The question of “Was it Bill or Tom?”
Personally, I put it close to a 50/50 split.
And will die on this hill.
The most successful boss/employee relationship of all time.
And it’s called ‘Belichick Guys.’
They’re all combative.They’re obnoxious.
Flores, Matt Patricia, Joe Judge, Josh McDaniels, Bill O’Brien.
And this thing with Brian Flores, it’s beyond obnoxious.
“It’s essentially the opposite of the Sean McVay or the Kyle Shanahan tree.
They come out and they’re collaborative.
They get along with people.
And Brian Flores probably watched Belichick dog-cuss Brady for years.
Josh McDaniels couldn’t get along with Derek Carr and Jay Cutler.
Matt Patricia couldn’t get along with Matt Stafford.
Who fights with Matt Stafford?
Stafford gets along with everybody.
This is what it is.”
Because it’s not only missing the entire point, it’s invalidating the whole rest of the argument.
Yes, Belichick’s style was to be “combative” and “obnoxious.”
And “cruel.”
All those things are accurate.
And you know what?
They were the keys to his success.
They worked for him.
That obnoxiousness kept the wolves at bay.
The league that took draft picks away and changed the rules to make it stop this franchise from winning.
And all that dog-cussing drove the hundreds of players who came through Foxboro to maximize their potential.
It turned average players into champions.
Undrafted free agents into millionaires.
And above average players into Pro Bowlers, All Pros, and team Hall of Famers.
And some into Pro Football Hall of Famers.
But credit to Belichick to recognize hecould.
How many times does a successful coach or business mogul tell you it’s all about managing people.
Recognizing what an individual responds to, and treating them that way.
It doesn’t work like that.
Bill Belichick was fantastically, impossibly successful at being himself.
