Asante Samuel got back to his favorite hobby this week, as he once again ripped Bill Belichick and ‘The Patriot Way,’ insisting that New England’s success was all about Tom Brady and had little to do with Belichick.
On The Greg Hill Show Friday morning, another former Patriot, Jermaine Wiggins, pushed back on Samuel’s criticism of Belichick. (Listen to the discussion beginning at 37:45 in the clip below.)
“Some of it, OK -- having Tom made things easier for the team,” Wiggy said. “But I think that was a little bit later on in the career where it became, ‘OK, Tom can carry the team.’ Because if he goes back to the earlier parts of it…”
Samuel also made the seemingly contradictory arguments that Belichick benefitted from inheriting “all these Hall of Fame greats on defense,” but was also able to trade or cut anyone he wanted because he had Brady.
As Wiggy pointed out, the first part of that argument isn’t even accurate.
“He really only had one Hall of Fame player on defense as of right now, and then [a second] if Seymour gets in,” Wiggy said. “It’s only Ty Law. Ty Law’s the only Hall of Famer on that Patriots defense.”
Wiggy also said he thinks Samuel is downplaying the contributions of other players, including Samuel himself, by giving nearly all the credit to Brady.
“The hate for Bill is what makes him ride the Brady element, and Bill is just a regular shmegular,” Wiggy said. “Because what you would be saying if it was all about Tom is basically that they could’ve put anybody at cornerback. It didn’t matter that you were great. They could’ve had anybody. You’re lessening yourself as a player when you say it’s all about Tom. And Asante would tell you, he could probably make an argument that he could be a Hall of Famer.”
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