20 years and six Super Bowls. If that’s not a successful partnership, what is? To have both longevity and continuity in the NFL is a rare thing, but Tom Brady and Bill Belichick somehow made it work. They formed arguably the most dominant player-coach duo in the sport’s history. However, all good things come to an end, and in 2020, the quarterback signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This came at a time when rumors were circulating about a rift between the two.
Now, a prominent NFL insider has weighed in on the Brady-Belichick relationship and revealed the circumstances leading to their split at the Patriots.
Was Bill Belichick Making an Example of Tom Brady?
“Natural tension.” That’s how Brady described his relationship with Belichick towards the tail end of his career at the New England Patriots.
Having been there and done that, the quarterback admitted that “it was the kind of tension that could only be resolved by some kind of split or one of us reassessing our priorities.” Now, Gary Myers has weighed in on their bond.
Sharing his thoughts on the “Ross Tucker Football Podcast,” Myers candidly said, “They just pretty much had enough of each other. I think Tom [Brady] was fed up with the way that Belichick treated him. It never changed over the years. He picked on him constantly, made an example of him, and felt, you know, if Tom would take it, and Tom did have thick skin, if he can do that to Brady, then there would be no player on the team who could ever complain about the way Belichick treated him.”
Ultimately, what followed was Brady leaving for Tampa Bay, where he proved that age was just a number. He threw for 108 touchdowns in 50 games and even won the Super Bowl in his first season in Florida.
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The split wasn’t just down to a breakdown in the Belichick-Brady relationship, but also because the Patriots simply didn’t have the talent on the roster to maximize the quarterback’s skill set.
Perhaps that’s why Belichick even said, “It wouldn’t have gone well in 2020 in New England” had the quarterback stayed there. He also addressed the persistent rumors about being picked on by Brady, sharing his version of events.
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“People say, well, I was hard on Tom and I yelled at Tom,” Belichick said. “Yeah, I mean, at times, sure. That’s part of coaching. But Tom was great about that. A lot of times I might say, ‘You know, it might be a little rough in there today in this meeting because of what happened in the game yesterday or whatever.’ And he’d say, ‘Yeah, I understand. We probably need it.'”
However, Myers’ version was quite different. He said Brady “just got tired of that, and he just felt like they had reached a point where Bill owed him the courtesy of showing him a lot of respect, which really never happened.”
Ultimately, Belichick continued to coach the Patriots until the end of the 2023 season, finishing his tenure with an overall regular-season and playoff record of 296-133. While he never managed to reach the same heights without Brady on the team, the lack of success post-2020 just highlighted how iconic the partnership between the two was.
