Things have grown restless in Foxborough in the four years Tom Brady left the New England Patriots. That includes fans calling for eight-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick to be fired as the Pats stand at 2-8.
However, Belichick has one ardent backer: Tom Brady.
Tom Brady Defends Bill Belichick to Stephen A. Smith
Appearing on The Stephen A. Smith Show Monday, the legendary NFL quarterback — who won six Super Bowls with Belichick — came to the defense of the heavily criticized head coach.
“I think he’s an incredible coach. He’s the best coach, in my belief, in the history of the game,” Brady told Smith.
There’s more. Brady doesn’t envision a scenario where the Pats turn to someone else to lead the franchise.
“The thought of him not being in New England is hard for me to think about,” Brady said.
Brady Doesn’t Think Belichick Has Changed as a Head Coach
Brady only endured one losing season with Belichick: his rookie season of 2000, also Belichick’s first campaign with the Pats. That was a 5-11 run.
Next came an astonishing run of nine conference titles and six rings. Brady ultimately won his seventh in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 season.
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But even though Brady was last inside the Patriots locker room four years ago, he doesn’t think Belichick has changed as a head coach despite his current struggles.
“He prepares the team really well,” Brady told Smith. “And ultimately, you got to have a lot of people around you to succeed. You gotta have a lot of things in place for the organization to be successful. I don’t think he’s probably coaching much different now than when we were undefeated in 2007. I’m sure he’s preparing the team the same way.
“The results are different, but again, that’s why the sport is so challenging. There’s a lot of reasons why teams win or lose.”
Brady believes that the losses mounting on the Pats’ side isn’t because of a large portion of what Belichick is doing.
“The head coach is a very small part on game day. The quarterback plays a really big part on game day, not the entire thing, but because you touch the ball, you have a big opportunity to impact the game,” Brady said. “So if you get good quarterback play and that says nothing about the, you know, I’m just talking in general about football, you’ve got an advantage.”
Brady concludes how defense, Belichick’s longtime area of expertise, is also instrumental for the Pats’ success.
“If you play really good defense, you’ve got a great advantage. I mean, you need a good defensive coordinator. You know, ultimately it’s a lot of things coming together, why things work and why they don’t,” Brady said.
For what it’s worth, Brady is denying that he was the sole reason the Pats were immensely successful during the 2000s. Many across the NFL landscape believed that Belichick and the Pats have become a shell of their past championship selves post-Brady.
Belichick is teetering toward his first double-digit losing season in 23 years. But to this day, Brady fervently backs him.
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