Bill Belichick was welcomed back with open arms at Gillette Stadium. With a long-standing ovation upon his entry and another after his closing remarks, the former head coach felt right at home, talking about the man of the hour, Tom Brady. Belichick reminisced about their playing days, recounting all the fun times he had with his former QB — even revealing this one trait about TB12 that defined the Patriots during their era.
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Belichick believes it was Brady who consistently kept the team at an advantage every time he stepped onto the field. Given that the pigskin first reaches the QB’s hands, it was his crucial responsibility to make the right decisions and make their way to the end zone. The former head coach acknowledged that Brady excelled in this role, rarely succumbing to penalties, sacks, and most crucially, turnovers.
“He literally handles the ball in every play, so every play went through Tom,” said Belichick. “There were just so few bad runs, sacks, pentalies, turnovers, that the team was never really put in many bad position. And I think that’s one of Tom’s great qualities.”
“He always protected the team; did the best thing for the team,” Belichick continued. For the ex-Patriots coach, this is what contributed to the franchise’s success during their era. Six Super Bowls in a 20-year span is nothing short of perfection. However, while showering Brady with love, Belichick also talked about one of his flaws, which didn’t quite manifest on the gridiron.
Belichick Recalls Brady’s Brush With Disaster During Their Tee-Off
The harrowing incident, which could have taken Brady’s life and ended Belichick’s career, took place back in 2014 at Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The QB-coach duo was paired with each other, which didn’t quite happen all that frequently, therefore, Brady couldn’t leave his competitiveness back on the football field.
It was their sixth hole, which was a challenging par-5 hole that ran alongside the ocean on the right side. Considering that the fairway itself sloped toward the ocean, most time when someone hits a slope, the ball ends up in the ocean after passing a huge cliff. The weather wasn’t cooperating either, with light rain and occasional mist.
Therefore, when Brady hit his second shot, the ball went down the same trajectory and got stuck on a ledge. However, the ever-so-brave TB12 descended to retrieve his ball, despite the ledge being positioned almost 250 feet above a shoreline filled with rocks and waves crashing below. A fall would have been instantly fatal.
Fortunately for Brady and his former coach, he successfully retrieved the ball and safely ascended. However, one thing that Belichick couldn’t wrap his head around is why his former QB didn’t call an unplayable lie, which would have given him relief and avoided brushing with disaster.
“I’m like, ‘Tom, did you think about maybe just like taking unplayable on that one?’,” Belichick quipped.
As it turns out, this is not the first time Belichick has told this story. He talked about it with Ian Rappoport first and then on Brady’s podcast, ‘Let’s Go,’ where the former QB himself admitted that he took things too far. Safe to say, the seven-time Super Bowl champ learned his lesson, but it will be quite exciting if he and Belichick once again take their banter session to the green.
