On Monday via teleconference, Bill Belichick gave his first comments about Tom Brady since his longtime QB left for Tampa.
Belichick declared that for the past 20 years, every single decision he made had Brady in mind.
As George Costanza famously told Jerry Seinfeld, “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” And maybe somehow Bill has convinced himself that he treated TB12 with the respect deserved of the greatest to ever put on an NFL jersey. After all, winning six Lombardis is the ultimate respect, and history will forever show Brady won his share of those with Belichick at the helm.
It’s just tough to focus on that right now when you can hear Brady laughing all the way from Jeter’s Palace at the Pats’ characterization of the end of The Dynasty.
Was the 2019 tight end duo of Ryan Izzo and Matt LaCosse assembled with Tom in mind? A group of receivers so bad the team had to gamble on the unemployable Antonio Brown? Marshall Newhouse as the insurance policy at tackle?
The 2019 Patriots offense was the exact opposite of having Brady in mind. Unless “in mind” is the new definition of sabotage.
That Belichick “Brady in mind” statement alone gave the coach’s pre-Draft press conference an air of a Trump briefing, but the authoritarian tone was on from the outset.
It began with the classic Belichick chess opening, attempting to shut down all unwanted TB Talk by stating that “we’re moving forward and focusing on the draft.”
NFL Network’s Mike Giardi did his best Queen’s Gambit to disregard that edict by asking Belichick if the team had a desire to bring Brady back in 2020.
“Water under the bridge,” Belichick replied. “Like I said, we're really focused on this season.”
Surprised he left?
Belichick: “Again, I think we’ve covered that.”
After a few stalemate responses on questions about Nick Saban, Bill’s troubles with technology (as tired as the phrase “new normal”), and life without OTAs, The Hoodie Historian went in for the kill on a question from Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston.
Q: You mentioned that it’s an interesting quarterback class. How willing do you feel like you and your staff will need to be moving forward when it comes to that position and maybe altering your offense a little bit, with more athletic styles of quarterback coming through the draft each year? How important is it to be open to changing the system you’ve built for two decades with one guy primarily playing the majority of the snaps there?
BB: Right, yeah. Exactly, Phil. I couldn’t agree with you more in terms of over the last two decades, everything we did, every single decision we made in terms of major planning, was made with the idea of how to make things best for Tom Brady.
Bam. The Belichick hammer.
As he dropped it, Bill was probably staring at a copy of Brady’s ‘Player’s Tribune’ piece where TB x TB declared that “playing for the Buccaneers is a change, a challenge, an opportunity to lead and collaborate, and also to be seen and heard.”
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Those were Brady’s grievances summed up in a sentence: all he ever wanted in New England was to be loved. To be noticed by Bill.
Every decision Belichick made had Tom Brady in mind?
Please.
I have no doubt Josh McDaniels did his best to design game plans with Tom’s skills in mind, but from Bill’s point of view keeping Brady in mind meant asking him to cover up for giant talent gaps, giving him less and less to work with.
Not to mention asking him to take less and less salary.
The main legacy of the six Lombardi Brady-Belichick era is secure. It’s the greatest run in the history of America’s most beloved sport, never to be matched again.
But it ended poorly. Kraft chose Belichick, and Bill pushed Brady out.
Not everything has to have a storybook finish, but for some reason, Kraft and Belichick can’t handle being responsible for the final sour note. They are determined to rewrite the ending in a perfect coda.
Trump took Coronavirus seriously in February, Belichick made Brady feel appreciated, and Tom didn’t want to finish his career at Patriot.
If you say these things often enough, maybe the public will believe it.
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