'Voted off the island': Inside Bill Belichick's failed job hunt (ESPN report)

[HSanders]

The series was filmed during the season.

do you think this series could have been released if bb were still the pats' hc? i sure don't.

 

[captain stone]

Bill's response:

That old perv.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

The series was filmed during the season.

Planned accordingly

 

[TheRainMaker]

Bob has had a pattern of blaming others when he makes terrible decisions and it continues. He went Jerry Jones on Parcells in 1996 which caused both Bill's to leave. Bob thought he was outsmarting the league lowballing Curtis Martin before Tannenbaum thought of the poison pill stealing Martin away. Bob's Pats went 2-4 against the Parcells' Jets losing at home on MNF heavily favored in 1999 to a former special teams player at QB (Ray Lucas) and almost lost week 1 to their former punter playing QB (Tom Tupa). Belichick laid the blueprint and opposing teams copied it rushing right up the middle the rest of the season. It derailed that 1999 team going 2-6 after starting 6-2. Bob had no choice but to fire Carroll to deflect the blame. Carroll clearly wasn't the problem.

He then lets Brady get to the point were he wanted to leave after the 2019 season, then watches him win a Super Bowl in his first season away from the Pats. In fact, it would've been two in a row had injuries not taken over. Another embarrassing decision by Bobby. Again, he had no choice but to fire Bill after a few losing seasons while mediocre HC's linger around the NFL.

Now he's supposedly telling Arthur Blank to not hire Bill? It's clear why. He doesn't want to see Bill break the record and it would be his worst nightmare if he won a Super Bowl away from the Pats. Teams that are ready to contend are nuts not calling him for a short term stint.

 

[captain stone]

Still amazing that the Pats went out and resigned some of these colossal mistakes?

Yep: Dugger, Uche...

 

[captain stone]

I will take Red Sox results everyday.

Which from 2019 forward have been...?

 

[vicspats]

Owners and NFL execs, and their circle, are borderline insane lmao.

As well “their” circle absolutely includes scribes looking for juicy click bait. They play each others like fiddles…

 

[vicspats]

That old perv.

That dude is awesome

 

[ausbacker]

What this normally means:

Bob prolly didn't give a glowing review. He also probably didn't say he's evil. Probably a nothing burger.

The amount of mental gymnastics y'all will do - on both sides - to run with your take is nauseating at this point. Phew.

I hope Bill gets another job, but whatever. At this point I just want the season to start (too far away!)

The problem is kraft went full campaign on BB with making that video series. It makes kraft look like a tool bag stuck in the past versus moving on.

Deflategate seeded the idea in the minds of fans Kraft is a self-serving POS. The documentary hit piece cemented it.

Robert Kraft did nothing to help the two most important people this franchise will ever know. He can burn in sports hell for that.

 

[raduray]

For any of you who've managed people, would you give a good recommendation for someone you've fired for poor performance?

 

[rochrist]

Definitely agree. Two completely different contexts.

Also, @rochrist what the hell lmao - I know you like McCarthy and I disagree with that, but how are you gonna dislike a post of mine that literally says "both are probably true" in this situation - eh, whatever.

Wasn't a dislike, it was an ugh for sticking up for Bob and being nauseated that anyone would get upset about him. Probably too strong but I hate the 'eh both sides are wrong, the truth will be somewhere in the middle' thing.

 

[rochrist]

Definitely agree. Two completely different contexts.

Also, @rochrist what the hell lmao - I know you like McCarthy and I disagree with that, but how are you gonna dislike a post of mine that literally says "both are probably true" in this situation - eh, whatever.

Wasn't a dislike, it was an ugh for sticking up for Bob and being nauseated that anyone would get upset about him. Probably too strong but I hate the 'eh both sides are wrong, the truth will be somewhere in the middle' thing.

Definitely agree. Two completely different contexts.

Also, @rochrist what the hell lmao - I know you like McCarthy and I disagree with that, but how are you gonna dislike a post of mine that literally says "both are probably true" in this situation - eh, whatever.

Wasn't a dislike, it was an ugh for sticking up for Bob and being nauseated that anyone would get upset about him. Probably too strong but I hate the 'eh both sides are wrong, the truth will be somewhere in the middle' thing.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

Deflategate seeded the idea in the minds of fans Kraft is a self-serving POS. The documentary hit piece cemented it.

Robert Kraft did nothing to help the two most important people this franchise will ever know. He can burn in sports hell for that.

Because Bill isn’t? He threw Brady under the bus to save his ass, bench Butler to serve a personel vendetta, hired Judge and Patricia to position that they weren’t competent in just because he wanted his friends there.

Come on now, Bill did plenty of things that weren’t in the best interest of the team for himself.

 

[ALP]

For any of you who've managed people, would you give a good recommendation for someone you've fired for poor performance?

i'd talk strengths and weaknesses, but trust hits a whole over level

 

[FredFromDartmouth]

I am very concerned when I read this, "Kraft wanted to reassert control..."

Uh-oh. I wonder if we can see the disastrous results of Kraft's meddling already, hmmm.

Remember the Old Days after Parcells left and gave the Patriots a first round pick for Curtis Martin? When asked if this would give an division opponent an advantage, Parcells said that the Patriots (meaning Kraft and his GM Boob Grier(?)) would just blow the pick and he was right. Is it back to that incompetence now? Based on the off season so far, it seems that way.

 

[RobertWeathers]

What did Bill do to no longer have Bob's trust?

 

[Rob0729]

A couple of things:

- I take reports like this with a bit a grain of salt. If word was coming out that ESPN was doing a story that Belichick wasn't even in the top three candidates for the Atlanta job, Belichick could have had allies try to pin it on Kraft to save face. Or it could be true that Kraft was being petty and tried to sabotage him. Or Kraft was telling the truth to Arthur Blank about Belichick and there was far more behind the scenes that we do not know about. Who knows?
- I think there are two sides to every story. Most people now are being down on Kraft for being petty and look at Belichick was the victim. But I am betting things go both way. It looked like last year that when Belichick kept starting Mac and pulling him game after game, it was less about putting the team in the best position to win and more like he wanted to embarrass Mac and/or Kraft or prove a point to Kraft at the detriment to the team. I am sure there are other petty things Belichick did because Belichick has done plenty of petty things to the league and other teams over the years.
- Let's face it. It was an ugly divorce. You have two alphas who from close to day one had a relationship based on results and not about personal relationships. I don't think either guy ever actually liked either other and even in their best days their relationship never went much farther than a professional one. Just like with Brady, the odds were always good that the end of the relationship would be messy. And just like most messy divorces both sides swing from aggressor and victim depending on the day or incident.
- I will always look at Belichick as the greatest of all time and I will appreciate all he has done. I have gotten a lot of abuse on this board for claiming that he was more important to the Patriots' success in the early part of the dynasty than Brady. So I am not a Belichick hater. But he is responsible for his own downfall with this team and with the league and he created much of the drama surrounding it. So will not feel sorry for him nor even get upset with Kraft if he is trying smear him. You reap what you sow. So I cannot get upset about any of this.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

What did Bill do to no longer have Bob's trust?

I think the Malcolm Butler benching started all of it.

I think Kraft was always against certain method Bill use but he trusted Bill that it was all in the name of winning. Butler benching eroded that trust. When the losing started Kraft wasn’t able to put up with it anymore. Winning cures everything.

I think in the « Don’t trust Bill » from Kraft to Blank there is also a component of : « Even if Bill says that he is ok to work with a GM, don’t trust him. When he will in the building he will try to take control ». It’s just my feeling but I think that over the years Bill told sometimes to Kraft what he wanted to hear.

 

[Pape]

The one thing this story, true or not - don't care, tells me is I already miss this team keeping their "dirty business" behind closed doors.

Too much jockeying for position, too much glory seeking and it's inverse blame sharing for my likings... Just wish everyone would stfu and focus on building a better team...

The past is the past... Be grateful of the past glories, revel in them, but there is no need to tear down anyone involved in the greatest football dynasty ever... Together, they reached heights that no one thought to be possible... That's something to cherish, not tarnish.

Hope we move past these distractions soon... let Coach Mayo focus on the future, building the next sustained run for the Patriots...

That's my $.02 at any rate...

Go Pats!

 

[1960Pats]

I don't understand what Bill would have to gain by this coming from him? Not sure how Kraft sabotaging him is better than being fired for not adequately replacing Brady. One leads to hundreds of other questions the other leads to one question can he get QB right post Brady on his 3rd attempt.

One possible explanation that I heard was that Kraft is worried that Bill could follow the same path that Brady did and win somewhere else right away, and that would hurt Bob's chances of being recognized as one of the keys to the dynasty.

I also saw that there was a possibility that Kraft didn't realize how much support that Bill had with the fans in spite of the recent poor records. We've seen that here.

On a favorability scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, at the time that Kraft fired Bill I had Bill and Bob both around 6. Now I have Bill at 8 and Bob at 4.