The Patriots were up by four touchdowns early in the fourth quarter against the moribund Jets. Yet, they kept on throwing their way to a dominant 54-13 win, humiliating the Gang Green on their way out of Gillette Stadium.
The relentless display was reminiscent of the Patriots’ season-opening route against the Jets in 2007, which came on the heels of the Spygate controversy. Bill Belichick can hold a grudge.
It’s a beautiful thing, despite what your therapist may tell you.
Belichick’s animus for the Jets traces all the way back to his stunning resignation in January 2000. After scribbling down he was “resigning as the HC of the NYJ” and taking questions from reporters, Belichick ceded the podium to then-Jets president Steve Gutman, who implied the coach was mentally unwell.
“We should have some feelings of sorrow and regret for him and his family,” Gutman said. “He obviously has some inner turmoil.”
Belichick contends his resignation wasn’t an abrupt decision, but rather his response to the Jets’ tenuous ownership situation. He didn’t want to work under either of the two leading contenders, Woody Johnson and Charles Dolan. So he left, and has humiliated the Jets ever since.
Belichick’s apparent highlight from last season’s slog was defeating the Jets on Monday Night Football. The next day, he was practically gloating on WEEI. “That was one of the not only most defining, but one of of the great moments of my career,” Belichick said about resigning as the HC of the NYJ. “That, combined with Robert [Kraft] giving me the opportunity to come here, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
It doesn’t matter that Gutman is long gone as president and billionaire Woody Johnson spent the past four years living off U.S. taxpayers in the United Kingdom. Belichick’s ill-feelings towards the Jets are endless. He’s won six Super Bowls and established himself as the greatest coach of all-time. His accomplishments speak for themselves.
But against the Jets, he wants to make sure his team does, too. Running up the score is the football equivalent of boasting about your new partner whenever you run into your ex.
The Patriots did it again Sunday.
After the game, Kendrick Bourne, who threw a touchdown pass and caught the aforementioned immaculate 46-yard strike from Mac Jones in the fourth, said they just wanted to dominate. “Just keeping the foot on the gas, man,” he told reporters. “When we’re up by that much, it’s easy to come out of halftime relaxing, thinking we’ve got it in the big. But we came out playing better. The last time we played them, we won by 19, but we didn’t feel like we played like us.”
Those are interesting words to use, considering Bourne has played just seven games with the Patriots, and they’ve lost four of them. With that in mind, beating any team by 19 points and interception their QB three times is pretty good, right?
Not to Belichick. The guarded head coach makes sure his disdain for the NYJ is apparent. “It always feels good to beat the Jets,” he declared on WEEI in 2015.
There’s a reason why Richard Seymour said he specifically wanted his number retired when the Jets came to Gillette Stadium. He knows those games mean more.
While Belichick’s obsession with destroying the Jets dates back two decades, there have been fresh chapters in his feud. His former protege, Eric Mangini, exposed the Patriots’ clandestine videotaping operation. The act of betrayal reportedly prompted Belichick to snub Mangini’s wife at the league meetings, prompting the disowned pupil to challenge his football father to a fistfight.
A couple of years later, Rex Ryan needled Belichick at the podium and in automated calls to Jets season ticket holders. Ryan’s ferocious defense (and Mark Sanchez) even upset the Patriots in the 2010 Divisional Round.
New England put up at least 30 points in both of its victories over the Jets in 2011.
With Tom Brady shattering reality in Tampa Bay, Belichick’s legacy is in doubt. But even in the low moments, one thing is for certain: he’s going beat the Jets.
The Patriots needed this blowout win. But Belichick needed it more.
