Patriots Ex Tedy Bruschi: Hold Bill Belichick 'Accountable'
Is New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick out of touch?
After an underwhelming 8-9 season where the Patriots missed the playoffs, the legendary head coach told the media at the NFL Owners' Meeting that the reason for fans to be optimistic about the upcoming season was the "past 25 years."
This comment from Belichick drew some ire from ex-Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi who went on ESPN's Get Up and discussed how this is a big change from the past.
“That’s my guy who had a little slip right there,” Bruschi said. “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.’”
Bruschi continued …
“This is what the good teams do. Players hold coaches accountable also when they get off-message,” Bruschi said. “Right now, Coach Belichick is off-message. 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.”
Bruschi then called on players to "hold coaches accountable."
“I don’t know what’s going on in that locker room now, but players can hold coaches accountable," Bruschi added. "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. I’m not in that locker room anymore. I’m just surprised because that’s not the Bill Belichick that I know.”
Bruschi paints Belichick's comment as a potential alarm for a coach who may be feeling the pressure to get the Patriots back into the playoffs.
But maybe this is Belichick's way of telling the fans to trust him as they've done in the past and let the often-painted evil genius head coach go to work rather than a coach who has lost his message.
Follow Harrison Reno on Twitter
Follow Patriots Country on Twitter and Facebook
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Patriots? Click Here
More Patriots coverage from Sports Illustrated here.
