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Now that the dynasty is over, Robert Kraft and several New England Patriots are finally letting out some of their true feelings about Bill Belichick and some of the things that transpired during the franchise’s glory years.
Kraft, the team’s longtime owner, perhaps provided the harshest criticism of Belichick during the final two episodes of AppleTV’s “The Dynasty” documentary. Among Kraft’s criticisms of Belichick was his handling of Malcolm Butler in Super Bowl LII. For reasons never fully explained, Belichick inexplicably benched his starting cornerback and former Super Bowl hero for the entirety of New England’s 41-33 loss to the Eagles.
“[Tom Brady] threw over 500 yards, but Bill made a tremendous error,” Kraft said. “I credited Bill with that loss. To be honest, my head coach is a pain in the tush. But I was willing to put up with it as long as we won.”
Belichick never explained his decision to Kraft or any of his players. Kraft feels that Belichick’s decision went beyond football.
“What has been told to me is that there was something personal going on between Bill and Malcolm that was not football related,” Kraft said. “I always felt that every decision Bill had made had been to put what was in the best interest of the team first and put emotion aside. But with Malcolm, he did just the opposite.”
The irony here is that, earlier in the documentary, Kraft lauded Belichick for his ability to always put the needs of the team first, especially at the start of the team’s historic run. Belichick, for example, chose to start Tom Brady over Drew Bledsoe (who at the time was the NFL’s highest-paid player) for the remainder of the 2001 season after Bledsoe suffered an injury in Week 2. Belichick later chose team over self again that season when he gave up his coach’s suite to one of his players (defensive back Lawyer Milloy) during the week of that year’s Super Bowl, which New…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/former-patriots-shred-bill-belichick-robert-kraft-blames-former-coach-for-losing-super-bowl-lii/
Author : Bryan DeArdo
Publish date : 2024-03-15 16:43:20
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