Michael Lombardi: Belichick vs Brady “scoreboard” narrative is a lazy one
Michael Lombardi of The GM Shuffle Podcast and The Daily Coach newsletter joined Felger and Mazz on Radio Row on Tuesday. Things between Lombardi and Felger got HEATED over Bill Belichick and his departure from the New England Patriots!
Lombardi thinks the “Belichick vs Brady” scoreboard narrative is a lazy one….
Felger: Are we and others dumping too much dirt on Bill Belichick?
Michael Lombardi: My god, you’re killing him. I mean, the guy won six Super Bowls. Look, I got two rings, I know Brady did everything from the janitorial services in the building to winning the Super Bowl. I get that. And I love Tommy to death and I appreciate everything. I really do. But nobody has any idea, I said it to Skip Bayless too, who basically called Belichick a glorified defensive coordinator, and I sent him a tweet, which I don’t know if he read it or not, but I said, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Unless you’d been in that building, you have no idea. And you’ve never been in the building. So you guys are killing him and you won’t appreciate the greatness of a great coach. Like a lot of people.
Felger: Sp what happened? How come it got so bad?If he’s so great, how did it get so bad?
Michael Lombardi: Well, I think it got bad like a lot of teams get bad, right? You know, you miss on the quarterback, I think that’s pretty clear. You thought you had a really good quarterback. You made some mistakes in hiring. Andy Reid hired Juan Castillo to be his defensive coordinator for the offensive line and that ran him out of Philadelphia. I think you make some mistakes and your margin for error is smaller. And I think with what with Deatrich Wise said this year was true, “we have a bad record. We don’t have a bad team”. I think if you put a quarterback on that team, the narrative would change. However, and I’m not trying to blame Mac Jones or Bailey Zappe for everything because there were other problems that went into that, but I think to me, you know, I think there’s a big part of that in the NFL.
Felger: Is Bill not responsible for those quarterbacks and how they played?
Michael Lombardi: I think he certainly is. And I think he is accountable for it. I think he certainly takes accountability for that. But you know when you saw the quarterback play well as a rookie you kind of feel like he was going to. The third year I think the biggest mistake they made as an organization was not bringing competition in behind Mac. Because Mac wasn’t very good. Now everybody said it was because of Matt Patricia and everybody firmly believed that Billy O’Brien would be able to fix that. And obviously that didn’t happen.
Felger: Okay, for the record, I’ve taken nothing away from Bill during the Brady years. He was a great complement to a great quarterback. Obviously did a great job.
Michael Lombardi: Yeah, here we go.
Felger: But Mike…
Michael Lombardi: Come on.
Felger: His track record without him speaks for itself.
Michael Lombardi: No it doesn’t. It’s completely the ridiculous narrative. It’s the laziest narrative.
Felger: How is it lazy?
Michael Lombardi: Lazy. It’s the laziest narrative.
LISTEN TO THE WHOLE INTERVIEW HERE:
Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!
Barth's 2024 Draft Profiles: Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy
After winning the National Championship, Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy is on to the NFL. The least-experienced of the top quarterbacks in this draft, the projections on him have quite the range – from the top 10 to outside of the top 100.
J.J. McCarthy scouting report
Nov 4, 2023; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) in the second half against the Purdue Boilermakers at Michigan Stadium. Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Background
College: Michigan
Age: 21
Height: 6’3
Weight: 202
Awards: All-Big Ten First Team (2023), All-Big Ten Second Team (2022)
McCarthy was a four-star recruit coming out of IMG Academy, and the sixth-ranked quarterback in the Class of 2019. He played in mop-up roles as a freshman, then won the starting job in camp his sophomore year.
In his two full seasons as a starter McCarthy went 27-1, leading the Wolverines to two College Playoff Appearances. He led the sixth-highest scoring offense in the nation in 2022, when the 14th-highest last year. After this year’s Rose Bowl win, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh called him “the greatest quarterback in University of Michigan—college football history…in a college career there’s been nobody at Michigan better than J.J.”
For more player breakdowns, scouting reports, and all things 2024 NFL Draft, check out the 98.5 The Sports Hub Draft Hub page.
