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As the Patriots prepare to face the Falcons in the Super Bowl, New England coach Bill Belichick will have to come up with a game plan rivaling some of his best work, including Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams and Super Bowl XXV against the Bills. He’ll draw that assignment because, six years ago, one of his pupils ignored a suggestion from Belichick.

As explained in Michael Holley’s book War Room, Belichick advised Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff against the move from No. 27 in the first round of the 2011 draft to No. 6, due to the high cost for jumping 21 spots.

Dimitroff nevertheless pressed ahead, in an effort to improve an offense that couldn’t keep up with the Packers in the team’s most recent games, a 48-21 playoff loss at home in January 2011.

“This may have been a once-in-a-career type move,” Dimitroff told the Boston Globe in 2013. “We felt that we were in the right place as an organization with the amount of veteran talent we had and the amount of youthful talent we had and the quarterback we had in place. It was a time that was right for us to get ourselves a very explosive player.”

They did, and it has worked. Even if the Browns hadn’t squandered the picks they got for Jones, the move worked for the Falcons. Jones consistently has been among the best receivers in football, and he proved his worth with an exclamation point in a Georgia Dome boat race fueled by his nine catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

Now, Belichick must spend the next 13 days coming up with ways to stop Jones, thanks to the fact that Dimitroff was smart enough to know when to ignore typically sage advice.