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Bill Belichick and Tom Brady won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, but one narrative that loomed over their greatness was that they were at odds with each other throughout that span.
Belichick, making an appearance on “Hang Out with Sean Hannity,” confirmed what he previously said alongside Brady: There are no facts to this narrative, which has been fueled by the media.
Hannity brought up a previous podcast appearance for the current UNC Tar Heels head coach, where he was with Brady and Jim Gray. During the show, Brady addressed the “Brady versus Belichick” narrative, denouncing it and explaining his respect for his coach.
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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady celebrate their overtime victory against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri on January 20, 2019. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
With Hannity, Belichick agreed “100 percent” that it was made up and explained how his quarterback made him a better all-around coach.
“I learned so much from Tom. I never played quarterback,” Belichick said in the lengthy interview. “Tom saw the game through the eyes of a quarterback. I saw the games through the eyes of a coach. Together, I think we both learned a lot from each other. About Tom, how defensive coaches looked at him or looked at the offense. Me, about what a quarterback can do and what he can’t do, what’s hard, what’s easy, what I can see, what I can’t see and how you see the game. And really, once Tom became our quarterback in 2002, everything I From that point on we tried to improve the plays that he ran and the things that he did well, we tried to find people that would do those things, it was great.
Belichick remembered people saying, “I yelled at Tom,” but their relationship was one where the veteran coach didn’t have to waltz around him despite his NFL status.
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“I mean, sometimes, sure. That’s part of coaching,” Belichick added. “But Tom was great about it. A lot of times he would say – I could tell him, ‘Tom, look, it might be a little difficult today in this meeting because of what happened in the game or yesterday or whatever.’ He said, “You know, I understand. We probably need it. Make sure you include me because then I’m one of the guys. If you leave me out of this, then it’s like Tom is great and everyone else is the problem. He kind of said, “Don’t forget to include me.”
“He would come out of there and say, ‘It’s all of us. We have to do better. Here’s what we have to do.’ He was good at it. Tom showed great leadership from the day he arrived, even though he was the fourth-string quarterback. He led the rookies, he led the guys that were in his class, and that’s something I’ve always tried to do, to have leaders who try to lead from the beginning. »
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady talks with head coach Bill Belichick before the AFC divisional playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium on January 16, 2016. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)
Belichick, who also discussed his book “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football,” with Hannity, called Brady “great.” And while some viewed him as a dominant personality who ran the Patriots locker room during his time in Foxborough, that wasn’t the case.
“Tom wasn’t a dominant personality. He was just a great leader,” Belichick said. “He did everything you asked him to do. Honestly, if you told him to go out there and backhand and block the defensive end, he would block the defensive end. He would do whatever the team needed him to do, and he was very competitive.”
There was, however, the end of their relationship in New England, where Brady and Belichick eventually parted ways. The quarterback wanted a change of scenery and chose to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he would win a Super Bowl in his first season with his new team.
But even though there have been those serious, sometimes contentious conversations, Belichick and Brady have been nothing but supporters of each other since their tenure with the Patriots ended after 20 years.
Tom Brady talks with head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on November 24, 2019. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
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In fact, when Belichick was snubbed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-ballot inductee earlier this year, Brady was among those who mocked football writers for leaving out the coach with the third-most wins of all time.
Mutual respect remains for two of the greatest of their respective football professions, no matter what the media said at the time.
