Bill Belichick’s players have heard his burns, his criticisms and his constructive feedback. The New England Patriots coach is always quick to dole out criticism to his players, especially when they’re excelling.
During an appearance on NFL Network for the NFL100 All-Time List, quarterback Tom Brady, who has played for Belichick longer than any player, shared his impression of the coach’s criticism and reflected briefly upon why the coach can be so harsh.
“Everyone is always telling you how great you are. There’s only so much time before human nature kicks in and you start to believe it. Well, you’re not going to hear that very often (from Belichick),” Brady said with a smile. “He’s like, ‘I’m not going to congratulate you for doing your job. Don’t expect me to pat you on the back for throwing a bunch of touchdown passes.'”
It was Brady’s best effort at a Belichick impression. And while it’s not up to Julian Edelman’s caliber, it was pretty funny.
Tom Brady’s impression of Belichick is legit as good as any I’ve ever heard pic.twitter.com/R37Mt4j8If
— Tanya Ray Fox (@TanyaRayFox) December 28, 2019
Even in — and perhaps especially in — the Patriots’ 2007 season, when they went undefeated in the regular season, Belichick made sure New England’s players were not strangers to criticism.
“I think, probably the greatest team to ever play was our 2007 team,” Brady said. “We dominated the entire season. We went to Dallas, the (Cowboys) were undefeated and we beat them pretty bad. We went to Indy, (the Colts) were undefeated and we beat them. We scored every time we touched the football in Buffalo late in the season. … Coach would come in on Monday, and I swear to God that you thought we’d lost 50-0. And you’re like, ‘What the hell? We didn’t even punt.’”
These are truly funny but also entirely unsurprising anecdotes from Belichick’s legacy.
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