Bill Belichick has found himself in an unfamiliar situation now that Tom Brady has left the New England Patriots, and the coach seems a bit unprepared for some of the tough questions he has faced this year.
One of the reasons the Patriots are struggling this season is that they have had numerous misses in the first few rounds of recent drafts. Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston asked Belichick about that on Friday, and the future Hall of Famer immediately got defensive. Belichick basically told Curran to “kiss the rings.”
“I’d say the most important thing to me is winning games,” Belichick said, via Ryan Hannable of WEEI.com. “I am not going to apologize for our record over the last 20 years. I’ve seen a lot worse.”
No one is questioning Belichick’s overall track record. He’s obviously one of the best coaches of all time, and his six Super Bowl rings in New England speak for themselves. However, the criticism of his recent draft picks is fair — particularly with skill players. Sony Michel and N’Keal Harry were both first-round picks, and neither have panned out.
When asked a follow-up question, Belichick changed the subject and said he is focused on preparing to face the Baltimore Ravens this weekend.
While Belichick has done most things masterfully, drafting skill position players has been a huge issue for him. The Patriots can’t seem to draft and develop a wide receiver, which is a problem that was masked when Brady was their quarterback. That has become magnified with Cam Newton throwing to guys named Jakobi Meyers and Damiere Byrd.
Belichick deserves some leeway to be able to rebuild in the post-Brady era, but he can’t simply point to his past success every time someone has a question about the current state of the Patriots. The 68-year-old also took some heat recently for an assessment of the team that sounded an awful lot like excuse-making.
