This year's ESPN hit piece

[BaseballJones]

This is the conversation in NYC right now.

NOT NOT NOT that I want BB gone. But if you get the #2 pick and make them throw in a #1 in 2019 as well (that's actually worth a lot, not a mere "throw in", but we aren't talking about the BB that "failed" in Cle and was an assistant with the Jets - we're talking about the greatest coach in the SB era), and then promote McDaniels from within, you end up with a still stacked roster, Brady with two more years left, and then you have the following picks in the first three rounds:

#2 (from NYG)
#32
#43 (from SF)
#64
#96

You use the #2 pick to draft the next QB, and there's your succession plan with McDaniels to groom him.

I'd still rather have Belichick, but if you believe there is a lot of truth to this story, and that BB might want out, and that McDaniels is going to be a really good HC in his second try, then you could set the team up nicely for a long time.

Ok end speculation. Well, THIS speculation - this thread is chock full of it.

 

[tims4wins]

Yeah, he throws out bouquets to players in post-game discussions or when forced to do so with a question in a press conference. I mean this romanticized idea of Bill tussling Brady's hair during practice or whatever these articles are playing off.

In the BB Football Life, there is plenty of good interaction between BB and TB that suggests a healthy relationship (at the time) and BB saying things to Brady that he might not say to the rest of the team ("I just can't get these guys to play the way we need to" or something to that effect). They may not be buddy buddy but it's not completely cold.

 

[Rusty13]

This sounds right. And who cares if its a "hit piece." If it is a "hit piece" because Wickersham hates Brady's guts because he had a MAGA hat, BUT it's accurate, so what?

Ok, how about "hatchet job piece"?

 

[djbayko]

Dale saying NFL has flat out denied the BB / Goodell met last week. Wick: "yeah I know"

Holley saying just because they met doesn't mean they are friends. Wick: "I talked with multiple people who characterized it like that, comfortable writing it"

Of all the things that are hard to believe in the article, the idea that Goodell and Belichick are now buddies is the most difficult for me. It's the commissioner and one of the most high profile coaches in the league. I'm sure they have a relationship where they tolerate each other and act professionally in work settings. I believe they might even feign admiration for each other and have an awkward laugh once in a while. We all probably have one or two relationships similar to this at work. There is no way in hell these two guys are friends. Way too much baggage.

 

[djbayko]

The betting market has spoken.

 

[cromulence]

You guys are hilarious.

 

[joe dokes]

Ok, how about "hatchet job piece"?

For me, its the same. If it's accurate, I don't care about the reporter's personal motivations. The fact is that the Patriots are the NFL's #1 team, and IF the 3 people at the top hated each other such that they were on the verge of swinging the wrecking ball, that *would* be news. Hell, there's plenty of news about the dysfunction of other teams.

I can agree its a hatchet job or hit piece or shoddy journalism, but for different reasons I guess. I don't really care about Wickersham's motivations, other than as an intellectual exercise to see if or how it led to the shoddiness.

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

#BB2NYG is trending.

 

[Dan Murfman]

#BB2NYG is trending.

 

[Marciano490]

#BB2NYG is trending.

Can't beat 'em, join 'em?

 

[lambeau]

What is believable is that BB got angry at Brady going over his head to take the timing of this delicate personnel issue out of his hands. Felger, Mazz, and Gaspar are going into the fourth hour of this hit piece on Brady being BB's payback. Great radio. Beats the hell out of following politics, IMHO.

 

[The Needler]

Brilliant.

 

[mostman]

The betting market has spoken.

This is just free money.

 

[Sportsbstn]

Lol this stuff is great. Bill is leaving and now great friends with Goodell. You can’t make this shit up....errr, unless you can

 

[tims4wins]

I’m sorry but I just can’t get over the Patriots Player of the Week Award. It’s just too funny.

 

[PedroKsBambino]

Do you think the error was Seth’s way of saying he really really really wants the ESPN Writer of the Week award this week?

 

[BaseballJones]

I’m sorry but I just can’t get over the Patriots Player of the Week Award. It’s just too funny.

It really feels like Wickersham went looking for information and people in and around the organization just completely played him, giving him all kinds of false information, letting him print stuff that several other outlets have completely debunked in the blink of an eye. This one being the best of them all.

I mean, how stupid must he feel about this little piece of the story?

 

[rodderick]

I’m sorry but I just can’t get over the Patriots Player of the Week Award. It’s just too funny.

When the "Brady doesn't care anymore" stories starting popping up in about 2009, at least he had indeed lost his "hardest offeseason worker" parking spot. This is a whole new level of bullshit.

 

[djbayko]

It really feels like Wickersham went looking for information and people in and around the organization just completely played him, giving him all kinds of false information, letting him print stuff that several other outlets have completely debunked in the blink of an eye. This one being the best of them all.

I mean, how stupid must he feel about this little piece of the story?

I choose to believe that Edelman went in real deep as a source for this story.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

It really feels like Wickersham went looking for information and people in and around the organization just completely played him, giving him all kinds of false information, letting him print stuff that several other outlets have completely debunked in the blink of an eye. This one being the best of them all.

I mean, how stupid must he feel about this little piece of the story?

I have to ask now... is it illegal, or do media outlets have any recourse if someone intentionally feeds them false information for the sake of simply trolling them and damaging their reputation?

If not, and if I worked for the Red Sox, I’d have CHB on speed dial. If speed dial was still a thing.

 

[Ralphwiggum]

It really feels like Wickersham went looking for information and people in and around the organization just completely played him, giving him all kinds of false information, letting him print stuff that several other outlets have completely debunked in the blink of an eye. This one being the best of them all.

I mean, how stupid must he feel about this little piece of the story?

I don’t think he cares, like, at all. He wrote a story that is getting headlines nationally and nobody outside of New England gives a crap that he got some of the smaller details wrong.

 

[tims4wins]

The best part was how he doubled down. “That’s what people in the organization told me”. As if it makes it true, or credible. The more I think on this (and deeper into happy hour I get) the more I believe the Pats were trolling him.

 

[BaseballJones]

The best part was how he doubled down. “That’s what people in the organization told me”. As if it makes it true, or credible. The more I think on this (and deeper into happy hour I get) the more I believe the Pats were trolling him.

I really, really, really hope this is what happened. It's almost hilarious.

Of course, everyone else around the country who doesn't see the vast pieces of this that have been debunked will no doubt latch on like this is gospel. I've got a Jets' fan college buddy who is crowing on facebook about this, eating up every word. Yes he's a Jets fan, but you know that this is not an outlier response from non-Pats fans out there. And debunking it won't change that.

 

[Bergs]

The best part was how he doubled down. “That’s what people in the organization told me”. As if it makes it true, or credible. The more I think on this (and deeper into happy hour I get) the more I believe the Pats were trolling him.

"Yeah, man...and then Bill was all like 'fuck you, Brady!!!'...yeah, that's it...that's what happened!...word is bond, Seth!"

 

[LaszloKovacks]

I’m sorry but I just can’t get over the Patriots Player of the Week Award. It’s just too funny.

It’s even better than this.

“Patriot of the Week”

 

[tims4wins]

It’s even better than this.

“Patriot of the Week”

Thank you. Correct. It’s comical.

 

[Koufax]

I really, really, really hope this is what happened. It's almost hilarious.

Of course, everyone else around the country who doesn't see the vast pieces of this that have been debunked will no doubt latch on like this is gospel. I've got a Jets' fan college buddy who is crowing on facebook about this, eating up every word. Yes he's a Jets fan, but you know that this is not an outlier response from non-Pats fans out there. And debunking it won't change that.

It's nothing that another Superbowl victory can't cure.

 

[H78]

You were also saying this team was an 8-8 team when they were 4-2. You were worried about 2017 10 weeks ago, never mind 2030.

That’s not what I said at all. Pull out the quote.

 

[Hoya81]

Sammy Watkins?

I meant in terms of who’s a free agent.

 

[patinorange]

I’m sorry but I just can’t get over the Patriots Player of the Week Award. It’s just too funny.

When I read the piece last night, the first thing that popped out was the Patriot Player of the week Award line. I'm no insider (other than I read BBTL) but I have never heard of that. That was my first thought, why hasn't the winner of the award not been mentioned in all the good practice updates we get here?

 

[Dan Murfman]

FWIW another interesting thing he said in the interview was that Belichick didn’t want to be like Bill Walsh and not leave them in good shape at QB. When Walsh left Montana was still playing and Steve Young was the backup.

 

[Marciano490]

Belichick is renowned for his lack of interest in, and indeed complete disregard for, football history. Not surprising he'd goof like that talking about Walsh.

 

[DJnVa]

FWIW another interesting thing he said in the interview was that Belichick didn’t want to be like Bill Walsh and not leave them in good shape at QB. When Walsh left Montana was still playing and Steve Young was the backup.

Yeah--if you buy the part of the narrative from Wickersham that BB wanted JG to go to a stable franchise because JG performing well would burnish BB's legacy and show him to be correct, then it follows that he wouldn't want to hurt that legacy by hamstringing the Patriots too.

 

[Sampo Gida]

I guess time will tell. Anyone know when BB's contract expires?. My google skills are fading. I cant imagine him being allowed to enter the last year of his contract unless he had refused an extension.

 

[taoofoj]

I don’t think he cares, like, at all. He wrote a story that is getting headlines nationally and nobody outside of New England gives a crap that he got some of the smaller details wrong.

Agree but his small detail f-up is being featured as the headline

http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-brady-bitter-belichick-patriot-of-the-week-2018-1
http://thebiglead.com/2018/01/05/tom-brady-upset-patriot-of-the-week-award/

Patriot of the Week just sounds so dumb and fake. It's like it was stolen from the script of a Lifetime movie about the Patriots. Starring Richard Karn as BB.

As was said earlier in the thread, it's a testament to the epic greatness of this run that stories like this get written and become national news.

 

[PedroKsBambino]

I guess time will tell. Anyone know when BB's contract expires?. My google skills are fading. I cant imagine him being allowed to enter the last year of his contract unless he had refused an extension.

It's not your google skills---no one outside of BB and Kraft seem to know. There hasn't been a report with much credibility about his salary or contract situation since, I think, 2010. I believe Kraft has said "I know when he plans on his last year, and it's not this year" or something like that, but that's the best we have.

 

[BaseballJones]

Belichick is renowned for his lack of interest in, and indeed complete disregard for, football history. Not surprising he'd goof like that talking about Walsh.

Wait, what? Are you joking? I thought BB was a pre-eminent student of the history of the game. I cannot believe he'd make that mistake.

 

[Marciano490]

Wait, what? Are you joking? I thought BB was a pre-eminent student of the history of the game. I cannot believe he'd make that mistake.

Joking.

As for BB's contract status, though, I've heard from people in the building that this is his last year.

 

[RetractableRoof]

Joking.

As for BB's contract status, though, I've heard from people in the building that this is his last year.

Wait, for attribution, which building are you referring to? lol

 

[wiffleballhero]

As for BB's contract status, though, I've heard from people in the building that this is his last year.

Also joking. Too dry.

 

[PedroKsBambino]

Joking.

As for BB's contract status, though, I've heard from people in the building that this is his last year.

...and also that Ferris passed out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

 

[Auger34]

Joking.

As for BB's contract status, though, I've heard from people in the building that this is his last year.

I’ve had a lot of early morning meetings and late night meals within 100 miles of the building and I can confirm that this is true

 

[Dan Murfman]

FTR the person who made the comment that Belichick didn’t want to leave the QB situation as bad as Walsh was Wickersham on WEEI.

 

[tims4wins]

C’mon guys. Everyone knows that meetings that occur at 5am and 10:30pm have more gravity than meetings during the middle of the day. DUH.

 

[BaseballJones]

FTR the person who made the comment that Belichick didn’t want to leave the QB situation as bad as Walsh was Wickersham on WEEI.

Wow is that true? Then he should have been mercilessly berated for that.

 

[RetractableRoof]

C’mon guys. Everyone knows that meetings that occur at 5am and 10:30pm have more gravity than meetings during the middle of the day. DUH.

And often meetings held in restaurants have more gravy.

 

[RedOctober3829]

 

[joe dokes]

I don’t think he cares, like, at all. He wrote a story that is getting headlines nationally and nobody outside of New England gives a crap that he got some of the smaller details wrong.

Sure it plays well in Indy or Pitt, but unlike Ballshit, there are zero potential ramifications. Is it going to make getting their asses kicked better if belichick wants Brady dead.
That's the best part for me. Not giving one single microshit how they feel about each other. They are all football-smart enough to all know that they are football-fucked without one of the 3 of them.
And if you don't listen to radio by morons or watch non-sports on ESPN, this wouldn't even be a thing. I read the story only so I could credibly chime in here.
But I'd rather have listened to Mr Butch talk about the neutron bomb over felger or his pathetic ilk "talk" about "sports."

 

[soxhop411]

That makes so much sense


/s

 

[Byrdbrain]

Back page of tomorrow's Daily News:

Also on the "Patriots Player of the Week" award, is it possible he was told about Brady not winning the "Practice Player of the Week" and got confused.
The practice player is a thing and there was reference to it earlier in the thread.