New England Patriots News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Boston Globe/Getty Images

Media must stand firm against Patriots' culture of intimidation under Bill Belichick

By Mike Tunison | Last updated 9/24/19

Sustained success buys a lot of things in the NFL: patience, trust, respect and, with enough of it, fear. The Patriots under the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady regime have a level of success unparalleled in the modern era and therefore command all of those things in spades.

That means there are things that Belichick can and does do that would invite a hefty dose of skepticism and perhaps even scorn if done by others. That is exactly why, when the Oakland Raiders jettisoned Antonio Brown days before the first game of the season, fans and media didn’t just speculate that he would make his way to the Patriots — they outright expected it to happen.

In part, that’s because Belichick has the sort of political capital within football circles to take that kind of risk. His track record of bringing on talented players who have washed out elsewhere for behavioral reasons has been generally good, but obviously not perfect, even before the AB saga played out over the last two weeks.

On one hand, there’s no evidence the Patriots were aware of the sexual assault allegations that would surface shortly after he joined the team, stemming from incidents that allegedly happened when he was a member of the Steelers. Still, given that Brown had just spent the better part of a year intentionally alienating and attempting to extricate himself from two different franchises, it was fair to assume that some sort of chaos would arise in New England.

And arise it did, whether the Pats could have foreseen the cause or not. Eventually the team had to cut ties with Brown once multiple reported victims came forward, though the existence of one and a launched investigation by the NFL weren’t enough initially for the Patriots to bid farewell to a talented receiver, it’s fair to argue, they didn’t really need. After all, the Patriots are defending champs and have appeared in the last three Super Bowls. As we saw on Sunday in their 30-14 win against the Jets, they can fare just fine with or without Antonio Brown.

So after ditching his regular Friday press conference when reporters kept pressing him for an explanation about AB, Belichick was asked about it pregame on Sunday by CBS’ Dana Jacobson, to which he offered an icy "no comment" followed by a menacing glare at the reporter:

Confirmed: Bill Belichick is an asshole. pic.twitter.com/g6K37OnRy1
— Matt Mullin (@matt_mullin) September 22, 2019

Belichick’s refusal to play nice with the media has become a lauded part of his persona in recent years. His dismissive “we’re on to Cincinnati” response to five different questions during a press conference that followed a blowout loss to Kansas City early in the 2014 season became a cherished meme for Patriots fans and the football community at large.

That the loss ended up being a turning point of the season that culminated in a championship only added to its legend.

But there’s a considerable difference between refusing to dwell on the loss of one regular-season game and potentially making the cynical calculation that it’s OK to keep a player on your roster and even let him play provided he's accused of sexual assault by only one person. The former can be forgiven — even appreciated — by fans who realize sometimes the media exists just to stir controversy. The latter is harder to justify when the team itself is the cause of the controversy and refuses to address its part in creating it.

Belichick is certainly smart enough to understand the distinction. He just assumes his cult of excellence is enough to bully it out of his way.

The culture of media bullying by a head coach is perhaps most popularized in the NFL by Belichick’s mentor, Bill Parcells. It’s been carried down the coaching tree to Belichick and some of his associates, most notably Nick Saban, who served as defensive coordinator for Belichick’s Cleveland Browns teams in the early 1990s. Saban had his own brusque dismissal of a reporter’s question on-camera last fall when he rudely rebuffed ESPN’s Maria Taylor when she inquired about Alabama’s quarterback situation:

kevinmcguire: Nick Saban got testy with Maria in the postgame interview. ABC Action News 11:30PM https://t.co/NVuDPgLdLo pic.twitter.com/OGGtSbUdWI
— FanNewsClips (@FanNewsClips) September 2, 2018

Again, success is the ultimate cover in sports, especially in football. Saban and Belichick are without peers on their respective levels of the game. That buys them a reverence that no one else receives, and they clearly believe they are entitled to it.

Ultimately, there likely will be no consequence for Belichick from the Patriots. Why should anyone expect there to be when owner Robert Kraft might not face any himself for solicitation?

The culture of football is slow to change in a number of ways, but reporters should still insist on pressing these coaches, whether they feel they are above it or not. And if the NFL cared so much about media availability, the league would crack down on its most celebrated coach the way it often threatens to do with players.

More must-reads: