Tedy Bruschi was perplexed to hear Bill Belichick talking about the past.
One day after Belichick referenced “the last 25 years” as a reason New England fans should be hopeful about the future, the former Patriots linebacker dissected the unexpected take Tuesday on ESPN’s “Get Up.”
“That’s my guy who had a little slip right there,” Bruschi said, according to NESN.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve been in meetings with Coach Belichick and the very first meeting is, ‘I don’t care about anything in the past.’ We win Super Bowls, ‘last year doesn’t matter.’ Pro Bowls don’t matter, All-Pros don’t matter. ‘Everything you’ve done last year doesn’t matter, fellas. It’s about who we are going forward.’”
The three-time Super Bowl champ, who played linebacker for the Patriots from 1996 to 2008, added Tuesday why he disagreed with Belichick’s approach.
“This is what the good teams do. Players hold coaches accountable also when they get off-message. Right now, Coach Belichick is off-message,” Bruschi said.
“That is something that his players shouldn’t hear — that he is basing some optimism to fans on ‘what I’ve done the last 25 years.’ I don’t know if I’ve ever heard Bill mention something like that in terms of his whole body of work. It was surprising to me.
“I don’t know what’s going on in that locker room now, but players can hold coaches accountable.”
The Patriots are coming off a disappointing 8-9 season in which they missed the playoffs.
The team last won the Super Bowl in February 2019, when then-quarterback Tom Brady led the Patriots to a 13-3 victory over the Rams.
Although Alabama product Mac Jones took on the starting role in 2021, Belichick appeared to hint Monday that a quarterback competition between Jones and Bailey Zappe is a possibility this summer.
Bruschi said Tuesday that he was surprised Belichick would imply future performances could be based on previous results.
“I’ve done it with Bill before when he said things postgame or during the week that I did not like and we had discussions in captains meetings or after games or whatever,” Bruschi concluded.
“I’m not in that locker room anymore. I’m just surprised because that’s not the Bill Belichick that I know.”