Bill Belichick Leaving New England Is A Terrible Thing For The Jets

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Bill Belichick is no longer the coach of the New England Patriots. The man who was in charge of the teams that plagued this Jets fan's existence for the past 24 years can't hurt me anymore. Or at least not multiple times a year anymore. Maybe he goes to the Chargers or Commanders but he won't be in the AFC East stalking the sidelines. All of that being said, this is a bad development for the Jets.

Full discosure: I hate Bill Belichick more than I've hated anyone in professional sports. I hate him more than George Steinbrenner or Roger Clemens or Alex Rodriguez. I never really hated Derek Jeter or Tom Brady. There's a greater respect there from me. Does it stem from him walking out on the Jets and then dominating the AFC East for years? Oh, of course. No question. But, I also think he got incredibly lucky by landing Tom Brady and him becoming the greatest player in NFL history. 

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I know Pats fans hate this stat but it's a fact. Bill Belichick is 83-101 without Tom Brady as his starting QB. That's not a small sample size. 184 games is almost 11 seasons.  Vince Lombardi only coached 136 NFL games. 184 is a lot.

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Tom Brady also showed how important he was to those six titles when he left and won another in Tampa. More than Spygate or Deflategate, Brady winning as Buccaneer is the biggest stain on Bill Belichick's legacy. The last four seasons haven't helped very much either.

No matter how you feel about Belichick and how important he was to the Patriots Dynasty, saying the offensive side of the game has passed him by shouldn't be met with much hostility. This is why Jets, Bills and Dolphins fans shouldn't be celebrating today. Bill Belichick the GM was the greatest gift you could ask for in the AFC East. I don't want the guy who signed JuJu Smith-Schuster and Devante Parker to go anywhere. I want the guy who drafted Chad Ryland and Tyquan Thornton to be the GM for life. I'm going to be respectful and not even mention N'Keal Harry.

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So now the Pats are likely to turn to Mike Vrabel which is a fucking nightmare. He's a very good coach who has me very worried. I assume they'll also get a competent GM now too. Robert Kraft is the best owner in all of sports and now he doesn't have this anchor bringing down the organization anymore. Don't get me wrong. Bill Belichick was clearly the perfect coach for those Tom Brady teams. They won six rings. But in 2024, Bill Belichick was more of a negative than a positive. If you don't want to hear that from a Jets fan, I get it. But Robert Kraft came to the same conclusion. 

Does Belichick go somewhere and have success? I suppose it's possible but I wouldn't count on it. His track record certainly says otherwise when Brady isn't around. But for the Jets and the rest of the AFC East, that doesn't matter. What does matter is the Patriots got a lot better today.

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I've been waiting for a quarter century to Bill Belichick to leave the Patriots. I have to give him credit though. Only he has the ability to make me miserable about a day I've been excited about for a generation.