Scott Zolak: It’s Game on With Bill Belichick vs. The Patriots
On Tuesday’s edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys dove back into Bill Belichick’s comments when it came to defending the Patriots defensive players against the notion that they’re soft. This led Scott Zolak to raise the point, that Robert Kraft’s recent admission that he fired the former head coach led to Belichick speaking out against the team, and that from here on out Belichick may not stay quiet about the team’s issues.
“Now It’s Going to Be Every Week…”
Bertrand: Jerod Mayo calling his team soft gave him an easy opportunity to defend players that he likes or he drafted that are still in the room. The question I would have is, how much did Robert Kraft’s comments a week ago weigh on Belichick in making this call? To say what he said?
Zolak: Which comments are those?
Bertrand: Those comments would be that he was fired. Which was a shift from how it had been publicly portrayed back in January. Kraft a week ago changes course, gets a lot more honest, gets a lot more real and authentic, and says,” No, I had fired the guy and I have regrets about it.” He expressed regret and said maybe he’d given Bill Belichick too much power.
Zolak: Checks and balances.
Bertrand: Right, and that there needed to be checks and balances. So Bill heard that this week, and then he heard what Jerod Mayo said last week, “You know, I’m not going to go there,” when talking about the state of the roster. So I wonder if those two comments were the motivating factors for Bill in doing what he did yesterday. The other part I now wonder is, is this where it ends, and is it over?
Zolak: Or does a pick up?
Bertrand: “You said what you said. That’s a warning shot. We fired shots at each other. Now we’re done.”
Zolak: No this is where you take the scalpel, and you open up the wound here. This is the lowest point. This is why I thought they had to play well in this game to get something to play for, to get this team going because it’s going to be a downward spiral if these things continue. That’s the way it feels. You know with what the head coach said after the game, and kind of pulling it back yesterday. I’m with you on this too, about the firing. “Like, okay, I’ve played nice to this point. I’ve done all the tap dance. I’ve showed up. I put the suit on. We did the press conference. We did the Brady roast. I did the shot with you up on stage. I played nice, and now you say this?”
Bertrand: Now I’m fired.
Zolak: Game on.
Bertrand: So you think there’s more where this came from?
Zolak: It’s game on now. He’s open. He’s opened the book now. The the first chapter, and now it’s going to be every week. “Hey, off the run defense comments from a week ago, Bill how do you think they played against the jets? You know how much he hates the jets. Like you think you hit rock bottom. No, this can get worse. It can. I hope it doesn’t. But the guy hasn’t said anything for seven freaking weeks now. He wouldn’t touch it. Wouldn’t touch it on a podcast. Great. Touch it with Pat McAfee. But now they went right to it. It’s like they were waiting for this. It’s almost like he was waiting for the crack. He got it.