It’s a huge week in the Boston area because Tom Brady is returning to Foxborough for the first time since leaving the New England Patriots for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since then, Brady has won a Super Bowl in Tampa while Bill Belichick and the Patriots have started over with Mac Jones as their quarterback.
It’s going to be a wild week full of interviews, discussions about legacies, what-ifs, locker room quotes, and Belichick might have kicked things off thanks to a recent appearance on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show. The topic of conversation was about Brady and the details surrounding his departure from New England. Belichick, not being one who usually gives many details, tried to stick to his routine as much as possible.
Question (via @TheGregHillShow): So you wanted Tom to re-sign?
Belichick: "I think we've been through all the dynamics of that…He looked at his options and made his decision. We weren't as good an option as Tampa…It wasn't a question of not wanting him, that's for sure."
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 27, 2021
“I think we’ve been through all the dynamics of that,” Belichick said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. “He looked at his options and made his decision. We weren’t as good an option as Tampa…It wasn’t a question of not wanting him, that’s for sure.”
Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston certainly found that comment interesting because, despite the fact that he’s been covering the team for years, he certainly didn’t remember having gone “through all the dynamics of that.” So, during the Monday morning presser, Curran asked Belichick to do the one thing he hates doing, elaborate.
Bill Belichick and @tomecurran have an exchange back and forth on Tom Brady… pic.twitter.com/Vcz7DAUTly
— NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) September 27, 2021
“You spoke on WEEI today about Tom Brady looking at his options, and he decided Tampa was a better option,” Curran said. “Why weren’t the Patriots a better option for him when both Robert Kraft and Brady himself said over and over how much they wanted him to finish his career here?”
“I’m not gonna go back and rehash all that,” Belichick said. “We’ve talked about that.”
“You’ve never talked about it with us,” Curran interrupts.
“Our focus is on the game here,” Belichick said. “Look, I have so much respect and appreciation for Tom and everything he did here and for me and for our team. We’re just getting ready to compete against Tampa this week, and we’re gonna keep our focus on that.”
“You talk about rehashing dynamics that you’ve already gone through,” Curran said. “You’ve never done that.”
“We made a statement when Tom left, and that covered it,” Belichick said.
Belichick is going to try his darndest to avoid having to talk about the end of such an epic era for the Patriots, especially given what Brady has accomplished since leaving, but it’s going to be hard for him to evade questions like these all week long. You can’t just tell reporters that you’ve already commented on something when they know for a fact you didn’t. They’re just gonna keep asking questions.
We suppose Belichick is pretty good at knowing how to not answer them, but it might get even more uncomfortable than usual this week for him and the Pats.
[PFT, NBCS Boston]
