Bill Belichick made a Monday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show and took that opportunity to completely shred the New York Giants, a team he deeply loves, as well as general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll.
Belichick ragged on the regime for a shoddy offensive line rebuild, allowing running back Saquon Barkley to depart for the Philadelphia Eagles, and their decision to start Joshua Ezeudu at left tackle in Week 7.
"It looked like Daboll and Mara both wanted to keep Saquon Barkley..
I don't think everybody was on the same page on that one and it was a great move by Howie"
Bill Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/Fs3pafU46k
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 21, 2024
“It looked like, in Hard Knocks,” Belichick began, “I don’t think Daboll wanted to get rid of Saquon and I certainly don’t think John Mara wanted to get rid of Saquon. It just seemed like a general manager thing. Like, ‘We don’t think anybody will pay him.’ But, kind of, everyone in the league knew that he was going to go to the Eagles.
“I don’t think everyone was on the same page with that. At least it didn’t appear that way from Hard Knocks which, honestly, I am surprised they even let that air with that kind of tone being on it.”
The Giants’ handling of Barkley has been widely criticized and the Hard Knocks coverage of his departure and then Sunday’s performance certainly didn’t help those optics.
“I really don’t understand. He was their best player,” Belichick added. “For a couple million dollars more they could have kept him. Instead, I guess they got a guard or somebody. I don’t know. The offensive line doesn’t look very good.”
But that was just one of the many jabs Belichick took at Schoen, Daboll, and the Giants.
“They’re playing a guy at left tackle who shouldn’t be playing left tackle. Evan Neal was drafted in the first round (and) he doesn’t play,” Belichick said. “They have some UFA (undrafted free agent) guards that are pretty suspect. It’s a tough line.”
Perhaps somewhat ironically, the Giants’ offensive line has played better this season than at any point over the past decade, which highlights just how bad the unit has been and how far off from league average it still is. And in Belichick’s eyes, it has contributed to the struggles of quarterback Daniel Jones.
“Honestly, I thought that the quarterback is trying to hang in there,” he said. “But it’s been tough sledding.”
As Belichick spoke throughout the segment, the entire panel laughed at how poorly run the Giants have become. They were, as they’ve been, the butt of the joke and this added public humiliation by one of the great coaches in franchise history has to make Mara’s blood boil.
