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Bill Belichick and Tom Brady won six Super Bowls together with the New England Patriots, but a narrative that hovered over their greatness was that they were at odds with each other throughout that time.
Belichick, who appeared on “Hang Out With Sean Hannity,” confirmed what he and Brady have said in the past — there is no truth to the narrative being pushed by the media.
Hannity brought up a previous podcast appearance for the now-UNC Tar Heels head coach, where he was with Brady and Jim Gray. During the show, Brady brought up this “Brady vs. Belichick” narrative, denouncing it and explaining his respect for his coach.
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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady celebrate their overtime win against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., on Jan. 20, 2019. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
With Hannity, Belichick “100%” agreed it was made up and explained how his quarterback made him a better all-around coach.
“I learned so much from Tom. I’ve never played quarterback,” Belichick said in the lengthy interview. “Tom saw the game through the eyes of a quarterback. I saw the games through the eyes of a coach. Together, I think we both learned a lot from each other. On Tom, how defensive coaches looked at him or looked at offense. Me, on what a quarterback can do and what he can’t do, what’s hard, what’s easy, what you can see was played, what I can see and what I can really see Tom. in 2002, everything I did from then on was to try to improve him.
Belichick recalled that people would say, “I yelled at Tom,” but their relationship was one where the veteran coach didn’t have to waltz around him despite his status in the NFL.
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“I mean, at times, for sure. That’s part of coaching,” Belichick added. “But Tom was great about it. A lot of times he’d say — I might say to him, ‘Tom, look, it might be a little rough in there today in this meeting because of what happened in the game or yesterday or whatever.’ He had said, ‘You know, I get it. We probably need it. Make sure to include me because then I’m one of the guys. If you leave me out of it, it’s like Tom is great and everyone else is the problem.’ He said a little, “Don’t forget to include me.”
“He would walk away saying, ‘This is all of us. We’ve got to do better. Here’s what we’ve got to do.’ He was good at that. Tom had great leadership from the day he got there, even though he was a fourth-string quarterback. He led the rookies, he led the guys that were in his class, and that’s something I’ve always tried to do, to get leaders that try to lead from the beginning.”
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady talks with head coach Bill Belichick before the AFC Division I playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium on January 16, 2016. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports)
Belichick, who also discussed his book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football,” with Hannity, referred to Brady as a “big one.” And while some saw him as a dominating personality who ran the Patriots’ locker room during his time in Foxborough, that wasn’t the case.
“Tom wasn’t a domineering personality. He was just a great leader,” Belichick said. “He would do anything you asked him to do. Honestly, if you told him to go out there and run a reverse and block the defensive end, he would go and block the defensive end. He would do whatever the team needed him to do and he was very competitive.”
However, there was the end of their run together in New England, with Brady and Belichick eventually parting ways. The quarterback wanted a change of scenery and chose to go to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he would win a Super Bowl in his first season with his new team.
But while there were those serious, sometimes contentious talks, Belichick and Brady have been nothing but supporters of each other since their time with the Patriots ended after 20 years.
Tom Brady talks with New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick before a game against the Dallas Cowboys at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., on Nov. 24, 2019. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
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In fact, when Belichick was snubbed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a first-time inductee earlier this year, Brady was among those mocking the football writers for leaving out the coach with the third-most wins of all time.
Mutual respect remains for two of the greatest at their respective football crafts, regardless of what the media said at the time.
