Patricia was "de facto general manager" after Caserio's Departure

[upstater1]

As you know, I agree with you on a lot of this, but there are obvious reasons. Lynch and Belichick are friends and he has good reason to cover for him (beyond friendship, there are practical reasons to keep good relations).

Did you watch that video of him talking about their conversations? He narrates it like a story. Give him an Oscar!

But anyway, the Lynch quotes I found are from October 31, 2017. The day after the trade.

Here's the quote: ""We tried to do a deal this offseason. It didn't come to fruition," he said, according to the team's website. "It presented itself now. We felt like it was an opportunity we had to jump at."

Lynch is saying they tried to do both a Brady and/or a Garoppolo deal earlier in the offseason [specifically in February] but it diesn't work out.

This was BEFORE the Wickersham article came out. So Lynch has been consistent.

If he was saying all that to prove Wickersham wrong for Belichick's sake, then Lynch is not only a great actor but a fortune teller!

This really undercuts Wickersham's claims about Belichick trying to trade Brady.

Wickersham's article came out January 5, 2018.

 

[upstater1]

You are wasting your breath. There are a number of people here who will do literally anything to shift the blame for Belichick's bad decisions to anyone but but Bill. I think Belichick is the GOAT, and have said so many times, but when I said that Belichick made some bad decisions the last 5 year in Foxborough they shrieked, cried, and called me a hater. And they did the same to anyone critical of Belichick. For some reason they can't understand that every coach and GM in football is going to make some bad decisions, it goes with the job, but they will deny that and insist that any bad decisions must have been made by others, despite the fact that as you noted Belichick always had absolute control. They believe that Belichick should get credit for all the good, and none of the bad. Reality says otherwise. The person with final say gets both the credit and blame.

I think you're referring to me.

If so, I never said he never made bad decisions. I criticize him all the time, for things like not signing Joe Thuney and for making Matt Patricia his OC.

BUT forgive me for taking Robert Kraft at face value when he speaks about his relationship with Belichick over the years, including the fact that Kraft made decisions about what goes on in the locker room, who is allowed there, hiring the future coach who was on his staff while Belichick still coached which caused a mutiny, and also what he said in that press conference in 2021 about the scouting department, and this has never been explained by the people who insist there was something in Bill's contract about total control.

Beyond that, we saw differences in Belichick drafting when he peeled back the curtain and we witnessed the hesitation before drafting Mac Joens (then we're told Belichick was never sold on Jones and so he derailed Jones's career by the very same people who say Belichick had total control), not to mention the Callahan articles which came out BEFORE the season showing that the decision to go with JuJu over Jakobi were based on the ascendancy of the pro metrics team in the scouting department over Bill's preference for Jakobi and his knack for moving the chains.

There's plenty backup evidence for us who see things changed in 2019 (and that watershed moment when ownership asserted more control came directly AFTER the owner admitted he was thinking of firing Belichick for the 2017 SB loss to the Eagles and that only a SB victory in 2018 saved his job).

There's so much evidence for these beliefs.

 

[n1997y]

I don't think Belichick was the victim. Neither were the Krafts or Mayo. I think the real story is in between and all sides have their share of the blame to how things ended.

The ironic thing is Belichick was treated much like some of the star players of the dynasty era were treated by Belichick (Milloy, Seymour, Brady). Belichick made it clear he was preparing to move on from Brady as early as 2012. And by all accounts, Brady and Belichick had an awful relationship Brady's last few years in New England. The Krafts and Belichick relationship the final years were very similar in dynamics.

And you can point to the Krafts and Parcells and I can point to Belichick and the NY Jets and how that relationship ended. Parcells didn't trust Belichick for a number of years until they buried the hatched like a decade after their falling out.

I think everyone involved had their hands dirty in this. Stop making the Krafts the bad guys and Belichick the victim. None of the sides handled the final years well.

It’s the loyalty litmus test again.

Folks choose their favorite son, whether it’s TB or BB or BK, and then they select their favorite son narrative that makes their choice look best.

And the result is no better than any other loyalty driven process.

 

[rkarp1]

It’s the loyalty litmus test again.

Folks choose their favorite son, whether it’s TB or BB or BK, and then they select their favorite son narrative that makes their choice look best.

And the result is no better than any other loyalty driven process.

what if your favorite son is the NE Pats?
what is the narrative on how the JG deal or non deal went down?