here's why:

BAIT AND SWITCH. The first time the Pats played the Rams last season, a 24-17 November loss at Foxboro, they played soft in the secondary -- and blitzed 39 times. The plan was to hound QB Kurt Warner and take their chances with the Rams receivers. "If they ran past us, they ran past us," says CB Ty Law. But Belichick changed tactics in the Super Bowl: Blitz less, hit Isaac Bruce & Co. more; don't worry about little gains, don't give up big ones; disrupt the timing of the Rams' synchronized passing game. "They are faster than we are," says LB Mike Vrabel. "We bumped anyone who could catch a pass. We tried to make them stop and start over again." Result: Two picks that led to 10 Patriot points in a 20-17 win.

	Do Belichick's in-game adjustments work? Just ask Ty Law.

QUICK-CHANGE ARTIST. Belichick doesn't wait until halftime to make adjustments. He makes his after the first quarter or, sometimes, the first series. In the Super Bowl, the first of the Pats' picks came at 8:49 of the second quarter. Down 3-0, they had been rushing four men and dropping seven into bump-and-run coverage. But before this play, Belichick made an adjustment. Vrabel would be rusher No. 5. "I was over the tight end," he says. "I'd been covering him, and they might have thought I would again. So, they let me go." Vrabel got close enough to Warner to force him to throw the pass early. Law picked it off and ran back 47 yards for the game's first TD.

BACKS TO THE WALL. That November loss to the Rams was the Pats' last of the season. But Belichick was still getting to know his team then, and played the blitzing D every team tries -- and ultimately regrets -- against St Louis. By the Super Bowl, Belichick had faith in his DBs -- and a new plan. "We proved in the two prior playoff games we could hold our own," says Law. Against the Raiders and Steelers, the top four receivers, including guys named Brown and Rice, were limited to 21 catches total, so Belichick left the pass rush to his front four and an occasional blitzer, and used the back seven to knock the swift Rams receivers off rhythm. That's why the Rams were held to three first-half points, and didn't cross the Pats' 30 until late in the third quarter.

SYSTEMATIC. Belichick doesn't rely on superstars. He wants guys he knows, role players who stick to the script and don't improv in hopes of landing a big play. Since becoming New England's head coach two years ago, Belichick has added eight defensive players he's coached before -- including Victor Green (Jets), Anthony Pleasant (Browns, Jets) and Roman Phifer (Jets) -- and kept seven Pats he coached under Parcells. Familiarity breeds success, since most players know Belichick's system and don't need to use precious practice time getting comfortable with it. "We won a championship with this system and these coaches," says S Lawyer Milloy. "That's why Coach is looking for smart guys who have played in it, leaders who say, 'Get into the books.' "

	The greatest show on turf was cancelled by Belichick's D.

ADVANCE WARNING. How detail-oriented does Belichick expect his players to be? "I know a team is prepared when everyone knows what every player should do in a certain situation," he says. Example: In the AFC championship game, Troy Brown picked up a blocked Steelers field goal attempt. He ran downfield, then lateraled to Antwan Harris, who scored. Did Harris just happen to be there? Nope. It's a play the Pats practice, called Scoop and Score. They're taught that the field goal unit is nine fat guys, a holder and a kicker. None of them is ready to tackle or strip the ball. That's the time to be aggressive and advance the ball. "We are always having situational practices," says Milloy. "Coach drills it into us to think the way he is thinking."

THE NEW BILL. Belichick was the anti-players' coach during his stint with the Browns from 1991 to '95. Strict, inflexible, with the people skills of a cadaver. "It was his way or the highway," says Pleasant. "Now he uses life outside football to relate to us." During camp, Belichick showed his players a documentary about Bill Russell. Then he surprised them with an appearance by the 11-time Celtics champ. No, Belichick hasn't gotten all touchy-feely -- "It only took a practice for him to knock the swagger out of us," says Milloy -- but he does reveal his dry sense of humor more often. After beating the Rams for their third consecutive postseason upset, Belichick deadpanned, "I assume we'll be underdogs next week."

This article appears in the September 16 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

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