Patriots Get Emotional: Bill Belichick & ‘Greatest Player’ Tom Brady Together on Podcast
FOXBORO — For better or for worse, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady will forever be intertwined due to their 20-year run of unprecedented success with the New England Patriots.
The dynamic duo once again took center stage together on Monday night.
Less than one week after announcing his retirement — capping an illustrious 23-year career in the NFL — Brady welcomed Belichick as a guest for the first post-retirement edition of his “Let’s Go!” podcast.
The 45-year-old’s guest list also included his mother Galynn, his father Tom Sr., longtime teammate Rob Gronkowski and ex-rival quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Patrick Mahomes.
However, Brady’s reunion with his former coach was clearly the night’s feature attraction — and it did not disappoint.
“Tom’s had just a tremendous career,” Belichick told co-host Jim Gray. “The greatest player, the greatest career. A great, great person. It was such an opportunity and an honor for me to coach Tom … I guess it’s gotta end at some point. But it’s the greatest one ever. Congratulations, Tom.”
In his first NFL Draft with the team, Belichick selected Brady as the 199th overall selection in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft. In only his second season, the ‘HC of the NEP’ named the Michigan product New England’s starting quarterback; standing by him even when incumbent Drew Bledsoe had returned from injury — a move which Belichick called “the smartest decision I ever made, maybe other than drafting him.”
While the 70-year old remains cognizant of the lessons he taught Brady throughout the years, he also provided some surprising insight on learning from his most apt pupil.
“We had a really good relationship, especially in the film room and talking football and all that, that I’ll always treasure,” Belichick said. “And I learned so much from him, because nobody sees the game better than Tom Brady sees it or saw it, and I was so lucky to learn from him and his vision that – no other coach will get that experience. It’s incredible.”
The prolific player-coach tandem was among the most successful of its kind in professional sports. Together, they participated in 285 regular-season games, 41 postseason contests and a record-setting nine Super Bowl appearances. Their 219 combined victories is the most by any head coach/quarterback duo in the history of the NFL. Belichick, Brady and the Patriots collectively won 17 AFC East Titles, nine conference championships and six Super Bowl titles.
Accordingly, Brady was equally as effusive in his praise for his former coach.
“I think Coach Belichick and I developed an amazing relationship, really from the moment I was draft,” Brady remarked, showing a great deal of emotion. “I had someone that really saw something in me that not a lot of other people did … he loves the sport, he loves teaching, he loves coaching, he loves competing, and nobody’s done it better than him. And I think what a blessing for me – there’s no way I have the success I’ve had personally without him, and I’m very grateful for that.”
Still, for the abundance of success had by the prolific pair, Brady’s decision to leave New England prior to the start of the 2020 NFL season certainly raised a few eyebrows. Though it has since become obvious that both he and Belichick were at least amenable to the idea of going their separate ways, Brady smashed the hot-take conspiracy theories regarding their mutual desire to “outdo” each other into a powdery rubble.
“From my standpoint, I think it’s such a stupid conversation to say ‘Brady vs. Belichick’ because in my mind that’s not what partnerships are about,” Brady said with conviction. “Coach couldn’t play quarterback and I couldn’t coach … In my view it was just people always trying to pull us apart, and I don’t think we ever felt that with each other. We never were trying to pull each other apart, we actually were always trying to go in the same direction.”
Brady also took secondary aim at some of the contrived, and seemingly sensationalized, narratives surrounding his “fractious” relationship with Belichick.
“I think when we were in New England for 20 years together, they get tired of writing the same story,” he quipped. “So once they write all the nice things, championships, and this, they just start going ‘well this works, let’s start trying to divide them.'”
Though neither side shied away from admitting their disagreements, each was careful to clarify that a healthy respect for the other never ceased to exist.
“We didn’t always agree but we always respected each other,” Brady concluded. “I know he always respected me for the job that I did and I certainly did the same.”
While some will continue to dig for sarcasm and disingenuous subtext, both Brady and Belichick were crystal clear in their sentiments, and genuinely seem content in their present direction.
They look back on their time spent together as being productive, successful and above all, special; each with an authentic appreciation for the other. After all, few, if any, have ever enjoyed the level of success Tom Brady and Bill Belichick enjoyed together in New England.
In those two decades, both Brady and Belichick were the key elements in one of the longest-running, and most successful dynasties in the history of American professional sports.
Perhaps more focus should be placed on appreciating that success, rather than retroactively stirring the pot.
Follow Mike D’Abate on Twitter @mdabateNFL and Listen/Subscribe to his daily podcast: Locked On Patriots
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