Bill Belichick takes dig at Tom Brady over OTA no-show
The Patriots are holding organized team activities this week without the face of the franchise. Tom Brady is skipping the voluntary workouts amid reports he’s dissatisfied with how he’s been treated by the team and might even be in “open revolt.”
Coach Bill Belichick was asked about the AWOL quarterback when he met with reporters Tuesday.
“Tom Brady is not here today,” one said. “Have you guys spoken at length what his plans are?”
“Yeah, I’m not going to talk about the people that aren’t here,” Belichick responded. “Guys that are here are improving, they’re working hard, and those are the guys we’re going to focus on.”
A reporter asked a follow-up question: “Is it challenging to not have your starting quarterback and to be using your backup and third-string quarterback?”
“All the guys that are out here working are improving and it’s a great opportunity for them and for our team to come together,” the coach said. “That’s what’s happening.”
Brady and Belichick have had unprecedented success together, winning five Super Bowls, eight AFC championship games and 14 division titles.
But all is not well in Foxborough.
Reports late last year indicated there was tension between the head coach and the quarterback over Brady’s controversial trainer, Alex Guerrero.
ESPN’s Seth Wickersham wrote a bombshell article in January about rifts in the organization over Guerrero and backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, whom the report said Brady had pushed team owner Robert Kraft to trade, seeing him as a threat.
The Patriots denied there was any trouble, saying, “It is unfortunate that there is even a need for us to respond to these fallacies. As our actions have shown, we stand united.”
Joint statement from Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft, Head Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady: pic.twitter.com/i555gWZIi6
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) January 5, 2018
New England, of course, lost Super Bowl LII to the Philadelphia Eagles a month later. While you might think that would galvanize everyone in the organization to set aside their egos and get on the same page in pursuit of another championship, the grumbling continued.
Brady skipped the team’s voluntary offseason workout program in mid-April, after which NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran said the 40-year-old quarterback is leading an “open revolt” against Belichick.
On April 30, Brady was asked in an interview if Belichick and Kraft have the appropriate gratitude for what he has achieved. “I plead the Fifth,” he responded.
Now the four-time Super Bowl MVP is skipping OTAs. To those who would say that’s not a big deal, Brady himself spoke about the importance of OTAs five years ago.
“The truth is, this lays the foundation for the start of training camp and if you have a good training camp, it usually means a good start to the season. A good start to the season leads to good position entering the second half of the season,” he told reporters in 2013. “Everything ends up having some significance to it.”
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