Bill and the Press


Bill is getting crushed left and right and honestly its deserved. The team is atrocious.

I saw the piece in Globe about him being stuck in the past. There is this piece in the Washington Post by Sally Jenkins basically saying Bill is going out his way. Stonefaced, unrepentent etc.

“The swiftness with which Belichick has gone from a candidate for greatest coach ever to a man just trying to coax a 2-7 team into competence has allowed all of his backbiters in the door. Anyone he has ever been rude to or uncooperative with — and the numbers are apparently legion in the press — is now predicting he will be fired by season’s end and maybe before then, given Sunday’s [20-17 loss](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/11/05/commanders-patriots-live-score-nfl/?itid=lk_inline_manual_4) to an unseasoned Washington Commanders team that committed two turnovers. Gillette Stadium felt like a mansion gone to seed as the once-great Patriots heard scattered boos rain down. ”

I listened to Ben Volin on DC sports radio on Friday just eviscerating BB.

Do you think if he’d been a nicer guy, treated the press with a little bit more respect over the years, that there would be less people dancing on his proverbial grave? Or do you think this is just how it goes?

41 comments
  1. Whether or not he was nice to the media, there was always going to be garbage humans waiting to tear him down. It comes with success. Tom Brady was great to the media but after his bad game against the chiefs in 2014, the haters came out of the woodwork to tear him down.

    Stop listening to shitty people like Ben trollin Volin. He’s a known hack that will use “sources” from unverified DMs.

  2. I don’t think he gives a shit whether or not the press or anyone else dances on his grave. Bills disdain for the gossip columnists who masquerade as actual journalists is warranted. 95% of them ask canned questions designed to provoke him into reacting in a way that will get them clicks. Most of them deserve the attitude that they get from bill on a weekly basis. They’re talentless trolls.

    That’s doesn’t mean that this team doesn’t suck and that’s is pretty much entirely his fault, though. He’s done a really terrible job assembling the current roster. 6 SBs aside he should held accountable just like anyone else.

  3. I do think they’d cut him a little more slack if he hadn’t routinely treated them like shit over the years

  4. At least we have the biggest Jumbotron in the league! That’s an awesome consolation prize….

  5. The media doesn’t care, the Patriots dynasty being dead had them drooling for years to the point where they predicted it every season before it actually happened.

    And honestly good for Bill sticking to the way he handles it, I would lose a lot of respect for him if he suddenly started gargling reporters balls to try and keep his name in good light a little longer or be coach for a bit more.

  6. I think in *most* markets, it would’ve mattered. But given how much the Boston sports media loves to dump on teams even when they’re *winning*, I don’t think it would matter.

  7. Of course they’d be more forgiving if he treated them more nicely, but they’re so far beneath contempt that BB’s disdain for them is its own kind of entertainment.

  8. Eh, the only people who care about how he dealt with the press are the press themselves. Only new fans who use it as leverage to bolster their dumb opinions seem to hitch themselves to that wagon.

  9. No doubt in my mind that particular press has been chomping at the bit for years to rake Bill over the coals.

  10. I think Bill cares what other football people think about him. Coaches, executives, some players.

    I don’t think Bill remotely cares what the media thinks. He’s too contemptuous of them.

  11. Bill has never ingratiated himself to the media, but now the team sucks. So yeah, there isn’t a relationship there that’s going to protect him.

  12. The media can absolute fuck off frankly!

    The fact that all these hit pieces are coming out now really shows that most of the media are fickle egocentric types that add very little – if anything – to the sport.

  13. The media loves to tear people down anyways, but I think many of them have some extra fire in their belly for him and are loving this.

  14. Given how quickly this fan base has turned on him and called for his head with no mind in who to replace him, no I dont think it would matter.

    ​

    Its football, its the ultimate knee jerking sport of what have you done for me lately. Bill has lost lately, therefore we’re going to see more headasses call Reid the greatest and fans shout “It was all Brady, he clearly affected all three phases of the ball with his excellence”.

  15. It’s just how most people are to a) root against consistent success and b) revel in failure of those who you perceive to have treated you poorly.

  16. Contrary to the consensus in this thread, I think there is a significant correlation between how nice a coach is to the press and how nice they are in return. Just in the past week I have heard multiple high profile media members saying they are hesitant to pile on Josh McDaniels because he’s been good to them, and they think highly of him personally. BOB gets the same treatment.

    Maybe the best example is Claude Julien, who was so well liked by the press that they defended him relentlessly out the door.

    So yes, I absolutely think that Bill’s attitude towards the press has created an environment where many of the individuals involved are enthusiastic to tear him down.

  17. Read the whole Sally Jenkins article. She is more defensive of him than that paragraph indicates. She is a credible journalist.

    The media at large has been waiting for this moment for a while. Tom Jackson claimed BB lost the team in 2003. Many predicted the end of the dynasty in 2008, 2014. and 2017. It’s crazy how many people want to just toss his legacy due to a couple of bad seasons. It’s absurd.

  18. I don’t give a shit about the media taking their opportunity to shit on him. By not giving the media anything BB protects the team. That’s what it’s always been about. Fuck these “journalists”. Especially Chris Gaspar.

  19. I get that Bill doesn’t care about sports media, but as a fan, the media is the only place we can look for answers about what is happening with this team. When he gives attitude to the media, it feels like he is telling the entire fan base to go to hell. We are the consumers of the Patriots product and he behaves as though he has nothing but contempt for us. I understand that it must be exhausting to deal with the trolling aspect of sports media, but there needs to be some attempt by the Pats organization to treat the fan base with a little more appreciation. It should go both ways. I cut Bill some slack for what he brought here for the last 20 years, but it feels like any questions about the current coaching philosophy are met with Bill’s grumpy non-answers and sneers. Bill can be the face of a dominant franchise, but he doesn’t have the humility to be the face of a losing franchise without directing his scorn at the fans. It’s getting old.

  20. Bill tries to play games with the press to give him an advantage over other teams. That’s why he hyped up players then left them off the active roster, that’s why he didn’t name coordinators last year and that’s why he plays games with shit like putting his #2 qb on the inactive list trying to open an extra spot

    All that shit was cute when he was a 12-4 coach and could do not wrong, now it’s just a distraction and waste of time. Stop fucking around, get some first downs, score some touchdowns

    This team is fucking painful to watch and he’s not making any friends playing games in the media

  21. Yep. If you remember when he first got here the press absolutely eviscerated him at every opportunity. Even after his first SB win most of the press hated him. They slowly had to take a step back after he won so
    much. Now they’re emboldened to come back out of the woodwork.

  22. I do feel that Bill’s attitude towards media has caused more critical coverage of the recent struggles than he would have received if he was friendlier.

    That said, media has been waiting literally decades for this moment and even if he was the most beloved coach in the world sports media would be running similar stories. They can’t help themselves from heaping negativity on teams that are struggling. I don’t pay much attention to it, but it clearly drives clicks and engagement. Whether it’s from people who are upset and think Bill is over the hill, or from people who feel the media is being overly critical and think Bill has earned some down years after the greatest dynasty in sports, negativity gains attention.

  23. No. Philly media was screaming for Andy Reid to be fired by the end of his tenure. Media people are vultures.

  24. It wouldn’t of mattered if he was nice or not, they’d definitely still be posting the same stories.

  25. Bill hates the media, the media hates bill. Thats why they treat each other they way they do. Media hides behind the shield of he owes explanations to the fans. IMO bill doesnt owe me shit

  26. Bill has talked down to and treated people like trash for 20 plus years. No other coaches talk to the media the way Bill does, consistently.

    Of course they’re coming for him now that he’s been exposed.

  27. I can’t be the only one that wishes Bill would publicly take more accountability for the state of the team. Getting up there and mumbling “just wasn’t good enough” isn’t being accountable.

  28. dude bill is the best ever and deserves 15 more years as head coach and GM, hes built a winner before and deserves a chance to actually rebuild this team fairly, and shouldnt be judged at all ever /s

  29. Plenty of people are celebrating our, and Bill’s demise after every loss. Seeing the Patriots fail is literally the highlight of some fans’ years, hell, decades. “My team can’t win, but it’s just as enjoyable watching the Patriots finally suck.”

    That’s how you know we were That. Fucking. Dominant.

  30. The media is just doing their job, good or bad as it may be. There’s a reason Belichick gives them nothing.

  31. Some of these people in the press have been waiting damn near 20 years for the moment to tell Bill to shove it up his ass. Florio seems to be giddy about it. On one hand? I don’t blame them. On the other? Please stfu. It seems like Florio, a Steeler fanboy from way back, writes a nasty article every other day.

    We get it, he sucks now. And he was mean to you. How awful.

  32. “Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they’re going to be gray and old … I wish we had $90 million under the salary cap. I wish we could buy the world. We can’t; the only thing we can do is work hard, and all the negativity that’s in this town sucks. I’ve been around when Jim Rice was booed. I’ve been around when Yastrzemski was booed, and it stinks. It makes the greatest town, greatest city in the world, lousy.”

    -Rick Pitino (3/1/2000)

    The more things change, the more they stay the same.

  33. He, like most people, will get what he gives. You get. What you give. His time will come

  34. Bill obviously hates the media, but the underappreciated aspect of his contempt for the media is that really is contempt for the fanbase. He could care less what you and I and everyone else outside of football think about his coaching and personnel decisions. He sees himself as a savant, a student and master of the game, and only the educated class (people he respects in the league) are worth his time.

    So we very rightfully should all collectively do the cha-cha on the end of his overrated coaching career. Why show him any modicum of respect? Brady made the legend of Bill, not the reverse.

  35. Volin is such a little bitch, he also went on DC radio during deflate gate and said the Pats are guilty and they should throw the book at the organization. He just loves to talk shit without being objective

  36. Lol please. Go read up how he was treated by the press when he was the browns coach. It’s why he hates them. They are trash and most can’t even spell. They blamed him for the damn browns owner sneaking out of the city with the team. So I have no respect for most of the press reporting on him.

  37. What does Bill owe the fucking press parasites ? Absolutely nothing. Nothing of substance anyway. He has to give them league mandated time. But otherwise they can all pound sand.

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