I see your game, Bill Belichick. You saw what happened with Pitt DB Raion Strader after he called out Malachi Toney, you decided that you didn't want that kind of smoke. That's why you've won six Super Bowls, by playing it cool and seeing if the opposition will leave their guard down.
The North Carolina coach knew he was going to be asked about Toney in his Monday media availability and, in classic Belichick form, he showed full respect to the Miami Hurricanes superstar and painted him to be an unstoppable force.
Bill Belichick talks about Malachi Toney ability to get open in double coverage.
— BLEED ORANGE AND GREEN (@Brabra_Savage24) October 26, 2026
“He finds ways to get open even when he is double covered. That doesn’t really stop him. I mean, you would think it would but not really”#GABOS #HeisMALI #GoCanes pic.twitter.com/a1UDZbRGrX
"He's good at everything. He's a good blocker. He's tough. A lot of guys that play that position don't have that," Belichick said to begin his statement. "Very explosive, quick, fast. Good with the ball in his hands, good returner. Turns short plays into long touchdowns. He does a good job on deep routes, too. He's very good at winning leverage."
Belichick continued and talked about Toney's ability to get open and the clever way that Shannon Dawson schemes up ways for him to find space.
There's clearly a lot of respect there. I'm not suggesting that Belichick doesn't respect Toney. He has a ton of appreciation for Toney's game and the commitment the sophomore makes to blocking and executing the things that don't show up on the stat sheet, but help a team win. But don't think for a second that Belichick isn't spending nearly 24 hours a day in his office trying to learn every avenue he can to keep the ball out of Toney's hands.
Malachi Toney can bring defenses to their knees and Bill Belichick knows this
Everyone claims to have a plan for Toney, and they all do. I'm sure Strader was right when he said that Pitt had a scheme to stop Toney, but it didn't matter because Toney had already decided he was going to light them up.
Belichick knows he doesn't have the horses to stop Toney with simple coverage, so he's going to go through everything he's tried over his many years in football and try to match a scheme that could work with the personnel he has available.
Darian Mensah might be the one under attack against UNC
Belichick has stopped some of the greatest offenses and greatest offensive players in football history. Jim Kelly and the K-Gun offense, Joe Montana and the 49ers' West Coast attack, Kurt Warner and the Greatest Show on Turf, and many more have fallen to Belichick's ability to be one step ahead.
While it would help to have Hall of Famers like Lawrence Taylor or Ty Law, there is no player with anything close to that kind of athletic profile currently on the Tar Heels' roster. So, my prediction is Belichick is going to try to limit Toney by limiting the guy throwing him the ball.
Belichick has already seen Darian Mensah in action. The Hurricanes quarterback led Duke to a 32-25 win over UNC last year. Mensah was ok in that win, throwing for 175 yards and a touchdown, but the Blue Devils did their damage with a strong ground game and a 12-minute time-of-possession advantage. Dawson is probably going to want to attack the Tar Heels' defense and, in return, Belichick is going to want to attack Mensah.
The easiest thing for a defense to do is send guys to the quarterback. It's a risk, but Belichick is hoping that Mensah will be more concerned about where the free men are coming from than he will be about getting the ball to Toney. But if Mensah handles it like he has all season, Belichick and the Tar Heels will be living in a nightmare on Halloween.
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