Bill Belichick has been accused of pulling another petty move with the New England Patriots, only this time we should not expect the legendary coach to address the matter.
Former UNC quarterback Drake Maye led the Patriots to a huge upset win over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. The Patriots won the Week 5 game 23-20, with Maye making a number of timely plays to help secure the first signature victory of the Mike Vrabel era.
Many fans expected to see the Tar Heels give Maye a shoutout of some sort either on Sunday night or Monday morning. The acknowledgement finally came just before 10 a.m. ET, with a video comparing a throw Maye made against the Bills to a play he made when facing Pitt in college.
.@DrakeMaye2 pulling off some magic, where have we seen this before 🤔
— Carolina Football (@UNCFootball) October 6, 2025
🔟➡️8️⃣ pic.twitter.com/qTd8sqorsc
There may have been a reason for the delay. According to Ross Martin of 247Sports, the UNC football program had previously been under a directive to not post anything Patriots-related on social media.
“According to sources inside the UNC football program, it is a directive from the staff (Bill Belichick) to not tweet/retweet anything Patriots-related,” Martin reported. “That’s clearly why UNC football has not posted anything from Drake Maye’s electric primetime win over the Buffalo Bills.”
According to sources inside the UNC football program, it is a directive from the staff (Bill Belichick) to not tweet/retweet anything Patriots-related.
— Ross Martin (@RossMartinNC) October 6, 2025
That's clearly why UNC football has not posted anything from Drake Maye's electric primetime win over the Buffalo Bills.
Belichick and UNC would almost certainly claim Martin’s report was inaccurate. There are a couple of reasons it was credible, however, even with UNC sharing the Maye highlight video two hours later.
For starters, the official Carolina Football account was a lot quicker to give former Tar Heels running back Javonte Williams some attention after he scored a pair of touchdowns for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Each social media post about Williams came immediately after his scores in the Cowboys’ 37-22 win over the New York Jets.
There is also the fact that banning UNC staffers from posting about Maye and/or the Patriots would be completely on-brand for Belichick. Remember, the six-time Super Bowl champion openly admitted last month that he will not allow Patriots scouts at North Carolina’s facility. The 73-year-old offered what he felt was a “simple” explanation for that petty move.
Either the person in charge of Carolina Football’s X account simply hadn’t gotten around to posting about Maye’s big night, or Belichick realized he was taking another PR beating and lifted the “no Patriots content” ban. The latter seems far more likely given Belichick’s recent history.
