Tom Brady defends Bill Belichick amid awful Patriots season

Retired quarterback Tom Brady defended longtime head coach Bill Belichick even as Belichick's New England Patriots sit at 2-8 ahead of this Sunday's game at the 3-8 New York Giants. 

"I think he's prepared the team really well," Brady said about Belichick's work this season during a recent appearance on "The Stephen A. Smith Show," as shared by Jordan Daly of NBC Sports Boston. "Ultimately, you got to have a lot of people around you to succeed. You got to have a lot of things in place for the organization to be successful."

Brady played under Belichick with the Patriots from 2000 through the 2019 season, and the duo famously guided the franchise to six Super Bowl championships before the future Hall of Fame signal-caller signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in March 2020. Since Brady's departure, Belichick hasn't recorded a single playoff win and is on track to miss the postseason three times across four campaigns. 

"The head coach is a very small part on game day," Brady explained. "The quarterback plays a really big part on game day. Not the entire thing, but because you touch the ball, you have a big opportunity to impact the game."

Belichick benched QB1 Mac Jones three times over New England's first 10 games of this season, and it's unclear if Jones will start against the Giants coming off the Patriots' bye. According to ESPN stats, Jones enters Week 12 ranked 25th in the NFL among qualified players with a 40.1 adjusted QBR on the campaign. He matched 10 touchdown passes with 10 interceptions across 10 games. 

It's widely thought Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Belichick will agree to part ways in January, and Belichick has been linked in rumors with a potential offseason move to the Washington Commanders. Brady acknowledged that "the thought of [Belichick] not being in New England is hard for me to think about," but there's no sign the legendary coach who will celebrate his 72nd birthday this coming April wants to retire before next season.