Belichick remarks on Mayo's "soft" comments on Pat McAfee Show - "They're not soft"

[sb1]

I prefer to take a man's entire resume into account when making such pivotal decisions. When you start parsing things like that you wind up firing the GOAT and hiring a traveling companion because for 2 seasons he split DC role decently and ignored that his resume has basically nothing else on it.

A coach job is not a lifetime tenure award. It's how you fit today and for the future. Even the greatest coaches reach the end of the road for them and Bill was there. There's a reason no coach at Bill's age has ever won anything.

He's probably the greatest coach of all time but his last two seasons are certainly not why.

Agreeing with letting Bill go is not an endorsement of his replacement. I'm not close to sold on Mayo yet.

 

[signbabybrady]

He had 4 years and he got to pick and develop his QB. He made his choices. I have no reason to think he does anything different in free agency or the draft and the team was a mess last year as well. They were undisciplined and his defense would have had the same injuries.

Even if they were "better" they'd still be a losing team.

Bill & Maye compared to Mayo & Maye is all the reason I need to know.

 

[Real fan 02]

Al Davis was the owner and GM of the Raiders for as long as he was there. They don't draft Jamarcus Russell without Davis' approval. Also, Lombardi was fired IN 2007, not following 2007 ... Jamarcus Russell was drafted IN 2007, so I'm not even clear if he was around to draft Russell.

Some bizarre reaching back 15+ years ago to an entirely irrelevant (and a seemingly inaccurate/wrong account of what actually happened) anecdote about the Raiders, Jamarcus Russell, and Mike Lombardi, in an attempt to excuse/deflect from how bad Mayo has been.

I'm aware. And thank you for the informative post. I bet many don't Know al Davis is a brockton, MA native!! But anyhow that's besides the point. I can never hear enough how bad a first year HC in mayo is because you won't let me forget it.. LOL Bill was dam nearly kicked put of Cleveland for benching Bernie. Point I'm making is Mayo is young man in his 30s.. his HC career is in it's infancy.. it's easy to pile on and kick him while he's down. Most people that are doing it didn't want him to be the coach to begin with. So let's support him and let him get through the tough times in order to get good times back in Foxboro again next season and beyond!

 

[sb1]

BB's defense last season thru 7 weeks: 177 points allowed
Mayo's defense so far thru 7 weeks: 175 points allowed

They both are/were not good for different reasons.

 

[Vindicate]

Thing is, what BB said will likely help Mayo if the team is in a "let's show him" mood. Plus, they're playing the Jets.

Chess over checkers, baby. The long plan from BB. Coach by proxy and asymmetrical war. New level of coaching.

 

[signbabybrady]

A coach job is not a lifetime tenure award. It's how you fit today and for the future. Even the greatest coaches reach the end of the road for them and Bill was there. There's a reason no coach at Bill's age has ever won anything.

He's probably the greatest coach of all time but his last two seasons are certainly not why.

Agreeing with letting Bill go is not an endorsement of his replacement. I'm not close to sold on Mayo yet.

You constantly point out how we let Brady go without a replacement yet you fail to acknowledge that we should have never let Bill go without a good replacement.

Kraft ****ed up twice there is no getting around it and pointing out 2 seasons doesn't change this fact.

 

[sb1]

You constantly point out how we let Brady go without a replacement yet you fail to acknowledge that we should have never let Bill go without a good replacement.

Kraft ****ed up twice there is no getting around it and pointing out 2 seasons doesn't change this fact.

Much easier to find a coach than a QB. I think that's been proven around the league. Can't say letting Bill go was a f-up when he was 4-13 last season. Hue Jackson probably gets the same record. And cheaper.

Also this idea of being loyal to Bill or how he "deserves" to stay... yet Brady never got the same courtesy.

 

[signbabybrady]

Why would Bill "deserve" the chance that Brady didn't get here?

That's doubtful. Bill is a win now coach at his age, he wouldn't take a raw high upside prospect like Maye where he would never get to coach the finished product. He never had a QB like Maye why would he start now? He'd trade down no doubt about it.

Why wouldn't you give Bill the same chance that you wish Brady would have got? Two wrongs don't make you right.

There's no way to know for sure but I think chances are way higher than doubtful that he would have taken the best player available and there was virtually no debate that Caleb, Daniels, and Maye were the top 3 prospects.

 

[catent]

“I feel bad for those guys”. What a fraud. The Pats suck and Mayo has been a failure thus far but Bill doesn’t give a **** about those guys, hes just pulling on

Because you don't like BB and hold a negative opinion of him, you've determined he cannot possibly be genuine/sincere in feeling bad for his former players who were publicly humiliated by their new coach (with arguably the worst criticism a football player can receive, especially publicly)? He cannot possibly feel bad for many of the same players whom he drafted and built relationships with? The same BB who Rhamondre, during a preseason interview, called "one of my favorite coaches ever" (when the question was actually about Judon's departure).

Having such an entrenched, negative opinion of BB and being convinced he's some Machiavellian figure that is incapable of feeling compassion/empathy/positive regard for others, and that he couldn't possibly be sincere in expressing these feeling for his former players, is a really unfortunate perspective to hold.

And I'm not saying BB is not a Machiavellian ******* in some regards - he very much is - but we should know people are not binary; they're complex, multi-faceted, can simultaneously possess and act upon good and bad personality traits.

If BB's worst transgression is being a cunning, demanding, ******* football coach at times, I think I can live with still recognizing the many good/admirable traits he also possesses. We're not talking about JoePa, for instance.

 

[signbabybrady]

Yup. Bill was trying to move on from Brady and start the next era back in 2014. The first down year Brady had was leveraged against him to not engage with him on a contract and make him leaving inevitable.

Belichick got to choose to start his next era of the Patriots, the team was horrible after 4 seasons, he failed.

Bill was preparing not trying. He traded Jimmy at the latest possible time frame after knowing he had prepared too soon. It's a shame the 3rd rounder he took to try and prepare again sucked.

And Bill didn't get to choose anything Kraft and Brady chose it for him.

 

[signbabybrady]

Because you don't like BB and hold a negative opinion of him, you've determined he cannot possibly be genuine/sincere in feeling bad for his former players who were publicly humiliated by their new coach (with arguably the worst criticism a football player can receive, especially publicly)? He cannot possibly feel bad for many of the same players whom he drafted and built relationships with? The same BB who Rhamondre, during a preseason interview, called "one of my favorite coaches ever" (when the question was actually about Judon's departure).

Having such an entrenched, negative opinion of BB and being convinced he's some Machiavellian figure that is incapable of feeling compassion/empathy/positive regard for others, and that he couldn't possibly be sincere in expressing these feeling for his former players, is a really unfortunate perspective to hold.

And I'm not saying BB is not a Machiavellian ******* in some regards - he very much is - but we should know people are not binary; they're complex, multi-faceted, can simultaneously possess and act upon good and bad personality traits.

If BB's worst transgression is being a cunning, demanding, ******* football coach at times, I think I can live with still recognizing the many good/admirable traits he also possesses. We're not talking about JoePa, for instance.

Thank you! Excellent post.

 

[upstater1]

Well said!! You make great sense. As look out our current players. They are asked to play beyond thier talent levels due to roster construction. Barmore is such a huge piece without him everything suffers the rush, the run defense.. lose your next best run player in Bentley and now we see how it looks.

We don't know if they are asked to play beyond their talent levels.

Put it this way, if I made a bet with you that in the future, under a different coach, all of the following players would make the Pro Bowl, would you feel 99% confident in winning the bet? or 70% confident?

Keion White, Barmore, Dugger, Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, Onwenu...

 

[upstater1]

Nah Bill was worse than most coaches the last 2 seasons and being paid $20M to be so.

You're going to get to experience the merry-go-round of "most coaches" in the NFL over the next 20 years.

And when you do, you're going to look back and say, "I think it was Mac!"

 

[Wax Frog]

You're going to get to experience the merry-go-round of "most coaches" in the NFL over the next 20 years.

My avatar approves this post!

 

[vicspats]

I felt like this deserved its own thread. However you might feel about Bill commenting on this, I think it will have repercussions in the locker room.

Hell ya ! Love it… Smelly old Kraft cheese can use the media, Rotten Mayo gets to quip about nonsense, and the only guy that actually works “in” the media doesn’t ??? Bury them Bill!!! Bury them like ya mean it !!!

 

[mgteich]

Bill is correct. This is the same defense as last year with some players out due to injury but some back after being out last year. Basically the same group that was one of the better defenses in the league last year. Not really sure why they are bad this year with the only difference is the coaching staff. Maybe Covington is not ready. Maybe weird Steve Belichick was that good of a coach. Don't have the answers

Last year, the very good Defense was relatively weak against the run.

Yes, we had major injuries last year, same as this year.

However, there are two major differences.

PERSONNEL

2023
White and Jennings did well in making up for the loss of Judon.
The depth in the secondary was truly amazing, playing without Gonzo, M Jones, and Jon Jones for a few weeks.

2024
We lost Barmore and Bentley (and Peppers) and have no answer among the backups. There are consequences of not signing defensive players.

And if we were to lose one of the top 3 corners, we have no answer. We preferred Austin and Bolden over Bryant and Wade.

COACHING
The magic of the Belichick schemes is gone. Last year, we were in nickel or dime almost always. Now, we are back to the base defenses of 10 years ago. Mayo knows better, much better. Mayo will continue give Covington the space to do what he wants. If schemes and defensive play-calling continues, Mayo needs to step in and do some of the work, in addition to hiring a new DC for next year.


BOTTOM LINE

 

[vicspats]

"The same players" actually no there are some injuries to important players to the run defense.

With all due respect Bill should just zip it. That is unless he wants to talk up how stacked he left the team in talent and his amazing coaching last year that got us the #3 overall pick that turned into Drake Maye. It's not his team anymore and he knows sweet squat about what's happening around the team these days.

And his opinion of the defense last year is very generous. If it was good then they would be a lot better than they were at getting a clutch stop once in a while not to mention handle good offenses. Which they haven't done since Super Bowl 53.

Does he need to zip it?? He works on the other side now. 40 years of saying nothing ever … it’s his turn. I’m glad. So many Pats fans always Crying , he doesn’t say anything !!! Stomp stomp stomp!! What coach ?? Tell us all the dirt going on !!! Being a head coach must completely suck! You must be a masochist to take on that career. Now we k ow why he kept his mouth shut. Cleveland taught him a great lesson. You go Bill .. say it like it is !!

 

[vicspats]

Check out my avatar

 

[vicspats]

Teddy B, teddy Washington, Willie, assante, Rodney, Vrabel, Seymour, Vince, Wilson, green, Warren, phifer.. boy I wish we had players like that now!

Other than Seymour and Vince , most were either cast offs or not highly drafted. Maybe Warren. So it’s not the “can do”, it’s the “want to”..We don’t have someone finding the “want to”

 

[condon84]

You're going to get to experience the merry-go-round of "most coaches" in the NFL over the next 20 years.

And when you do, you're going to look back and say, "I think it was Mac!"

20 years from now these guys will still be convinced it was Bill's fault that Mac sucks.