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If it wasn’t already clear during the three seasons that Tom Brady spent in Tampa Bay, it certainly is now: Bill Belichick clearly isn’t the same coach he was when he had future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady at the helm.
After a couple of seasons of unconvincing mediocrity following Brady’s departure, the bottom has now fallen out in New England, as the Patriots sit at 2-9 and comfortably look like one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Things have been so bad, in fact, that there’s a legitimate possibility this will be the 71-year-old’s final season with the Pats.
On Monday’s episode of ESPN’s Get Up, while he acknowledged that he believes Belichick is the best coach in the history of the NFL and that he lost to him “a million times”, former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills head coach Rex Ryan did not hold back when analyzing the state of the Patriots.
“Bill Belichick, please stop. Just name your dang starter. It doesn’t matter, They both stink. Whether it’s Zappe,‘Pea-shooter’ Jones, they stink. Just go ahead and save the drama, like we care about your drama. Your team stinks,” Ryan said.
“This team plays like they’re exhausted, and the Patriot Way… it exhausts these kids. Tom Brady was the only reason you won anyway, I’m just telling you the difference. I said they would never win again when [Brady] trotted down to Tampa, because I know how draining that is to those kids. That is what you’re facing right now.”
Regardless of how you feel about Ryan and whether or not you think his comments about Belichick are personal, he’s ultimately right as the statistics back it up.
In the seasons since Brady has left, the Patriots have not won the AFC East and have compiled a record of 27 wins and 34 losses, which is a winning percentage of .442 (as of Week 12, 2023).
During the 20 years he spent with Tom Brady as his signal-caller, the Patriots had a winning percentage of .768, which doesn’t even account for their massive success in the playoffs, either.