Bill Belichick has a lot to be thankful for this holiday. The Patriots are back towards the top of the AFC and Mac Jones is the best quarterback in his class. Most of all, the narrative about Tom Brady proving he was the driving force behind the dynasty is long gone, and all it took were two signature midseason wins over the mighty Chargers and Browns.
The Patriots’ success this season could mean more for Belichick’s legacy than any single Super Bowl ring. Welcome to the Hoodie Renaissance.
The Belichick resuscitation campaign began long before the Patriots embarked on their five-game winning streak. It started way back in the preseason, when ex-NFL pros and coaches were showering Jones with unvarnished hype. It took just one exhibition game for Louis Riddick to anoint Jones as the league’s top rookie quarterback.
Belichick shares in the praise levied towards Jones, because he drafted him at No. 15 overall without surrendering any assets. The Bears traded up for Justin Fields; the 49ers gave up three first round picks so they could move up nine spots to take Trey Lance. Meanwhile, Belichick sat back, and got the most NFL-ready guy.
One of the great misconceptions about Belichick is that he’s surly with the media. Yes, Belichick grunts and groans when lowly beat writers ask him questions over Zoom. But the NFL press extends far beyond the perimeters of the press box buffet. Former players, coaches and football lifers fill TV studios and broadcast booths. And Belichick loves dishing with them.
It also helps that Patriots greats populate the NFL media scene. Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi, Willie McGinest, Rob Ninkovich, Damian Woody, Randy Moss and Julian Edelman are just a few with prominent national profiles.
They love their coach — sorry, Tom Jackson.
In some cases, Belichick’s former opponents have been even more eager to push the Patriots than anybody who’s been affiliated with the franchise. Rex Ryan, after initially deriding Mac Jones, now says this is Belichick’s “best coaching job ever.”
Ryan Clark, who played for the Steelers from 2006-13, said recently Jones has “maybe the greatest” intangibles we’ve ever seen in a rookie QB.
While Jones is being uniformly recognized, some pundits are more directly crediting Belichick. The FOX NFL Sunday crew said Jones is performing better than his peers because of his situation, not necessarily his talent.
“I think he’s already played for Belichick, because he was at Alabama under Saban,” added Terry Bradshaw. “Perfect marriage.”
The Belichick-Jones partnership is receiving such high marks, Troy Aikman declared last week Jones could be the Patriots’ quarterback for the next 15 years.
That means Jones would be 43, and Belichick would be 89.
And yet, it’s not far-fetched anymore to think Belichick can coach into his 70s. He doesn’t appear to be tired or worn out, and this might be one of his best draft classes in years. On top of Jones, the Patriots selected Christian Barmore and Rhamondre Stevenson.
The high-priced free agent class looks like it’s full of hits, too. Matthew Judon might be one of Belichick’s best signings ever, both for his play and correct take on mac n’ cheese for Thanksgiving.
As it stands today, the Patriots are involved in four of the five most likely Super Bowl matchups, according to Football Outsiders. That means Belichick is on the cusp of building at least his this iteration of the dynasty, and this time, there’s no wavering about who deserves the credit. Even the professional class of Patriots trolls — Max Kellerman, Nick Wright, Rob Parker — have been muted this season.
Wins before Thanksgiving have never inspired so much deserved awe.
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Who says the Patriots don’t have fun?: The Patriots have won the Thanksgiving content game. Congratulations to all involved.
The turkey-themed shenanigans started Monday, when Belichick revealed his love of Thanksgiving starches to the world on The Greg Hill Show. “Starch me up,” Belichick said.
The green light was giveth. On Tuesday, Jones made his most controversial comment yet: he hates apple pie. Judon followed that up with a take against mac and cheese. His words were harsh, but true.
“It’s disgusting. Get it off the table!,” he said. “The bathrooms will be less busy and everybody would have a better day. So, if you want to have a good Thanksgiving don’t cook macaroni and cheese.”
So great to see Judon stick up for the IBS community.
In all seriousness, this lightness also shows Belichick might be a bit more loose than he’s given credit for. Granted, talking about Thanksgiving side dishes is harmless. But there isn’t an entire can on laughter in Foxborough.
Clueless about the Celtics: The Celtics are now on a three-game winning streak and Jayson Tatum is back to playing like a superstar. Too bad we don’t have more insight about how this seeming turnaround happened.
Fans roll their eyes when media people complain about apparently indefinite access restrictions, which are no longer due to COVID, but the teams’ desires to control all coverage. The end result, however, is fans know less about their favorite clubs. Look at the Celtics. We were told the C's sat down for a players-only meeting following Marcus Smart’s criticisms of Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but then Adrian Wojnarowski said it was “maybe not even beneficial.”
So what was the truth? We will probably never know. All sports business is now conducted behind closed doors, just the way the teams want it.
Enes Kanter is challenging sports stan culture: Enes Kanter went too far when he wrongly criticized Michael Jordan for not doing enough for the Black community. But his critiques of LeBron James’ unwillingness to challenge China on human rights issues is spot on. And it makes the NBA media establishment nervous.
On Friday night, ESPN’s NBA crew ripped Kanter for not talking to LeBron privately, conveniently sidestepping the topic. It shows the far-reaching nature of LeBron James.
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