Remember all those stories last season about how the most successful relationship in football was on the skids, destined for an ugly end that would be either heartbreaking or fantastic, depending on your point of view?
“Look, 19 years is 19 years,” the New England Patriots coach said when asked in a WEEI interview if his relationship with his quarterback had changed. “Any relationship is going to evolve over that period of time, which ours has. We still do basically the same things we’ve done for quite a period of time now. I don’t see that changing.”
Never mind that they’ve gone to eight Super Bowls together and have won five rings, stories about the tension between the two were ominous. There was an ESPN report about friction caused by the presence of Brady’s trainer in the locker room, rumors about why Jimmy Garoppolo was traded with a power struggle seemingly at play. Belichick, as if you’d expect him to say anything else, described his relationship with Brady as “good.”
“I have a lot of respect for Tom. We’ve won a lot of games together and I hope we can win some more together,” Belichick told WEEI. “I know he feels the same way.”
And what about Brady? He wants to play for another couple of years, although offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels seems to be on deck to replace him, Belichick has shown no signs of wanting to retire to cruise the waters aboard his Seven Rings boat. It behooves all of them to move past whatever has been doing on.
“I think our priorities are the same as they have always been,” Brady told WEEI on Tuesday. “I think that is why we get along so well. We’re here to win and like I said, it has been a very professional environment that he has created. I think I am very lucky to be in that environment. I think he is the best coach that has ever coached in the NFL and I feel very privileged to have kind of been mentored by him for as long as I have. Not many players have been able to be coached by the greatest coach of all-time and I have. I think I am very lucky to be able to have had that. Hopefully we can go out and have a great season. I know the kind of effort it takes by all of us.
“Everyone has to play their role. Players don’t coach and coaches don’t play. Everyone needs to everyone to do their job as best they possibly can. I have so much confidence in him and what his decisions are. They have had a great track record over a long period of time. We’re both expecting to have a great season like we always have.”
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