On to retirement?

Saints Rest

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Thinking about Gronk jumping out of retirement to join TB in TB, combined with the various reports that the main motivation for Brady's departure being the desire to leave BB, it makes me wonder if Bill is ruching the end of his Patriot life.

It has been said many times in various sports, that all coaches have a shelf-life. And I think the general thought is that task-master coaching types tend to the shorter side. 20 years in one place is pretty close to unheard of in this day of salary caps and enormous salaries.

So in the last couple years we've had the two best players (relative to their positions) in BB's regime make it fairly clear that they prefer to play elsewhere to escape BB; plus the famous quote from the Eagle (whose name I forget) that winning is nice and all, but players would rather have fun.

Although I was more than willing to ignore the Eagle's comments at the time, I imagine they may become harder to ignore, and more pointedly, they become more typical, when BB no longer has the GOAT saying all the right things at every interview about the importance of hard work, etc. I am a huge believer in the role of key figures among the workforce to disseminate and propagate management's culture. So it's natural that I would believe in the converse, where seeing those key figures leaving the team while spreading an implied message of "I want to play for someone other than BB" will perhaps make the rank and file Patriots less desirous of putting up with the BB Way (which is really the gist of the so-called "Patriot Way"(TM)).

And so if the players are not toeing the company line, will BB decide it's time to move on, whether that is to a new franchise or to a life on VIII Rings?
 

bsj

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I dont think Bill would want to leave the ship in its current state. But that said, literally ZERO about 2020 makes a damn bit of sense to me so who knows.
 

Saints Rest

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I have a guess that BB knew that losing TB12 would leave a huge hole in team leadership which may be a large part of why he potentially overpaid DMC and Slater. Andrews return to F/T player will help here as well, as by all accounts, he too is quite a team leader.
But the QB is really sine qua non when it comes to team leadership.
 

DJnVa

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And so if the players are not toeing the company line, will BB decide it's time to move on, whether that is to a new franchise or to a life on VIII Rings?
I'm not sure I read "Brady moving on after 20 years in same place" as "not toeing the company line".
 

RFDA2000

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This presumes that Brady's main motivation was getting away from BB, rather than controlling his own destiny in terms of contract length and future playing time. Nobody knows outside of the people involved, but I'd bet Brady would have gladly come back to the Pats and played under BB if he had a three year contract in hand that all but guaranteed that he would be the starting QB.
 

Captaincoop

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From what we know about Bill Belichick, it feels wrong that he'd walk away right now and let the "he never won without Brady" argument linger forever without a fight.
 

BigSoxFan

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From what we know about Bill Belichick, it feels wrong that he'd walk away right now and let the "he never won without Brady" argument linger forever without a fight.
Yeah, I can’t see it. If anything, this may have given us even more BB. Certainly has to light a fire under him and winning a non-Brady title would be the perfect bow on a HOF career. I don’t expect another title but even winning another AFCE title would be great.
 

lexrageorge

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Thinking about Gronk jumping out of retirement to join TB in TB, combined with the various reports that the main motivation for Brady's departure being the desire to leave BB, it makes me wonder if Bill is ruching the end of his Patriot life.

It has been said many times in various sports, that all coaches have a shelf-life. And I think the general thought is that task-master coaching types tend to the shorter side. 20 years in one place is pretty close to unheard of in this day of salary caps and enormous salaries.

So in the last couple years we've had the two best players (relative to their positions) in BB's regime make it fairly clear that they prefer to play elsewhere to escape BB; plus the famous quote from the Eagle (whose name I forget) that winning is nice and all, but players would rather have fun.

Although I was more than willing to ignore the Eagle's comments at the time, I imagine they may become harder to ignore, and more pointedly, they become more typical, when BB no longer has the GOAT saying all the right things at every interview about the importance of hard work, etc. I am a huge believer in the role of key figures among the workforce to disseminate and propagate management's culture. So it's natural that I would believe in the converse, where seeing those key figures leaving the team while spreading an implied message of "I want to play for someone other than BB" will perhaps make the rank and file Patriots less desirous of putting up with the BB Way (which is really the gist of the so-called "Patriot Way"(TM)).

And so if the players are not toeing the company line, will BB decide it's time to move on, whether that is to a new franchise or to a life on VIII Rings?
It's a shame that the random Eagles player quote is still remembered and considered valid. Whereas Jason McCourty's "I had fun" remark, under the same circumstances, is somehow discounted. Or that guys like Hightower came back after exploring free agency. Or that Devin McCourty has stayed. Or that Gilmour or Antonio Brown willingly signed contracts here "despite" knowing Bill's reputation. Neither was one of those marginal players looking for work; both would have found similar money to go elsewhere.

Maybe Gronk just wanted to play with Brady. There were rumors he told the Pats that he did not want to be traded to the Lions a couple of years back, as he really felt he valued playing with Brady above all else.

A lot of the issues with the Pats and their players have been contractural. Reading between the lines of all the reporting, Brady likely would have stayed had he been offered a 3 year deal with a big guarantee last summer. Gronk was another one that had to push to get incentives added to his contract, but he also willingly signed a long term deal. But contract issues are a reality in a salary capped league; players are going to leave every year.
 

pappymojo

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It's a shame that the random Eagles player quote is still remembered and considered valid. Whereas Jason McCourty's "I had fun" remark, under the same circumstances, is somehow discounted. Or that guys like Hightower came back after exploring free agency. Or that Devin McCourty has stayed. Or that Gilmour or Antonio Brown willingly signed contracts here "despite" knowing Bill's reputation. Neither was one of those marginal players looking for work; both would have found similar money to go elsewhere.

Maybe Gronk just wanted to play with Brady. There were rumors he told the Pats that he did not want to be traded to the Lions a couple of years back, as he really felt he valued playing with Brady above all else.

A lot of the issues with the Pats and their players have been contractural. Reading between the lines of all the reporting, Brady likely would have stayed had he been offered a 3 year deal with a big guarantee last summer. Gronk was another one that had to push to get incentives added to his contract, but he also willingly signed a long term deal. But contract issues are a reality in a salary capped league; players are going to leave every year.
Gronk also had the dust-up with Belichick regarding his work-out routines and his association with Guerrero. I recall something about the Patriots wanting Gronk to do more squats during his workouts.
 

FL4WL3SS

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Gronk also had the dust-up with Belichick regarding his work-out routines and his association with Guerrero. I recall something about the Patriots wanting Gronk to do more squats during his workouts.
And BB tried to trade Gronk. It's not hard to figure out why he retired and came back. He felt jilted by BB, was banged up, but loved playing with Tom.

BB is more motivated than ever, I presume. This is the fun stuff, building a contender from scratch.
 

Mueller's Twin Grannies

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The random Eagles player is Lane Johnson and he has built a mini-media persona as the guy who unapologetically trolls the Patriots and their fans. He has repeated that same tired line for several years and, unfortunately, got to back up his claims when the league's phantom rule changes and some shit-tastic defense helped the Eagles to an undeserved Super Bowl (the losing QB, Brady, threw for over 500 yards) over the Patriots for eternal shit-talking rights.

He pops up often on Steve Austin's podcast and is grounds for an instant skip. I don't even download it.

To get back on topic, I think Bill is nearing the end of the line. Whether he wants to coach this year's squad and see how far he can take them as a matter of personal pride or he just isn't ready to stop yet, I don't think it's this year but I could see by 2025.
 

lexrageorge

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Regular Season wins:

1.) Don Shula: 328
2.) Bill Belichick: 273

Regular Season + Playoff wins:

1.) Don Shula: 347
2.) Bill Belichick: 304

He may very well be driven to make an attempt to pass Shula in at least one of the above. Then again, we're unlikely to ever know.
 

DourDoerr

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I think he's chasing one of those win marks - especially now with his kids in tow. If he can't get a good QB in the next 2 years though, it's somewhat likely he'd pack it in early as it'll be a big grind to those numbers at 8-9 wins/year. 11 total wins a year for 4 years gets him to that second record and that might be enough. 11 wins a year means playoffs and the fun of winning more than you lose. Working just as hard for .500 ball gets old fast. He's such an intriguing and mysterious character - I'll miss him greatly when that element is gone. The unpredictability is fun.