The concept of traveling away from your family for a football matchup on Christmas Day might sound awful for an athlete. But if it were up to Bill Belichick, he would always choose to be on the road during Christmas to ensure zero distractions and maximum success.
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Being the perfectionist he is, Belichick, in the latest episode of The Coach Show, made an unpopular claim by explaining how teams on the road during Christmas have an advantage.
The former Patriots coach argued that during home games over the festive season, there are distractions like celebrations, meeting family members, and countless other obligations. But once the team is on the road, away from home, the players have no distractions, with only one responsibility in front of them — win the game.
“I always felt like it was a little bit of an advantage to play on the road because you leave Christmas and the families and everybody behind. If it’s a home game, then you have all them staying there and, you know, you have other obligations. And I think sometimes it’s easier just to get up and go.”
The eight-time Super Bowl winner justified his stance by recalling a cherished memory — a victory over the NY Jets. Bill reminisced about one of the December 26th matchups between the Patriots and the Jets, where he and his players celebrated Christmas with their families in the morning before heading to the Big Apple for the game.
For Bill’s players, the sole focus was to overcome the Jets, unlike their counterparts, who were probably in a festive mood on game-day. And as planned, the Patriots went on to beat the Jets that fateful day, proving Bill’s point right.
“I remember one year when we played the Jets on the 26th, everybody had Christmas in the morning at home and then they came in, got on the bus and went to the airport, had our meeting down in New York. We had Christmas but we kind of left Christmas behind, went down, and beat the Jets… so, I would just say going on the road is not necessarily a bad thing.”
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As much of a hot take as this is from Belichick, it arguably doesn’t top the one he made recently about Christmas carols and songs being distractions for players trying to get into matchday mode. Belichick rightly argued that these songs are distractions and fail to capture the emotions needed for a hard-hitting football game.
“Football is such a tough, physical, competitive game. And you kind of work all week to get your team into that mindset. And then you go out for pregame warmup and go out for the game and it’s jingle bells and silent night and all that. It’s in the spirit, but it’s not really football music that you hear at NFL films.”
On paper, Bill’s assessment that “jingle bells” are not the kind of music one hears in NFL films is completely right. But what do you tell Bo Nix who recently revealed that Christian religious songs dominate his pre-game playlist?
The point here is — to each their own. Music is a great stress buster. For some, vibing to Silent Night or Jingle Bells before the matchup can have the same impact as listening to Kdot before the game.
