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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The match was long over. The midfield hug for the cameras and the press conference where Bill Belichick had to painfully settle a loss – “you know, we had our chances” – were too. Belichick even had time to take off his rain-soaked hoodie.
The clock struck midnight here, after an evening of anticipation and emotion and, for Belichick at least, disappointment.
Tom Brady had returned to his old home with his new team in front of his old fans wearing his old shirt but now rooting against him. He still won a 19-17 victory, despite a defense designed by Belichick that let him throw almost as many incomplete (21) as completions (22) and precisely zero touchdowns.
It didn’t matter. Brady won, as he often does. What is won has been won. What has been done has been done. So Belichick set out to find Brady, his former quarterback, his longtime player and, perhaps, his occasional opponent. For nearly two decades, they have led the NFL to the tune of six Super Bowls and 17 Division Crowns via a relationship that has never been easy.
Then he collapsed. Maybe it was about time. Maybe it was the ego. Maybe it was just inevitable.
All that was certain was that two men who hadn’t spoken much – if at all – since Brady left for Tampa Bay and won a seventh Super Bowl without Belichick, were about to speak. That had been the plan, to get together after the game.
“We just said we’re going to make up for it a bit,” Brady said.
Belichick went to make sure, however, entering the post-game Buccaneers locker room looking for Brady. It was no small gesture for the older man, the coach.
About 25 minutes later, the two emerged. It was more than an exchange of jokes. More than “how’s the family doing?” or “good luck the rest of the way.”
“I mean, this is all personal,” Brady said, declining to go into specifics. “We’ve had a personal relationship, you know, for over 20 years. He enlisted me here. We have had a lot of personal conversations that should stay that way and that are very private.
How it all got to this point, an NFL soap opera culminating in days, weeks and months of speculation about who is right and who was wronged and who won is the subject of several endless books, documentaries and radio talk. The public never tires of the palace intrigue, of a rivalry between former confidants.
Best QB ever. Best coach ever.
Together, they formed the longest and most successful dynasty the league has ever known. Brady and Belichick. Belichick and Brady. They worked together perfectly and while the debate will always be who has the most to do with success, the truth is they needed each other.
Hurt feelings, slights or misunderstandings have driven them away from each other. May be. Or maybe Belichick is just betting on the idea that no one could be an elite quarterback at 44, so he shifted the franchise to the inevitable rebuild. Then Brady proved him wrong. Belichick is now 1-3 and is looking for a race game. Brady is polishing his latest Lombardi in sunny Florida and getting ready around January.
What happened? It is complicated.
“I would say so much is done about our relationship,” Brady said. “… But nothing is really specific that I ever see. This is all sort of – certainly not out of my personal feelings or beliefs.
Publicly, Belichick was the classic Belichick on Sunday. When asked what it was like to face his former quarterback, he seemed offended by the involvement.
“Look, we played against Tom Brady every day, every day in training defensively,” Belichick said. “So it’s not like we’ve never seen Tom Brady before.”
Sure. Same thing. Totally.
Brady tried to be more diplomatic, of course, but it was his own father and coach who sparked the most critical comments on Belichick as this game approached. Brady had a staged joke dismissing his father’s comment that Brady had been vindicated after leaving New England. He didn’t say anything about Alex Guerrero suggesting that Belichick didn’t know how to adapt to train a veteran like Brady.
It was gasoline on the go, although Brady tried to play well on Sunday.
“You know, like I said earlier this week, from a player’s perspective you just expect the coach to give you everything he has, and I’m sure that in as a player that’s what he expected of me, “Brady said. “I have a lot of respect for him as a coach and obviously a lot of respect for this organization and all the different people here who are trying to make it succeed.”
What has been said in private is probably much closer to the truth, for both of them. No, it wasn’t just another player coming back. No, it wasn’t like facing Brady in practice. And for Brady, yes, the pre-game cheers from the fans and the sight of all those No.12 jerseys in the stands meant something. It meant a lot. It wasn’t just another game.
“It was awesome,” Brady said. “I’m not surprised. I tried not to predict what was going to happen and how I would feel. I had a few emotional moments this week just thinking about the people who really mattered to me in my life. life and who are part of this community.
“Just very grateful.”
Brady would soon take the win, with the ball he used to set the all-time record for passing distance in the first quarter, and with a team trying to be the first repeat champion in the Super Bowl since 2003 and 2004 – when Brady and Belichick made it here.
All those years and all those victories and, yes, all those twists and turns in life later, they were all back together, in a building that they made famous. They had spent three waterlogged hours trying to fight each other on the pitch, now Tom Brady and Bill Belichick were huddled in the visitors’ locker room, of all places, maybe finally chopping up what needed to be chopped .
Midnight for a long time, for a long time.
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