Dear Pats Nation,
Before I begin, I want to stress that any mention of Tom Brady is in no way a slight of him, his legacy or my admiration, — as a person or player. This really has nothing to do with Tom Brady. It’s about Bill Belichick.
Sad that I even have to preface it this way, but that’s what it’s come to nowadays. It seems one can’t speak glowingly of Coach Bill Belichick anymore, without being treated like a Cowboys fan at an Eagles game — or worse. Which is why I’ve decided to weigh in on the subject of our once beloved, but now much maligned, head coach. My goal in writing this is to reach those in Pats Nation who have gone from ignoring the noise, to embracing the noise. From those who have gone from believing in Bill, to belittling Bill. To those who have become exactly like that which they have historically purported to loathe — the Patriots-hating talking heads, who have sought to diminish us fans and our beloved Patriots Dynasty for the last 20 years.
One would expect the type of slander we hear about Coach Belichick from click-bait seeking social media bloggers, not Pats fans. But alas — here we are. Many hysterical sports media pundits, and an alarming number of fans in Pats nation, seem to only be able to discuss coach Belichick with venom. There’s a palpable anger felt when hearing people discuss the topic of Coach Belichick’s alleged “fall from grace.” Many sports pundits have waited two decades for a chance to dance on Belichick’s “football grave.” They’ve tried to bury him at every opportunity, real or fabricated, so it comes as no surprise that they would be rejoicing now. They’ve done it after every regular season loss, every grumpy press conference and every questionable draft pick. While I can’t change the way that those sports media types speak about Belichick, I can appeal to the greatest fan base in all of sports. So, Pats fans, let’s take a moment and unpack the many biting criticisms of Coach Belichick. Let’s confront some hard truths and let’s, hopefully, bring some perspective, gratitude and respect back for our once beloved coach.
Let’s begin with the utterly ridiculous —
“Who was more responsible for The Patriots dynasty, Brady or Belichick?”
Somehow this topic, combined with a very rough stretch of football, seems to have infected many of us in Pats Nation. Causing us to completely lose perspective and/or the ability to reason. It’s a topic that was only created (and perpetuated), by non-Pats fans, to diminish the legacy of The Patriots Dynasty. A topic that we used to laugh off, scoff at or completely avoid engaging/indulging in. Yet, it’s been steadily fueled by the talking heads (most of whom have never played a day of NFL football in their lives) and has slowly infiltrated (if not completely corrupted), many in Pats Nation.
How else can we possibly explain the bizarre behavior of (seemingly) intelligent people, trying to gauge what percentage of the Patriots Dynasty should be attributed to one man over another?
Seriously, does any reasonable human being on the planet really believe that Brady, or Belichick, won six rings without Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Tedy Bruschi, Matt Light, Troy Brown, Vince Wilfork, James White, Corey Dillon, Kevin Faulk or that kicker Adam Vinatieri?
Ironically, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady never forget to acknowledge their teammates, their assistants, their trainers, their staffs or that gentleman who signs the checks, owns the team and made all of this possible — Mr. Robert Kraft.
Besides, if we are going to credit one person for being the biggest reason for the Patriots dynasty — shouldn’t Mr. Kraft at least be considered in that conversation?
I digress.
“Belichick never won a Super Bowl without Brady”.
No coach has ever had a dynasty without an all time great QB.
So, either Coach Belichick is being held to a higher standard — or this is a serious double standard.
Think not? Then why is this criticism only reserved for Coach Belichick?
Did Chuck Noll win without Terry Bradshaw? No. Did Bill Walsh win without Joe Montana? No. Instead, Bill Walsh is often credited for at least one of the Super Bowl wins that he did not coach. Think not? Ask somebody how many rings he has — more than a few people will likely answer “four”. The answer is three. How come we never hear “Bill Walsh never won a ring without Montana”? Did Jimmy Johnson ever win without Troy Aikman? Never. Not even close.
How about Andy Reid — the sports media’s new darling of a head coach? The guy that many of the so called “experts” are now calling the GOAT. Surely Andy has built a dynasty without an all time great QB, since that is a new criteria for defining a coach’s legacy. Let’s review — Did Andy win in Philly without Donovan McNabb? No. He never even won a Super Bowl with Donovan McNabb, never mind winning one without him. Did the Almighty Andy win a Super Bowl, in KC, without Patrick Mahomes? No. In fact, if memory serves me correct, he never even got to a Super Bowl with Mahomes until after Belichick and Brady’s final game together.
“Belichick never won, with The Pats, without Brady”.
At what point does Coach Belichick get kudos for the pivotal role he played in Tom Brady’s career, instead of being bashed because of the role that Tom Brady played in his?
Bill Belichick drafted Tom Brady. He kept Tom Brady on the roster as a fourth QB (unheard of), as a rookie. He started Tom Brady. He started Tom Brady when Bledsoe got hurt. He started Tom Brady when Bledsoe got healthy. He even (incredulously) started Tom Brady in The Super Bowl, after Bledsoe led The Pats to an AFC Championship game victory over The Steelers. Coach Belichick did all of this, despite the majority of Pats players (and a majority of Pats nation) wanting Coach Belichick to start Drew Bledsoe in The Super Bowl against The Rams — instead of Tom Brady. Bill Belichick may be the one and only coach (and possibly the only human being not named Tom Brady) that actually believed in Tom Brady as an NFL starting QB. Coach Belichick entrusted his team, his job and his coaching career, to a gangly kid that nobody else would even waste a draft pick on.
Tom Brady acknowledged this, himself, in his ESPN Docu-Series — “Man In The Arena”.
Yes, it’s true, it’s been five years without a Super Bowl since losing our once in a lifetime QB. That is half as long as the ten-year Super Bowl drought that we once experienced with that same once in a lifetime QB.
“Belichick never won without Brady” — The Prequel.
It always amazes me, how many people do not recall Coach Belichick’s Browns beating our Patriots, and Coach Bill Parcells, in the playoffs back in the ’94-’95 season. The year before Art Modell announced that the Browns were leaving Cleveland and moving to Baltimore. Which led to the fans turning on the team, the team falling apart at the seams, Coach Belichick being fired and then labeled as a lousy coach. Could a more experienced Coach Belichick have handled that mess a little better? Perhaps, but he was building a winner in Cleveland. Yet, if you’ll recall, many in the local media did not want Coach Belichick to come to The Pats, (after Pete Carroll) because they considered him such a dreadful coach, and many more thought Mr. Kraft was insane to trade a first round pick for Bill Belichick. How ironic that many of those same media types are now perpetuating the rumors (and in some cases — creating them) that The Pats should get a first rounder in exchange for Belichick.
“Brady won without Belichick.”
Isn’t that a good thing? I love Tom Brady! I was glad that he got another ring. For him, for his legacy and because it saved all of us from ever having to hear the outlandish — “Mahomes, Manning or Rodgers is the GOAT”, silliness again. Tom’s seventh ring could have been a joyful experience for all of Pats Nation, if we chose to see it that way — even if it wasn’t in New England. Instead, it has become part of the reason that so many Pats fans have turned on the guy whose defense was very much part of The Pats winning the other six rings in Tom’s collection.
Can’t we be happy for Tom, without being angry at Bill?
“Belichick can’t draft”.
Sure, GM Belichick has made us scratch our heads more times than we should have. But we sure do focus an awful lot on the misses. While we ignore the many times he has hit the jackpot with his draft picks — and undrafted free agents. I remember when he drafted Sony Michel. I almost screamed at the TV. “Why the heck are we drafting a running back in the first round?!” Then came the playoffs in Sony’s rookie season. He helped lead a ground and pound offensive attack to a Super Bowl win, rushing for 6 TD’s — a record. Three in the first round against the Chargers. Then he ran all over The Chiefs, in Arrowhead. Then did much of the same in The Super Bowl.
While we are on the subject of that playoff run — never forget Patrick Mahomes being repeatedly harassed, hurried and sacked, in that AFC Championship game. Never forget Jared Goff looking bewildered all game long during that Super Bowl game. Never forget Sean McVay talking about how “cool” it was that the Mercedes Benz Super Dome roof would be open for a pregame military jet flyover — while Coach Belichick was strategizing about how to best take advantage of the breeze caused by the open roof, and how it might impact the opening kickoff.
“Belichick can’t draft wide receivers”.
I could end this debate by asking “have you ever heard of Julian Edelman?” But to be fair, this point is not so simply settled. Although, I’d argue that drafting Deion Branch and David Givens, in the same draft, was absolutely brilliant. They helped The Pats win two more Super Bowls.
The misses have hurt, but the guys that he has hit on have helped us win the only thing that matters in New England — Super Bowl Championships. Even Malcolm Mitchell was critical to the Pats winning another Super Bowl. Has Bill drafted WR’s that have played 15 years and stacked up Hall of Fame resumé’s? No. He has, however, drafted guys that did what needed to be done.
I’d also argue that drafting the greatest tight end in history (Gronk, in the second round when no other GM in football would touch him after his injuries), deserves some acknowledgment in the drafting pass catchers debate.
“Belichick didn’t give Brady any weapons”.
This may be the most widespread mistruth of all of the Coach Belichick criticisms. I mean, did we all forget the Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth era? Here’s the one problem with those teams — they netted ZERO Super Bowl wins. That’s right. ZERO. The period when The Patriots had the greatest array of weapons, and Brady put up his gaudiest numbers, is the same period when The Pats became what they had always loathed and had always defeated — a juggernaut offense, with all the weapons, that couldn’t win the tight games in the post season. In fact, we became an awful lot like Peyton Mannings’ Colts teams (except our QB wasn’t a choker). We always laughed in the faces of those Colts teams. Because, despite all the weapons, they could never outsmart a Bill Belichick defense.
I’ll give one more example of the inaccuracy of this “no weapons” criticism.
In 2018-19, Tom Brady’s last season with The Patriots. Having lost Gronk to retirement, it was assumed that our offense was going to struggle. That’s when the “Brady never has any weapons” myth really kicked into high gear. But let’s look back. The Patriots had Edelman, Josh Gordon, N’Keal Harry, Cordarrelle Patterson, Chris Hogan, James White and then, miraculously, The Patriots also acquired (a still in his prime) Antonio Brown. Suddenly, every expert on TV and radio said, “The Patriots are gonna go undefeated again”. The Belichick hoodie memes, that surfaced every time he made a brilliant roster move, were everywhere. Bill had outsmarted the league again. The Patriots offense was suddenly deemed “unfair”. Yes, Bill had given Tom the weapons and The defending Champion Patriots started 8-0, had the NFL’s number one ranked defense and looked unstoppable. Tragically, the weapons came with some baggage and, by no fault of Coach Belichick or Tom Brady, the season (and some of those players) slipped away. Ironically, it was N’Keal Harry who could have changed the fortunes of our season, for the better, and could possibly have delivered the TD that gained us home field throughout the playoffs. But alas, the refs took away Harry’s clutch TD. The rest, is revisionist history.
This debate does such a disservice to so many great Patriots players of the past. Are we saying that Kevin Faulk, Troy Brown, Shane Vereen, James White, LeGarrette Blount, Gronk, Brandon LaFell, Danny Amendola and many others, were not weapons?
“He doesn’t know offense”.
He assembled the best offense ever, in 2007.
“He doesn’t pay his players”.
You don’t commit $60 million to Aqib Talib, and screw up your cap flexibility, when you can simply sign Darrelle Revis and win another Super Bowl, instead.
“He benched Malcom Butler and cost us a Super Bowl”.
I’d say that not having Donte Hightower cost us that Super Bowl versus The Eagles, more so than not having Malcolm Butler.
We also had something, in that game, that any Patriots fan wants in any game — Tom Brady with the ball in his hands, with a chance to win, at the end of the game.
It didn’t work out. It happens.
Anyway, I know many people still hold a grudge against Coach for never explaining why Malcolm didn’t play in that game — although they’d probably never accept an explanation if he did give them one. Ironically, Malcolm Butler isn’t holding a grudge against Coach. Yet, the rest of us just assume the worst in Bill. Regardless, I respect Coach for not spilling team business into the pages of the local papers. That’s a quality that I admire in a coach. It’s a quality that we all used to admire in Coach Belichick.
“He doesn’t talk to the media”.
We used to love his minimalist answers, when The Pats were winning. Now we hate them, when The Pats are losing?
To coin a phrase — I’m on to the next topic.
“Belichick drove Brady away”.
Just consider this one point before completely hating Coach for the decision to move on from Tom Brady. A decision that hurt me, as much as it hurt anyone. If Tom Brady winning with Tampa proves that Coach Belichick was wrong about moving on from Tom Brady — doesn’t Jimmy G leading the Niners to a Super Bowl, and almost winning, kind of prove Coach Belichick right about Jimmy G? Even if Bill was 100% wrong about Tom Brady?
“Belichick ruined Mac Jones”.
One could make a very strong case that it’s actually the other way around. I’m not saying that Mac ruined Coach, and I guarantee you that Coach wouldn’t say that about Mac, I’m just asking — which scenario is more likely?
To suggest that the greatest coach of all time “ruined” a one-year college player — a player that most experts thought was only going to be average at best — is completely insane.
To believe that Coach ruined Mac, you’d have to have believed that Mac Jones was on the path to greatness and that Bill derailed him. I never heard a single soul claim that Mac was going to be anything close to “great”. Even after his decent rookie season. Look, I really like Mac. I respect Mac. I still have high hopes for Mac (though it will likely be elsewhere), but if I’m going to judge Mac vs Belichick on their track records, I’m sorry, I’m taking the guy who oversaw Tom Brady’s development over the kid who played one season at Alabama.
To be fair, Mac had three offensive coordinators in three seasons. That cannot be easy to handle, I’m sure.
But to those who suggest that Bill Belichick “ruined” Mac Jones, because of Matt Patricia, I’d go as far as to argue that several current QB’s in this league could’ve contended for a ring with last seasons roster. Give me Justin Herbert with Coach Belichick, last seasons weapons, last seasons defensive unit and I believe that we would have been contenders. I’d wager a lot on it. If you are being honest with yourself, you would too.
By the way, The Chargers cleaned house, and are rumored as Coach/GM Belichick’s next destination, should he leave town. So, he may get to Coach Justin Herbert after all.
Careful what you wish for Pats fans.
Look, I’ve been a Pats fan since the early 70’s, and I know that this season really does suck. I know that this season may not even be as bad as last season. That really sucked.
I also know this — The Patriots have lost every starting corner back on the roster to injury, and they also lost the best pass rusher in the NFL, to injury as well. Despite that, the defense keeps showing up and the team hasn’t quit. They have every reason to quit, but they haven’t. Every first quarter pick six could have had these guys phoning it in months ago. Yet, the team keeps playing hard. Coach Belichick deserves credit for that. Not criticism. At the very least, he deserves (and has earned), some grace.
In my opinion, Coach could go 0 forever and he still deserves to coach this team. That’s being a bit unrealistic, but when we were all praying for God to “just let us win this one time” — as Adam Vinatieri lined up for the game winning kick against The Rams back in ‘01 — we would have accepted never winning another game for the next 100 years just to win once. Instead, we got six rings, in 20 years! How soon we forget.
Maybe we got so used to winning, that we forgot how fortunate we were to win?
Maybe we got so used to winning, that we are punishing Coach Belichick for our own unrealistic expectations?
Maybe we got so spoiled by all that winning, that we have become unforgiving brats when we lose.
At the end of the day, I certainly respect whatever decision Mr. Kraft makes about Coach’s future. He is the man who risked it all for Coach Belichick. He need not apologize to anyone, including me, for whatever he decides to do about Coach. It’s his team. If the rumors do turn out to be true, and Coach is replaced, it will not change my opinion of him. Nor does it change my opinion of how poorly so many in Pats Nation have treated him. He deserves better, whether he stays or not.
Remember, the greatest QB to ever play the game — only comes around once in a lifetime.
The same can be said for the greatest coach of all time.
He may not be our coach next season — but he deserves our respect forever.