Ernie Adams reflects upon his unique relationship with Bill Belichick

“We’ve been having a football conversation for 50 years.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqby79hc76t2s390 player_id=none image=https://patriotswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Ernie Adams and Bill Belichick were among the two longest-standing members of the New England Patriots staff until Adams retired after the 2020 season. The two have a unique rapport with their relationship spanning all the way back to their days at Phillips Andover Academy.

With all that time spent together, including years of professional work in complement to their friendship, they have a unique relationship.

“We’ve been having a football conversation for 50 years. At the Giants, we’d go for long runs together,” Adams said on the “Past Pats” podcast. “We can do a lot of things very quickly because we have some common reference points. Something that happened in Cleveland in 1993, nobody else on the face of planet earth will remember but, ‘Hey Bill remember what we did in Cleveland, this really worked in this situation.’ … We can make big changes in a hurry because we’ve spent so much time talking, we know what each other are talking about.”

Surely, Belichick sorely misses his best friend and one of his most trusted advisors, from team building to in-game decision-making.

[listicle id=121955]

Report: Patriots likely to learn Spygate 2 punishment within 2 weeks

A decision may come soon.

The New England Patriots have a rough timeline for when they’ll learn their punishment for Spygate 2, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The NFL is likely to make it’s decision on discipline within the next two weeks while awaiting the final security reports, per Schefter.

The Patriots admitted to videotaping the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline from the press box in Week 14 in a game against the Cleveland Browns. The team said in a statement that the videographer was working for the team’s website on a video feature and violated the NFL’s rules unknowingly. He was not working with or for the Patriots’ football operation, per the team’s statement. Patriots coach Bill Belichick has denied any involvement in the videotaping.

The NFL will surely have a difficult time making a decision upon the punishment. To this point, the league has made no connection between the Patriots football operation and the Patriots.com video team, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. If the league doesn’t, it may weigh the Patriots’ history of scandals in laying down a more substantial punishment.

[vertical-gallery id=78211]