New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is among the most-successful at his position in NFL history. Working with Tom Brady over a two-decade span, he won six Super Bowls in that role.
Belichick and Brady will now do battle with the latter leading his defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers into New England to take on the Patriots Sunday night.
It’s the most-anticipated game of the young NFL season. With that comes individuals attempting to cash in as the entire gridiron world focuses its attention on Gillette Stadium.
ESPN writer Seth Wickersham is set to release a new book, entitled “It’s Better to be Feared.” Said book focuses on the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady dynamic during their time together in New England and how the end of Brady’s tenure with the Patriots following the 2019 season went.
In tidbits released by ESPN on Wednesday, Wickersham seems to paint the latter part of the Belichick and Brady relationship in a bad light. He also tells a story of the future Hall of Famer head coach refusing to meet with Brady in person after the quarterback opted to sign in Tampa Bay.
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“Even though Belichick told Brady that he was ‘the best player the league had ever seen,’ Brady told a friend the fact it came over the phone was ‘telling’ about how badly the duo’s relationship had deteriorated over the years,” the new report reads.
That’s some damning stuff there given that Brady and Belichick had the most success we’ve seen from a quarterback-head coach tandem in NFL history.
Bill Belichick pushes back against report in new book
“No, that’s not true. And I’ve heard a few things about this book, and it sounds like it’s a lot of second, third and fourth-hand comments,” the head coach told reports Wednesday. “But I’m not going to get into that. I’m going to focus on this game and try to prepare for this game.”
Belichick also took time out of his Q&A session with reporters to praise his former quarterback.
“Nothing Tom does surprises me. Tom does all things well … plays hard, takes care of himself. He’s talked about playing until 50. If there is anyone that can do it, it’s probably him.”
There’s certainly a pretty big backdrop here. A lot was made after Brady’s departure from New England about who was most responsible for the Patriots’ dynastic run, the quarterback or the head coach.
Brady went on to lead Tampa Bay to just its second Super Bowl title in franchise history in his first year with the long-downtrodden organization. Under Bill Belichick, the Patriots posted their first losing season since back in 2000.
Heading into this big Week 4 outing, the Bucs are seen as odds-on favorites to repeat as Super Bowl champs while New England finds itself at 1-2 and relying on a rookie quarterback in Mac Jones who threw three interceptions last week.
As for the Brady and Belichick dynamic, it seems things might be getting blown out of proportion here. That’s crazy given just even-keeled people are in today’s society.
All joking aside, this should be an absolute blast.