A New England Patriots fan holds a sign before a game between the Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 7. Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press
Bill Belichick was asked three times Wednesday about a report that his time as New England Patriots head coach will be coming to an end after this season.
Guess what he said in response each time.
Come on, you know this.
Sure, there are hundreds of thousands of words in the English language and pretty much an infinite number of ways they can be combined to create a sentence. But this question has a zero degree of difficulty for anyone who has ever heard Belichick speak to reporters.
OK, here’s one hint – the Patriots are playing the Kansas City Chiefs this week.
Yeah, that gave it away, right?
During his media availability, Belichick was asked three times within 37 seconds about the report by Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston that Patriots owner Robert Kraft made a decision after a Week 10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts that he would part ways with Belichick after this season.
He gave the same non-answer every time.
The first time, Belichick was asked if it was his understanding that he wouldn’t be asked back for a 25th season as coach. His response – “Yeah, getting ready for Kansas City, that’s what I’m doing.”
Asked if he even wants to be back next year, Belichick responded, “Yeah, I’m getting ready for Kansas City.”
Finally, a reporter gave it one more shot, even prefacing his question by acknowledging the coach’s focus on preparing for the upcoming opponent: “While understanding that you’re getting ready for Kansas City, have you and Robert discussed your future beyond this season?”
Belichick gave the question some serious thought (just kidding) before responding, “Getting ready for Kansas City.”
There you have it. Classic Belichick, even during a season in which he coached the Patriots to double-digit losses for the first time since 2000 (and there are still four games left).
Belichick is a living legend in New England after leading the Patriots to nine Super Bowls and winning six. Of course, all of that happened before quarterback Tom Brady left after the 2019 season (and immediately won another Super Bowl with Tampa Bay). Since then, Belichick and the Patriots have gone 28-35 with just one winning season, one playoff appearance and no playoff victories.
So, yeah, it would seem Kraft and the organization are in quite a pickle when it comes to the team’s future with Belichick. What will they do? There’s no easy answer to that question.
Oh, wait, yes there is: “Getting ready for Kansas City.”
WITH FOUR games left in the season, the Patriots are pushing forward without one of their bright, young offensive coaches.
The win over the Pittsburgh Steelers marked the final game for Patriots receivers coach Ross Douglas. The 29-year-old left the Patriots last weekend to join the coaching staff at Syracuse, where he’ll work with receivers and “have a significant role in the offense,” according to ESPN.
Bill Belichick confirmed the news on Wednesday and said that Troy Brown, who’s the Patriots’ receivers/returns coach, will take over as the sole wide receivers coach.
“A lot of what we’re doing is what we’ve been doing. We’re not going to put in new schemes at this point. Troy will handle the receivers,” Belichick said. “We’ve had two offensive line coaches, two receiver coaches, so we had another person to take care of it.”
Douglas has a relationship with new Syracuse head coach Fran Brown. The pair were on the coaching staff together at Rutgers in 2020.
One of the youngest assistant coaches in the NFL, Douglas quickly rose up the ranks in the Patriots’ coaching staff. He joined the team as a quality control coach in 2021. Last year, he was named the team’s assistant receiver coach before getting promoted this past offseason. Over the last two years, Douglas had also made the NFL Network’s list of potential future head coaches.
Belichick noted that Douglas left the Patriots with four games to go due to the college football hiring cycle schedule.
“They’re on totally different schedules. They already had multiple major schools hire new coaches, and obviously, coordinators that are with those coaches are the next step,” Belichick said. “It’s just a different cycle. That window opens and closes at a different time frame than the NFL does.”
Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien noted that other assistant coaches will step up to take some of the work off Brown’s plate.
“There are certain things that you have to do that Ross had responsibility for, whether it was coaching or scouting report things, or whatever it is,” O’Brien said. “But Troy (Brown)’s here, so there were really two guys coaching that position. Troy does a lot for us, so we’ll be able to pick up the slack there.
“Will Lawing, Billy Yates, Vinnie Sunseri, Evan Rothstein – we all kind of chip in, and everybody has a little part and role in everything that we do. We work pretty well together. So, we’ll just pick up the slack as we move forward.”
THE PATRIOTS tried to keep Malik Cunningham in Foxborough, according to Coach Bill Belichick.
After New England spent the past eight months trying to convert Cunningham to wide receiver, the Ravens plucked the dual-threat quarterback off the Patriots’ practice squad on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Belichick said the Patriots wanted to keep Cunningham around, but he chose a fresh start in Baltimore instead.
“They sold him on the opportunity,” Belichick said. “The offense. He and Lamar (Jackson). Certainly their offense suits Malik better than probably any other offense in the league does, as a quarterback.”
There are a couple ways New England could have tried to keep Cunningham. The first is obvious – giving him more money – but they also could have opened a 53-man roster spot for him, and elected not to.
Baltimore has always made sense as a landing spot for Cunningham given his skill set, but it’s interesting that the Patriots wouldn’t give him a spot on their 53-man roster, while the Ravens, who currently hold the No. 1 seed in the AFC, deemed him worthy of one. In an interview with ESPN on Tuesday, Cunningham spoke fondly about his time in New England.
“I wanted to thank Mr. (Robert) Kraft and Coach Belichick for giving me opportunity to play with the Patriots,” Cunningham told ESPN. “I learned a lot from them. I want to be a coach one day, so I would take notes from Coach Belichick, because he’s one of the greatest of all time. I had great teammates in New England and built relationships that will last a lifetime. But I just feel like this is a good opportunity for me and I’m excited to be a Baltimore Raven.”
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