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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
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Jeff Smith

Tom Brady Defends Bill Belichick Despite Patriots’ 1–4 Start

Not much has gone right for the Patriots to start the 2023 NFL season. The team is off to a 1–4 start and coach Bill Belichick is taking the brunt of the heat for it. But with frustrations and criticism on the rise, none other than Tom Brady stepped in to address the situation and defend his former coach.

Brady spoke about Belichick on his latest Let’s Go! podcast, and was asked whether he believes his longtime coach will continue to be the same guy he’s been throughout his career.

“Absolutely. I think that he’s got a very consistent approach that he’s always taken and, you know, it’s the right approach,” Brady said of Belichick, per ProFootballTalk. “It’s try to prepare the players, give them the best opportunity to succeed. You know, you get out there on the field in the end, the coaches, once the play is called in the players gotta go do it. And it takes a great coaching staff to win. It takes great players to win. It takes great front office support to win. It’s an organizational win. It’s an organizational loss.”

Former quarterback Tom Brady defended New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick after the team’s struggles to start the 2023 NFL season.

Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports

To tack onto that, Brady also said he remains confident that Belichick still has the same work ethic and approach to the game that he always does, even after two tough losses: 38–3 to the Cowboys and 34–0 to the Saints.

“I think the results are different from what they’ve been, but I know that he’s still got the same work ethic, he’s got the same coaching style,” Brady said. “I think the thing that I think as I watch not only the Patriots, but a lot of other things, football’s a hard sport. You know, it was very different when I was in there because I could control a lot of the outcome. When I’m sitting here watching from afar I realize, God, there’s a lot of variables, there’s a lot of things that need to go right in order to have team success.

The Patriots look to get back in the win column in Week 6 against the Raiders, but after totaling just 156 offensive yards last game, Belichick and company need to find an answer to the offensive woes, and quickly.

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