Bill Belichick Shares Interesting Take On Patriots’ Transition Away From Tom Brady

Head coach Bill Belichick had a conference call on Tuesday, and he sort of ignored all the questions about Tom Brady. But, there was one particular topic that made him talk about the GOAT. TB12 left the Patriots a few weeks ago, and the team will have to find a replacement for him. Media members asked Belichick about his plans for the next quarterback. He provided a lengthy response.

“Over the last two decades, everything we did, every single decision we made in terms of major planning, was made with the idea of how to make things best for Tom Brady,” he said. “Now, with that being said, we’ve had several situations where we had to play and we knew Tom wasn’t going to be the quarterback. So, that would go back to Cassel and Jimmy and Jacoby and situations like that. And so, in those situations, now they were in season – although Matt Cassel’s situation ended up being for 15 games – but whatever those situations were, we adapted what we had to the player and – Cassel would be a good example – we geared everything towards doing what was best for him, just like we always geared everything for doing what was best for Tom and to help our offense there. I don’t really see that changing.”

It’s a lot different this time. The team knew that Brady would return after his ACL injury. They also knew that he’d be back after the suspension. But, this time, he is not coming back, and Belichick knows it. Brady will play with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That means that he will probably retire as a Buccaneer.

Belichick will find a way to win without Brady

New England has plenty of time to get everything ready for the upcoming season. The only problem they have is the name. The team has to make a decision. Who will start in September? Second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer are the only quarterback options Belichick has at the moment. Hoyer is in his third stint with the team. The Patriots can also add another quarterback to the winning formula. New England would take any quarterback who is ready to win games. Just like every other team.

“I think the main thing is to give everyone a chance to compete,” Belichick said Monday. “Whoever the quarterback is, we’ll try to make things work smoothly and efficiently for that player and take advantage of his strengths and his skills. Each of us has different skills. Each quarterback has a different skillset, and whatever things that particular player does well, we’ll try to work towards and feature, or at least give him an opportunity to do those.”

Belichick will focus on the defense, and the Patriots will enter the new season with a strong defense. This time, the game won’t revolve around Brady. They will have to mask that problem.

“The things that either he doesn’t do well or needs more experience at or whatever the case might be,” Belichick said. “Then we’ll try to minimize or until those things improve, work around them.”