Ernie Adams has rarely talked publicly, but behind the scenes he was viewed as a key contributor to the Patriots’ Super Bowl titles as one of Bill Belichick’s most trusted advisors. And Adams has now spoken publicly about this year’s Super Bowl, and the correct strategy for overtime.
Adams, who was a municipal bonds trader before spending 25 years working as Belichick’s director of football research, appeared on Julian Edelman’s podcast and said that as soon as the 49ers and Chiefs headed to overtime in Super Bowl LVIII, Adams texted Belichick to discuss strategy.
“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, via MassLive.com. “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.”
That’s not what 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan thought. Shanahan chose to receive at the start of overtime, saying that was a decision the 49ers made at the start of the playoffs and saw no reason to change.
Adams said it’s better to let the other team go first and that way you know if you need a touchdown or a field goal to win.
“I’d rather have the ball second so I know what I need,” Adams said.
As it turned out, the 49ers kicked a field goal on their first possession, and then the Chiefs scored the Super Bowl-winning touchdown on the next possession. Adams thinks the 49ers put themselves in a bad spot by giving the ball to Patrick Mahomes, needing a touchdown to beat them.
