Bertrand: Bill Belichick Quit Like Everyone Else

On Monday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, Beetle makes the point that Bill Belichick quit on the team like everyone else after it was reported that the coach did not speak to Mac Jones again after benching the quarterback in week 13.

Bertrand: There's another tidbit in here that after week 12, when Jones was benched, Bill Belichick eventually stopped speaking to his quarterback. The lack of communication came to a head in the Patriots final game. They didn't talk to each other after week 12. How functional is that?

Zolak: I believe it.

Bertrand: To the point where the head coach and the quarter don't speak after week 12.

Zolak: Bill's a different dude, man.

Bertrand: I don't put that on Mac Jones. I put that on the head coach.

Zolak: He probably wanted to be spoken to, and it really made him even turn into more of a shell of himself.

Bertrand: Privately, Mac Jones was complaining and commenting to teammates that nobody will talk to me, that he was being shut out. He was upset by it. That his coach would not speak to him.

Zolak: This is part of the way he handled kids nowadays today, and he's the type of guy that needs to be told what to do.

Bertrand: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Don't do it. The head coach stopped speaking to the quarterback. and it's a generational thing? Come on, dude.

Zolak: It's Bill. That's all. Bill.

Bertrand: That that's not an excuse!

Zolak: I'm not saying it's an excuse.

Bertrand: You don't get to say "it's Bill" when you win four games. You don't get to do that. When you win in the Super Bowl you can say, "that's Bill, that's how he does business".

Zolak: I'm not shocked by this.

Bertrand: Bill won four games this year. So acting like a normal human being and having good communication because that's what all workplace environments should have. You don't get to write it off as "it's Bill". No, no, no, Bill, you won four games. You have to talk to your quarterback. What are you doing? Talk to the guy. You're his boss. Speak to your players.

Zolak: Gotta deal with the new quarterback now.

Bertrand: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know Bill Belichick was incapable of speaking to multiple quarterbacks in the same season. Stop making excuses for him Zo, he's gone. He's fired. You don't have to do Fridays with him.

Zolak: I'm not shocked by this. He won't refer to him in press conferences.

Bertrand: Oh my God.

Zolak: Why are you why are you so floored by this?

Bertrand: Because you can't stop speaking to a player and have that reflect well on you in any way, shape or form. You are the coach. You're the lead man. It's your job. You get paid 25 million a year to do it. That's like dereliction of duty. Just saying "I quit, I give up". So it turns out Bill (Belichick) quit like everybody else at One Patriot Place. They all just quit.

Bill Belichick ruled over everything with the New England Patriots. His way or the highway, like no one else in Boston sports history.

Jerod Mayo hopes to turn that entire thing on its head.

As he gave his official introductory press conference as the Patriots' new head coach, both Mayo and owner Robert Kraft stressed the idea of collaboration. They danced around the idea of a GM or one person having final say on football matters. Mayo, meanwhile, presented himself as a forward-thinking coach who is not just open to change, but embracing it.

And in the case of his predecessor, Mayo ostensibly wants to be the anti-Belichick in that he doesn't want to dictate, to lord over, to mold everyone else into his image, to let things erode from within.

Belichick is certainly a brilliant football mind and earned the right to impart his knowledge on those under him, but it became clear that his philosophies had stagnated and his power had become too concentrated into his hands. He'd become too powerful for his own good.

Mayo is hitting the reset button on that - and doing the opposite.

"One thing you'll notice about me in our interaction, as we continue to go, is I don't like echo chambers," Mayo said. "I want people around me that are going to question my ideas or question the way we have done things in the past. Because realistically, this game's a lot different than when I was drafted in 2008. At the same time, that's why I try to spend so much time in developing young men and young women. So they know, I don't want to teach them what to think. I want to teach them how to think.

"Once we get to that point, I think we can get back to where we need to be at the top. And I'm an open book. I'm honored, ready to go. And I'm excited to be the next head coach of the Patriots."

It's certainly one thing to say this, and another to actually put it into practice. Mayo is clearly going to be a major decision-maker inside the walls of Gillette Stadium, if not THE decision-maker. But instead of relying on the people around him to just do what he says, he'll rely on them for their own individual knowledge and input.

That'll be a different kind of leadership than the Patriots were used to having for a long time. Now, let's see it in action.

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Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Check out all of Matt's content.