The end is near for the truculent, ingenious Bill Belichick. Or is it?

Photograph: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Bill Belichick was asked again at a news conference Wednesday morning about his future with the New England Patriots – as if he’d suddenly spill the beans and blurt out that he planned to stop coaching them, or, perhaps planned to hoof it to another NFL team in 2024.

Asked if he’d talked this week about his job to the team’s owner, Robert Kraft, Belichick replied, “Yeah, I’m looking forward to working, getting ready for the Jets here.”

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Don’t read too much into the word yeah, because Belichick often starts answers like that, as a way of simply acknowledging the question. Plus, reporters assigned to cover the Patriots must ask these questions, even though Belichick is virtually sure to sidestep them.

So it is likely that Belichick’s coaching future will still be a mystery when the woeful Patriots (4-12) play Sunday’s season finale at home against the almost-as-woeful New York Jets (6-10) – one of only two NFL games this weekend between two teams out of playoff contention.

Snow is in the forecast. Because people don’t go to football games to bid farewell to coaches, a ticket to the Patriots-Jets game on a resale site can be had for as low as $26. Belichick, 71, has never been much for pomp, but this would be a sad way for him to bow out.

Or, considering Belichick’s story arc, it might be the perfect ending.

Gary Myers, an author who was the longtime NFL columnist for the New York Daily News, thinks Belichick plans to keep coaching – somewhere else if not New England – because he wants to top Don Shula’s NFL record of 328 regular-season victories as head coach. And, Myers added, Belichick definitely wants to win a Super Bowl without Tom Brady at quarterback.

“Will it be in New England?” Myers told me. “It doesn’t look that way, but nothing would surprise me. Perhaps Kraft will give him an…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/end-near-truculent-ingenious-bill-083002159.html

Author : The Guardian

Publish date : 2024-01-04 08:30:02

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