While reports of a rift among the most powerful men in the New England Patriots organization may have been an exaggeration, even the team’s owner has hinted that there may be some minor issues going on behind the scenes.
In a portion of an interview with NFL Network’s Andrea Kramer that the Patriots shared on their official Facebook page Wednesday, Kraft was asked if there has been dysfunction in New England this season. He emphatically shot that down and said the word to use is “tension.”
“No, no, you have tension,” Kraft said. “I think a certain amount of tension helps make great things happen.”
Kraft’s son, Patriots president Jonathan Kraft, was also present for the interview. He said there has been “zero” dysfunction.
“Dysfunction is when people take energy and use it to think about how to undermine other people,” Jonathan Kraft said. “That does not happen. If it happens in this organization, I haven’t seen it.”
Robert Kraft made very similar comments before the AFC Championship Game, and he has downplayed ESPN’s bombshell story about a Patriots power struggle on more than one occasion.
There’s probably some truth to Seth Wickersham’s piece about Tom Brady and Bill Belichick not getting along as well as they once did, but they have now been together for 18 years and won five championships. If you believe what Brady’s personal trainer said this week about his supposed rift with Belichick, it seems like the reports of dysfunction have been overblown.
