As Bill Belichick and the Patriots inch ever closer to a seemingly inevitable divorce, it is unknown where he will coach next year. If he’s trying to make himself as attractive as possible to a new team, he might want to reconsider his approach to the final days of his time in New England.
His sudden refusal to reveal the name of the team’s starting quarterback seemed a bit odd at first. A bit strange. Now, two days before the 2-8 Patriots face the 3-8 Giants, Belichick’s stubbornness in naming a starter has become bizarre.
It’s not the first time he’s been a little crazy. It plays much better when the team plays well. With the Patriots being one of the worst teams in the NFL right now, it’s just weird to suddenly jump into the question of who will be playing quarterback on Sunday.
Consider this portion of the transcript from Friday’s press conference, where Belichick again declined to say who would play quarterback.
Q: Bill, on Tuesday or Wednesday Mac Jones said he was confident he would start against the Giants and he felt like that was the plan. Is that the plan?
BB: I told everyone to be ready to go. Hopefully that’s what they all do. I’m not going to announce starters at every position or whatever. Everyone will be ready to go.
Q: Is it mostly Mac and Bailey? [Zappe] put the first team’s replays into practice?
BB: I told everyone to be ready to go.
Q: Even though you told them to be ready to go, have you already decided on a man in your mind?
BB: I told everyone to be ready to go.
Q: Bill, why don’t you announce it?
BB: Then we’ll announce who’s starting it, who’s playing that, who’s doing this, who’s doing that. I mean, once we start doing this, I won’t continue down that path. So sorry.
Q: We promise to keep it at just one position.
BB: Yeah, right.
Q: In your opinion, is this because it is a competitive advantage?
BB: I won’t go into that. Whoever we bring in, I hope they’re ready to play well. Whenever that is. It could be the first play of the game, or it could be the last play of the game. I don’t know.
Q: Could today’s practice dictate this one way or another?
BB: Practice is important for every player.
Q: Would the match heavily influence this decision for you? I just think the Giants seem like a pretty blitzing team. Would that matter?
BB: You’ll have to ask the Giants what they’re doing, I don’t know. Don’t blitz every play, maybe they do, I don’t know. You would have to ask [Don] Wink [Martindale] I don’t know that. I can’t tell you what they’ll do.
Q: But would that play a role in your call?
BB: I don’t know what they’re going to do. Can you tell me what your game plan is? I don’t know.
Q: Bill, do you think there would be any benefit to telling the team who he is so they know and rally around him?
BB: I told everyone to prepare and get ready for the game. That’s what they all do. I think everyone has their own things to work on. Just focus on what you need to do, be ready to go, and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. I think this is good advice for all of us. . . .
Q: Bill, do you tell all players to be ready for every game?
BB: Yes, that’s true. What? Do you think I’m telling them not to be ready? “Don’t worry about it, just take the week off. “Every day, every game, that’s what we come here for. Daily. There are goals that we want to achieve every day and we try to achieve them. Daily.
That’s all fine. It’s all obvious. Every player must be ready to play in every game. Got it.
In this particular case the question is simple. Who is the quarterback?
Either Belichick and the team know who it is and no one will say, or the players really don’t know and will sort it out on Sunday.
My money is for the former. Regardless, it’s all bizarre. And it’s the kind of thing that might make owners thinking about hiring Belichick think twice about bringing the full Belichick experience to their city, to their team, to their fans and to reporters who have to deal with him, several times a week.