Bill Belichick says he shared vision with Patriots until ‘last 4 years’

Patriots

“When you’re going in different directions, then that makes it really hard to keep up with everybody else.”

Bill Belichick stuck to his usual milquetoast script on “The Pat McAfee Show” Monday when asked about the firing of Jerod Mayo — stressing that those questions should be posed to the Patriots’ top brass of Robert Kraft, Jonathan Kraft, and Robyn Glaser. 

But the former Patriots head coach did go a little deeper into the relationship between himself and Kraft during his latest appearance on the “Let’s Go!” Podcast with Jim Gray. 

Much like during his spot with McAfee, Belichick stressed that the only way to build a cohesive and stable football program is for there to be a shared vision between a head coach, general manager, and the ownership group.

“That’s (Robert Kraft’s) choice,” Belichick said. “People that own the team have the choice to do whatever they want to do. The other people that were in place… it’s also the rest of the organization, it’s not just the head coach.

“ So, you know, Robyn Glaser, Jonathan Kraft, whoever the other people are that are involved in those decisions and the structure of the organization. But you need that shared vision between ownership and the coaching and scouting. And that’s when you can be successful.”

While Belichick noted that both he and Kraft achieved plenty of success in New England by remaining on that same page, he told Gray that that cohesiveness slipped away over his final seasons in Foxborough. 

“I had that up until about the last four years in New England. And when you have that shared vision and everybody pulling in the same direction, you have a chance and you can get a lot done. And even if you don’t win at all, you’re still really competitive,” Belichick noted. “But when you’re going in different directions, then that makes it really hard to keep up with everybody else. So I think you look at the organizations and you can see the ones that are and the ones that aren’t. 

“But look, it’s no surprise. There’s so many coaches now that are being released after a year, year and a half, or two years in place, and you just don’t see the Tom Landry situations anymore. That’s just not like that in the NFL or honestly in the other professional sports.”

The Patriots’ overhaul of their coaching staff in back-to-back offseasons would be a prime example for Belichick to harp on when it comes to teams eroding any semblance of stability with their personnel.

Instead, Belichick opted to focus on the Cleveland Browns — who stumbled to a 3-14 record this season after making the call to fire Alex Van Pelt and other offensive coaches on Kevin Stefanski’s staff. 

“I think when you don’t have any continuity, it’s really hard to build,” Belichick said. “It’s hard to scout players because you have new coaches every year. It’s hard to keep and acquire players and keep a consistent scheme when there are so many changes. And that includes the coordinators too. I mean, look at Cleveland. 

“Last year, Cleveland went (11-6), they fired their offensive staff, got rid of the offensive coaches and the quarterback in (Joe) Flacco. This year, [they] hired a new staff and now they’re firing them again. So it’s not always the head coach. Sometimes it’s other members of the staff. It’s hard without any continuity, it really is.”