The Patriots are notoriously aloof with the media. You don’t find them sparking controversies during the season through a war of words, and there are reasons why: they’re taught how to address the media. Sure there are slip-ups here and there, but for the most part, the Patriots are like schooled soldiers when it comes to media dealings. Former Patriot Tedy Bruschi explained on NFL Live the four most important points Bill Belichick emphasized for how his players should deal with the media. Mike Reiss transcribed them, and we got them from Pro Football Talk. Here’s the list:
1. Speak for yourself. “That’s something Coach Belichick always said — ‘Don’t worry about anyone else’s situation, on another team or your team, always think about your job, doing your job, and commenting on that.”
2. Never talk about injuries. “Never let them know if you’re hurt or not hurt.”
3. Pour on the perfume. “This is compliments. You want to spray that perfume on your opponent on Wednesday all the way through Saturday, and then get the job done on Sunday.”
4. Fall back on cliches. “When in doubt, use the old safe cliche. You love those — ‘100 percent’, ‘one day at a time.'”
I think we all could have guessed points 2-4 would be on the list, but I didn’t expect number one to be up there. I guess it’s easy to avoid problems if people are only speaking for themselves. One issue is that it’s easy to preach those points but much more difficult to follow them. Maybe Belichick is able to send his messages through punishments. Or maybe when people arrive to play for New England they learn to fall in line with the Patriot way. Or maybe the Pats do a lot of research on a player’s character before having him join the organization as a free agent or through a trade. I bet it’s a combination of all three factors at work, and it’s part of what makes the Pats such a consistently successful organization.
Thanks to Mike Reiss for the transcription.
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