February 4, 2019 - Once again, the New England Patriots lead by Croatian-American Head Coach Bill Belichick have won the Super Bowl! 

This is the Patriots 6^th championship in their dynasty, and it was arguably the best-coached game of Bill Belichick’s career. The team took on the Los Angeles Rams, who were the NFL’s #1 ranked defensive team - and they definitely came to play on Sunday. 

The Rams high powered defense would allow only a field goal to the Patriots in the first half. However, the more impressive statistic heading into halftime was that the Patriots allowed 0 points at halftime, which is something that not a lot of media outlets and experts give them credit for often.

This incredible defensive battle continued through the third quarter, but the Rams were able to kick a field goal of their own to make the score 3-3 heading into the fourth quarter. Bill and his team seemed poised heading into the fourth quarter of this defensive battle because their past Super Bowl appearances were decided by 8 points or fewer. Sure enough, in the fourth quarter, the Patriots scored the game’s only touchdown, thanks to a run by running-back Sony Michel. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski hit a field goal to make the final score 13-3. The game’s final score set an NFL record for the lowest scoring Super Bowl game in history but more importantly broke even bigger records. 

Quarterback Tom Brady now has the record for most Super Bowl wins by an NFL player and Bill Belichick extends his record of most Super Bowl wins by a coach. This is arguably the first time that the Patriots have been treated like the underdog almost all season. However, despite all the media noise and doubters, they have found a way to win and use that hate as motivational fuel to get the job done. The job that the Patriots have done in their dynasty is amazing, but it couldn’t have been done without their mastermind Croatian coach always finding a way to win the games that count. The 2019 Croatian dominance in sports is just beginning! 

Text by Thomas Mustac

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

January 22, 2019 - Some people try to change each year and announce on their social media accounts, “New year new me!”. However, that’s not the case with Croatian head coach Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots. The Patriots advanced to a record 11th Super Bowl. Nine out of the team’s 11 Super Bowl appearances have been during the Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady era. Despite the freezing temperatures at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, the Patriots and Chiefs battled in an all-time great AFC Championship game. 

The game seemed to be dominated by the Patriots, who lead 14-0 heading into halftime. However, the Kansas City Chiefs battled back and even took the lead 28-24 with only 2:03 left in the game. This wasn’t unfamiliar territory for Belichick and Brady. The duo has had numerous comebacks in their careers - the most notable being in 2017 when they came back to a 28-3 deficit to the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51 to win their fifth Super Bowl, which is the largest comeback in Super Bowl history. 

Nonetheless, the Patriots comeback once again in Kansas City to take the lead 31-28. Following a Chiefs field goal with eight seconds left in regulation, the game went into overtime. The Patriots won the coin toss to begin overtime and marched the ball down the field scoring on their first possession. According to NFL rules, this ended the game automatically because they won the coin toss and scored on the first possession. This historic win put the underdog #2 seeded Patriots into the Super Bowl and defeated the AFC’s #1 seeded team.

If the Patriots win the Super Bowl, this will give Quarterback Tom Brady his sixth Super Bowl title, which would be the most by any player ever in the sport. Furthermore, this would extend Bill Belichick’s record for most by a coach, which would be his eighth. (6x head coach and 2x defensive coordinator) The NFL and the game of Football have had numerous Croatians succeed in the sport such as David Diehl, Pete Carroll, Rob Ninkovich, Nick Saban, etc. In a year that we witnessed Croatian dominance in sports, 2019 is off to a terrific start for our Croatian diaspora. For a nation that is so young, to accomplish all that has been done is truly amazing and something to cheer about. 

Let’s go Patriots!

Text by Thomas Mustać

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.