When it comes to the current controversy surrounding Bill Belichick, Bill Simmons couldn’t help but view it through the prism of being a New England Patriots fan.
On the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Ringer founder discussed the latest happenings involving Belichick and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, with co-host Ryen Russillo. And both personalities were especially struck by the email from Belichick that Hudson shared on Instagram in the days after the 6-time Super Bowl champion head coach’s viral interview on CBS Sunday Morning.
While the email is largely focused on the PR strategy to promote his upcoming book, one portion of the message touts Belichick’s role in helping grow the Patriots from a franchise worth $500 million to $8 billion over the course of his tenure with the team. After Russillo noted that it’s actually the NFL’s TV deals that played the biggest part in the exploding evaluation, Simmons pointed out that the email “explains a lot about what happened from the mid-2010s on with [Tom] Brady and Belichick.”
“Everyone was like, ‘Patriot Way, Patriot Way, we’re just about Super Bowls,'” Simmons said. “But there was clearly some sort of ego thing and it’s two guys that really understood their place in history in a whole bunch of different ways, right?
“And it was always like, ‘We’re in this together. There’s no credit.’ But the credit thing was a big part of it and [Jimmy] Garoppolo is in there and [Brady’s] really thinking about — I never wanted to believe it. I never, when [ESPN’ Seth] Wickersham and people like that were reporting about it, and I was like, ‘F**k that. I don’t wanna hear this. Stop trying to cause trouble.’ But there clearly was a a ton of trouble.
Simmons continued: “I think that really explained to me why Brady didn’t end up [re-signing] with the Patriots because what everybody was writing about and doing the sports radio topic of ‘who’s more responsible for all the Super Bowls: Belichick or Brady?’ And the right answer was always both. They needed each other and that’s the answer.
“But clearly, they both kind of thought each of them was more responsible than the other. So when I read that paragraph [in the email] I thought, ‘Man, Belichick must have been so pissed when Brady had that Tampa season where he won the title. Because clearly he does give a s**t about all this stuff.”
Simmons and Russillo also continued to express disbelief that it’s Belichick of all people who finds himself in this current situation considering his obsession with eliminating distractions. As for the latest developments, ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio reported over the weekend that the North Carolina head coach is seeking outside P.R. help amid a week’s worth of negative headlines stemming from the CBS interview.