Why Ernie Adams Texted Bill Belichick During Super Bowl LVIII

For football junkies like Ernie Adams and Bill Belichick, Super Bowl LVIII was quite a treat. Last February’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers featured a nice blend of exciting offense and stout defense. The evenly matched heavyweight bout was also plenty dramatic, as it needed more than 60 minutes […]

For football junkies like Ernie Adams and Bill Belichick, Super Bowl LVIII was quite a treat.

Last February’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers featured a nice blend of exciting offense and stout defense. The evenly matched heavyweight bout was also plenty dramatic, as it needed more than 60 minutes to be decided.

This wasn’t an ordinary overtime session, though. It marked the first time the NFL’s new postseason OT rules were used on the Super Bowl stage. And Adams, one of the greatest preparers and researchers the game has ever seen, couldn’t help but reach out to Belichick when the game drifted into uncharted waters.

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“My text I sent to Bill right then is: This is the first time in the National Football League history the right call on winning the coin toss is, ‘We want to kick. We want to kick. We want to go on defense first,”” Adams said on the “Games With Names” podcast, as transcribed by MassLive. “The big reason: You know what you need and you know that you’re in four-down territory all the way because if it comes up fourth down, you can go for it. If you know you’re going to be going for it on fourth down, that changes the way you can call the game on first, second and third down.”

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Of course, the Niners didn’t follow that logic. Kyle Shanahan’s side won the toss, took the football and settled for a field goal. The Chiefs made them pay when they marched down the field, scored a touchdown and won their third Super Bowl in four years.

Adams, who helped the Patriots win six Super Bowls, retired after the 2021 season. But one has to imagine he’ll still be sending Belichick notes here and there as long as the future Hall of Famer remains in the game.