Tom Brady Sr. is going to bat for Bill Belichick
By Christopher L. Gasper Boston Globe Staff, January 31, 2024
"Ego sometimes gets in the way of things," said Tom Brady Sr. "I think it did with Bill."
The argument that the diminishment of Bill Belichick’s coaching impact has gone too far in the wake of his mutual parting with the Patriots after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles boasts an unlikely ally. Tom Brady Sr. went to bat for his son’s former boss and partner in the Patriots dynasty.
“I don’t think it’s fair what I’ve seen everybody saying that it’s all Tom,” said Brady Sr. “Bill is the best coach in football, bar none. The last three or four years of his tenure in New England have been in the dumper. It’s too bad.”
If you were expecting Tom Brady’s father to gloat about Belichick’s unseating as Patriots coach, a removal that can be traced to Belichick’s decision following the 2019 season to go it alone without the greatest quarterback of all time, that’s not how the Bradys roll.
Plus, there is little sense in Gronk-spiking on Belichick’s gridiron grave now. Everybody knows that Brady won Tom vs. Time and Brady vs. Belichick. The Hoodie posted three losing seasons in four years and a 29-39 record sans Saint Thomas of San Mateo.
“Bill is tough,” said Brady Sr. “He runs a military system. It’s a different generation. Bill is a great, great, great coach. But his interpersonal skills are horrible. That’s the bottom line.
“How many times has he said — back in ‘15 or ‘16 — that he wanted to win without Tommy? When he went without Tommy, he didn’t know what he was losing. You’re losing more than just a quarterback.
“Ego sometimes gets in the way of things. I think it did with Bill. Now, he’s in a situation where he’s gotten crucified for the last few years by everybody and a lot of luster has come off his rose.”
Despite all the verbal bouquets that Patriots owner Robert Kraft threw at the feet of Belichick upon his departure and at the introduction of new head coach Jerod Mayo, he would like a do-over on the tacit decision he made between Brady and Belichick.
It seemed like a reasonable bet that the coach possessed more career runway than the quarterback. But it backfired, colossally.
Kraft told the Brady's as much when Brady returned for a Foxborough Fete at the team’s season opener on Sept. 10.
“He just said, ‘I made a mistake.’ He told us that back in September,” relayed Brady Sr. “We don’t all make the right decisions, but he’s made a hell of a lot of good ones over the years. But I know that it galls him that Tommy went elsewhere and won. Not that he won, but that he won after Bill said he was done.”
Brady Sr. confirmed the details from an ESPN story that said the Brady family had zero interaction with Belichick during their return trip to Foxborough. But that wasn’t perceived as any slight by Belichick. It was the same as it was for the Brady Bunch during Brady’s 20 years as a Patriot.
The elder Tom Brady said he truly did not know the current status of the Brady-Belichick relationship.
However, Brady Sr. seemed genuinely surprised that Belichick hadn’t landed another job. He was aware that Belichick needs just 15 wins to pass Don Shula as the NFL’s all-time winningest coach.
He pointed out that Lions coach Dan Campbell “lost a game that Belichick never would’ve lost” with the collapse in the NFC Championship game Sunday.
“Bill loves coaching,” said Brady Sr. “But again, I don’t know if teams look at Bill — he’s 71 now — I don’t know that they’re going to bend over backward for him, to provide him the full array of control that he wants to have. That’s the bottom line.
“He could probably turn up somewhere and find 16 games [to win] in two years or three. But if he’s out after that, and the team has reformulated their front office to accommodate his wishes … from their standpoint, I don’t know if the magic is worth the accommodations that they have to make.”
That seems to be the general feeling in the NFL. The Falcons flirted heavily with Belichick, interviewing him twice, but ultimately they elected to hire Raheem Morris.
Of the seven non-New England head coach openings, only Washington remains. Teams appear unconvinced that Belichick can replicate his success without Brady.
Teams could regret not pursuing Belichick the way they regretted passing on Brady when he was a free agent in 2020.
One of those teams, the 49ers, tried to double back and lure Brady out of retirement again before this season, according to current Niners quarterback Brock Purdy, who said coach Kyle Shanahan told him he was the starter unless the team could get Brady.
While praising Purdy for guiding the 49ers to the Super Bowl, Brady was equivocal on that possibility on “The Pat McAfee Show” Tuesday. But his father said he saw it as a nonstarter because of Brady’s three children being based on the East Coast.
“If Purdy got knocked out on Jan. 2, and they needed someone and called Tommy, he might have just stepped back in for two or three games,” said Brady Sr. “As much as he thrives on practice, and not having practiced in so long, I don’t think he would’ve been able to.
“There’s no sense in doing to Tommy’s reputation what Bill did to his reputation.”
Brady Sr. joked he and his wife, Galynn, are going to tell their famous son to unretire because they miss the thrills. “For 24 years, every game meant something,” he said. “Now, no game means anything.”
As far as the premature “debate” about Patrick Mahomes surpassing Brady, Brady Sr. said he enjoys Mahomes. But he longs for Mahomes to have the kind of QB competitors that his son had — perhaps a subtle argument about (cue, Taylor Swift) eras.
“When Tommy was coming through, you had Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger around. Now, when you want to win, Mahomes is the only guy. Who is really on his level?”
Once joined at the hip, the legacies of Brady and Belichick have diverged in opposite directions.
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