The petty middle-school-esque war of small snipes between Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots continued on Monday night’s ManningCast on ESPN.
Belichick was talking about how important it was that the Atlanta Falcons score before halftime in their matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles and, in the process, referred to the Patriots' mistakes on Sunday.
“We saw several games this weekend where that was really a factor, certainly the New England-Seattle game where Seattle scored right before the half, ultimately took it into overtime. That was a big three points they picked up there with some, let’s say, questionable clock management,” he said.
These comments about the Patriots, Belichick’s first public ones this season, came, predictably, after they lost 23-20 to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
“Well, there you go, he's talking about New England,” Jermaine Wiggins said Tuesday on The Greg Hill Show.
“We were wondering if he [would]. It was a little questionable clock management…I forgot about it completely,” Wiggy said.
While the comment seems innocuous, it does hint that Belichick is more likely to criticize than praise his former team, especially since he ignored their Week 1 win over the Bengals.
“If they had a petty score on Madden, he'd be 99,” Chris Curtis said.
Texters to The Greg Hill Show were mad at Curtis for his continual comments about Belichick, accusing him of being a hater.
“I mean, Bill hates your team, you should probably be mad at him. He hates the Patriots right now,” Curtis responded.
Curtis argued that Belichick publicly criticizing former members of his own coaching staff is being unreasonably petty. He also believes that Belichick should be rooting for Jerod Mayo and the Patriots to succeed.
“Jerod Mayo’s success would be beneficial to Bill Belichick,” Curtis said. “I mean, the coaching tree could use a fruitful sprouting, if you know what I mean. There's not been anybody that's left that's had success. It would be good if Jerod Mayo found success.”
Belichick's disciples have had almost no success outside of Foxborough. According to The Athletic, 10 former assistants have become head coaches and only two have a career winning record.
Sure, Belichick may be petty or passive aggressive toward his former team, but there’s also been plenty of that going the other way from Robert Kraft and his Patriots staffers.
“If you had a boss whose whole M.O. right now is trying to get into the Hall of Fame and you know that he put out a documentary, a full 10-part docuseries, [that] trashed you for 10 episodes, wouldn't you probably shy away from ever talking about that boss?” Cox said.
Wiggy argued that Mayo and the Krafts have been far more critical of Bill publicly than vice versa.
“If anything, they drag him more than he drags them,” Wiggy said. “I mean, think about Mayo [and] all the shots Mayo took at Bill and, ‘Well, he hasn't called me,’ letting us know some of these things…They're not big shots, but it's like throwing lightweight shade.”
It seems to serve both parties' best interests if they move on with their lives and quit sniping at each other. But, in the absence of a real contending Patriots team this season, a prolonged Kraft-Belichick beef may provide fans enough entertainment to fill the void.