OPINION: Stop Blaming Belichick

In May 2003, I was born ten miles north of Boston, Massachusetts. This will be my first concession that I might be incredibly biased in discussing this topic. My second concession: I am a diehard Patriots fan. I was consistently told how blessed I was to grow up in “The Brady-Belichick Era” of the Patriots, and now that it is officially over, I see that.

Fortunately, AppleTV gave me a way to relive the good times with their documentary The Dynasty. You’d think nostalgia would get me, but I felt sour around episode eight and it didn’t go away. What happened? With recent rumors suggesting that Bob Kraft “warned” the Falcons about Bill Belichick, it all makes sense to me now. The Dynasty is not an inside look into the “unique chemistry that fueled six Super Bowl titles [and] the internal strife that sparked a turf war.” The Dynasty is a disgraceful deflection of blame from the people who had every chance to make things right.

There was undeniable tension between legendary quarterback Tom Brady and equally legendary head coach Bill Belichick. That was acknowledged by other players, Brady, Belichick, but most importantly, it was acknowledged by Patriots owner Robert Kraft. During the trailer for The Dynasty, Kraft alludes to the drama by saying that he “was just trying to hold it together the best he could.”

To give Robert Kraft some leeway, he was forced into choosing between the greatest quarterback and the greatest coach of all time. This should be an impossible decision. However, multiple incidents in the years leading up to this choice should have swayed Kraft towards sticking with the quarterback that made him look like the best owner in NFL history.

The most glaring of these issues is undoubtedly the benching of Malcolm Butler in Super Bowl 52. Butler became one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL after intercepting Russell Wilson’s pass to save the Patriots in Super Bowl 49. The decision was made—and never since explained—to bench Butler. Rowe got torched in that game, and Malcolm Butler was forced to sit there and watch as the Patriots lost 41-33.

Belichick has always said that the decisions he makes are the ones that are the best for the team. This was one of the rare times where he did the exact opposite. The fact of the matter is that Malcolm Butler was dressed and ready to play. Belichick could have put him in at any time, and he didn’t. Regardless of the theories. many New Englanders, me included, believe that if Butler played that game, the Patriots would be 7-time champions.

It’s not a secret that Bill Belichick is stubborn, but having a willingness to commit mutiny against your own team should have raised concern for Bob Kraft. Combine this with the sentiment from Patriot legends Matthew Slater and Rob Gronkowski that 2017-18 was their most difficult year in New England, Kraft should have attempted to address the culture issues. He didn’t.

On the other side of this equation: Tom Brady was still playing high level football. In that exact same Super Bowl loss, Brady threw for 505 passing yards. This stat is still a Super Bowl record and mirrors a commonality in Brady’s career. Even as he neared forty, he was still one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. From 2014-2017, Brady averaged 32 Touchdowns, 4,252 yards, and a 103-passer rating.

Not to mention that those same players who struggled to play under Belichick loved playing with Tom Brady. Wide receiver Danny Amendola expressed his thoughts on playing in New England during this time, saying “We worked for Bill, we played for Tom.” The players saw how hard Belichick was on Brady, thought it was unfair, and rallied around the star quarterback. Bob Kraft has been in the locker room after essentially every Patriots game. He’s shaking hands, kissing players, sharing a hug. I refuse to believe that he couldn’t see that Brady was the glue holding the team together, not Belichick.

Hell, Kraft had shown that he himself preferred Brady to Belichick. After Tom Brady’s trainer Alex Guerrero had been banned from the team, Kraft went on to reverse the decision to keep Brady in New England. Kraft has gone on record saying that Belichick is an “asshole” to deal with.

I don’t say any of this to diminish any of the accomplishments Bill Belichick had in New England. He has always been a defensive mastermind. He’s gotten the best out of players from Lawyer Milloy to Davon Godchaux. I believe—and I do have the benefit of hindsight—that Bill and the Patriots should have parted ways far before this past winter. What happened?

It was Bill’s defensive genius that bought him an extra five years in Foxboro. When the Patriots won Super Bowl 53 13-3, it cemented Belichick’s legacy as the greatest coach of all-time, and it showed that he still had some gas left in the tank.

Former Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty discussed Belichick’s preparation for this game in Episode 10 of The Dynasty. McCourty said, “[Bill] watched film and realized the Rams had a hard time playing against zone defense. For 18 regular season games you couldn’t’ find us playing this style of defense, but Bill was like ‘alright let’s switch to zone.’”

Nora Princiotti, a writer for The Ringer, followed this quote up by saying “There are defensive coordinators who do not make that change in their entire careers.” Bill did it in two weeks. It was this defensive genius that stopped the Rams offense from establishing a rhythm on offense. It was the defensive prowess that led to the final ring of the Patriots dynasty.

Super Bowl 53 was a war of attrition. In other words, Super Bowl 53 was Bill Belichick at his finest. This game singlehandedly convinced Robert Kraft that Bill deserved five more years in New England. 2019 saw the Patriots have one of the best defenses in NFL History. Sure, they may have had a cakewalk schedule for the first eight weeks, but they were incredible. The problem was not within the talent, it was the culture. Players couldn’t wait for that season to be over. When Logan Ryan intercepted Tom Brady to end the Patriots season, the feeling was one of relief—not frustration.

Having a toxic culture can take a great team and make them just good. That’s what happened in New England under Bill Belichick. Players recognized it, coaches recognized it, fans recognized it, and Bob Kraft recognized it. Tom Brady leaving wasn’t a result of being done with New England, it was the result of being done with Bill Belichick

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Robert Kraft makes himself seem like the victim of this situation when in reality, he allowed it to happen. His approach of “Winning solves everything” was reminiscent of President James Buchanan’s “Constitutional Doctrines answer everything” sentiment that pushed the country closer to Civil War in the 1860s.

Sure, you can blame Belichick for creating a culture that is unbecoming in the NFL today. That still doesn’t absolve Kraft or anyone else in ownership of any guilt. I’m over the idea that the Patriots dynasty could have been saved if Bill Belichick didn’t have an ego. Kraft had multiple opportunities in the later years of the Patriots dynasty to create a new culture, and he didn’t. The blame can’t solely be placed on Kraft, but it damn sure can’t be solely placed on Belichick.