The 5 moments that summed up Bill Belichick's brilliance as Patriots coach

When you win more than 300 games as a head coach, there are going to be plenty of highlights to choose from.

Bill Belichick did it all in his unprecedented run as New England Patriots head coach, which ended Thursday after 24 seasons. Included in those 300-plus wins were six Super Bowl victories.

Here are the five brilliant moments that sum up Belichick's career in New England:

5. Belichick finds a rule loophole vs. Ravens

Part of Belichick's legacy is how he (and perhaps his mysterious longtime right-hand man, Ernie Adams) could figure out the rulebook better than anyone else. He crossed the line with Spygate, but he devised a plan in a 2015 divisional playoff win over the Baltimore Ravens that put Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on tilt.

The Patriots pulled an offensive lineman off the field and substituted a skill-position player who would report as ineligible. That had the Ravens' defense flustered and Harbaugh screaming at the officials to the point that he got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Belichick's maneuver was all legal. The NFL would later put in a rule outlawing that formation but not until the Patriots had a 35-31 comeback win over the Ravens on their way to a Super Bowl title. It was a great example of Belichick outwitting his opponents — even a great coach such as Harbaugh — through the years.

“Maybe those guys gotta study the rulebook and figure it out,” Tom Brady said after the game.

4. Acquiring Randy Moss and Wes Welker

Belichick's personnel decisions became a reason his Patriots career tailed off. But he revitalized the franchise with two fantastic moves in 2007 after watching his receiver-thin team lose in the AFC championship game the season before.

He traded with Miami for slot receiver Wes Welker, sending second- and seventh-round draft picks to the Dolphins. Welker ended up transforming the slot receiver position, which changed the modern NFL game. Then Belichick used a strategy that worked for him many times, finding a disgruntled veteran who still had plenty left to offer by trading a fourth-round draft pick for Randy Moss. In 2007, Moss set a single-season record for receiving touchdowns, Tom Brady broke the record for touchdown passes in a season, the Patriots set a record for points scored, and New England became the first and only team to go 16-0 in the regular season.

The Patriots lost in the Super Bowl that season, but the 2007 Patriots were one of the greatest teams ever. Belichick's recent false steps in putting together the Patriots roster have been mentioned often, but don't forget that he had plenty of brilliant moves during New England's dynasty as well.

3. 'We're on to Cincinnati'

Belichick refused to answer questions about his team's 41-14 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014 by repeatedly telling reporters that he and his team had moved "on to Cincinnati," the Patriots' next opponent. That exchange was funny and went viral, but it was critical in what would be a Super Bowl season. The Patriots' dynasty looked like it was over that night in Kansas City, but Belichick was masterful at keeping the focus on the task at hand. The Patriots beat the Bengals in their next game on the way to winning 10 of their next 11 and another championship. "We're on to Cincinnati" became part of NFL history.

2. Tom Brady over Drew Bledsoe

Belichick was never afraid to make an unconventional move, including moving on from popular veterans at just the right time. In 2001, it was not a given that the Patriots would bench Bledsoe for Brady, a sixth-round draft pick in 2000 who was a first-time starter. Many coaches would've played it safe and stuck with Bledsoe, who had been the Patriots' starter since 1993 and had made three Pro Bowls by that point. But Belichick believed in Brady and how the team played with him that season. That team went on to win a Super Bowl, a dynasty was born, and Brady's run as arguably the greatest quarterback ever started then. Imagine how NFL history might've been different if Belichick hadn't made that controversial decision.

1. Patriots upset the Rams for 1st Super Bowl win

It's possible that Belichick authored the two greatest defensive game plans in Super Bowl history.

The first one came as Giants defensive coordinator, when he built a scheme to slow down the Buffalo Bills' incredible offense in Super Bowl XXV. But the upset in Super Bowl XXXVI might have been even more impressive. The Patriots were expected to get blown out by the St. Louis Rams and their "Greatest Show on Turf" offense, but Belichick figured out how to slow down the Rams. He took Marshall Faulk out of the game, often by getting physical with him at the line of scrimmage. The Patriots disrupted the Rams' timing and ended up kicking a field goal as time expired for a 20-17 win, pulling off one of the great upsets in NFL history.

That started an incredible run that lasted almost two full decades. Belichick was never better than he was in that Super Bowl.