Belichick praises Brady after retirement: ‘The greatest player, the greatest career’
Bill Belichick, who coached Tom Brady to six of his seven Super Bowl victories, joined Brady on his new podcast Let’s Go! with Jim Gray, to talk about the 45-year-old’s magical career NFL career.
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If there was any worry about Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s relationship, that was quickly squashed on Monday.
After Brady announced his retirement last week — for the second time — the football world came together to reminisce about arguably the greatest football player of all time.
Belichick, who coached Brady to six of his seven Super Bowl victories, got in on the fun Monday when he joined Brady on his podcast “Let’s Go!” with Jim Gray and talked about the 45-year-old’s magical NFL career.
“The greatest player, the greatest career,” Belichick started. “The great, great person. It was such an opportunity and an honour for me to coach Tom. I guess it’s got to end at some point. It’s the greatest one ever. Congratulations, Tom.”
The long-time head coach has every reason to praise Brady, after all, the two combined to go 219-66 in New England and win 17 division titles to go along with the six Super Bowls. On the flip side, Belichick has just a 79-87 record without Brady under centre.
If you listened closely, you could even hear a hint of emotion in the voice of the stoic coach as he talked about his long-time quarterback.
“It was such an opportunity and an honour for me to coach Tom,” said Belichick. “I guess it’s gotta end at some point. But it’s the greatest ever.”
But the feelings were clearly mutual, as Brady admitted how lucky he was to have Belichick as his first head coach, despite joking that he had no idea where New England was on a map after he was drafted.
He also shut down all the discussions over recent years on “Belichick vs. Brady,” and who actually needed the other one more.
“For me, there’s nobody I’d rather be associated with,” said Brady. “From my standpoint, I think it’s always a stupid conversation to say, ‘Brady vs. Belichick’ because, in my mind, that’s not what partnerships are about. Coach couldn’t play quarterback and I couldn’t coach.”
Belichick was quick to concur.
“To me, my job was to always give the team a chance to win and put together a good team,” explained Belichick. “And Tom was the greatest player on many, many good teams we had.”
And win they did, as their 249 wins are the most wins between a head coach and quarterback duo in NFL history, and over 100 wins more than the next closest pair.
Not too shabby for the two of the greatest to ever do it.
