If you really believed Cassius Marsh was going to affect the Patriots’ way, you really don’t know Bill Belichick all that well.
The five-time Super Bowl-winning head coach was asked earlier this week about Marsh, the San Francisco 49ers defensive end who spent two unproductive months in New England last season. Typically that’s a blip on the radar in any NFL city but Marsh is public enemy No. 1 in Foxborough these days after claiming football in the shadow of Boston isn’t “fun.”
Predictably, Belichick’s answer came from an almost Terminator-like state except this machine wasn’t sent back in time to relentlessly search for Sarah Connor, this baby is pointed toward winning and not much else.
“We feel what’s important for us is to win,” Belichick told reporters on Thursday. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”
The crux of all this no-fun talk surrounding the Patriots can actually be traced back to Philadelphia All-Pro right tackle Lane Johnson, who took aim at the way New England handles its business after the Eagles’ Super Bowl LII victory, calling the Pats a fear-based organization. It’s a trend that has continued throughout the offseason whether Johnson is appearing on the “Stone Cold” Steve Austin podcast or holding court after an OTA practice.
“What’s the biggest difference between Philadelphia and the Patriots?” “Stone Cold,” one of the best mic men in the history of pro wrestling asked L.J., a fellow Texas native.
“Here’s what pissed me off,” Johnson explained. “The Patriots, obviously, I respect their coach, I respect Bill [Belichick], I respect Tom Brady, but just because they won Super Bowls the Patriot Way, is that supposed to be how everybody else is supposed to do the same thing?
“No, it’s not. And that’s what I got mad at, the arrogance of them. There was obviously some stuff behind closed doors. Their owner talking s@#$ to our owner. Bill talking s@#$ to our head coach before the game. I’m not going to say it, but a lot of s@#$ built up to that and I just got tired of hearing about it, man, to be honest.”
Johnson continued his narrative earlier this week in South Philadelphia when discussing the issue with reporters at the NovaCare Complex.
“All these guys talking about ‘I’ll take the rings.’ OK. You can have your rings. You can also have f@@#ing 15 miserable years,” Johnson quipped.
Marsh claims less than three months in Foxborough, never mind 15 years had him questioning his future in the game.
“They don’t have fun there,” Marsh told the San Francisco Chronicle. “There’s nothing fun about it. There’s nothing happy about it. I didn’t enjoy any of my time there, you know what I’m saying? It made me for the first time in my life think about not playing football because I hated it that much.”
Those who’ve actually been in the program for significant periods during the current two-decade run that has produced eight Super Bowl appearances obviously have far different takes.
Former linebacker Tedy Bruschi, a 13-year Patriots with three Super Bowl rings, explained it this way on social media:
“Players that don’t like their Patriot experience are the ones that can’t take tough coaching, get eaten up by the pressure, blame others for failures and expect things are supposed to be given to them,” he wrote.
Players that don’t like their Patriot experience are the ones that can’t take tough coaching, get eaten up by the pressure, blame others for failures and expect things are supposed to be given to them.
— Tedy Bruschi (@TedyBruschi) May 31, 2018
Star safety Devin McCourty, whose twin brother Jason has now joined him on the Pats after living through the hell of 0-16 in Cleveland last season, explained the real-world consequences if you don’t win in the NFL.
“In this business you have to win, so when you lose it’s not fun,” McCourty explained. “People get fired, you lose your job. That’s not fun. I wouldn’t believe anyone who only won half their games saying they’re having the best time of their life. I’m just not here for that.”
Devin McCourty today: "In this business you have to win, so when you lose it's not fun. People get fired, you lose your job. That's not fun. I wouldn't believe anyone who only won half their games saying they're having the best time of their life. I'm just not here for that."
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) May 31, 2018
Veteran linebacker Dont’a Hightower admitted the Patriots’ way is not for everybody.
“It’s definitely harder than most places, but I mean, that’s part of it,” he said. “A lot of guys know that when they come here. But, I mean, in the locker room, it’s not Bill’s [Belichick] job to make this fun and this atmosphere fun; it’s the guys around it. Every guy in that locker room, I love like a brother. We have fun, whether it’s out here struggling together – blood, sweat, and tears – or we’re back in the locker room or we’re hanging out outside of football. So, there’s a time and place for everything, but we know whenever we walk through the building, it’s time to work.”
Perhaps Belichick is simply an acquired taste for some and an intolerant one for others. Meanwhile, the Eagles certainly proved there are different ways to accomplish the same goal with the more player-friendly approach championed by former long-time backup quarterback Doug Pederson.
That said, Belichick’s resume is beyond reproach as perhaps the best coach in the history of the game and is not going to be affected by an All-Pro like Johnson never mind a disgruntled former employee like Marsh.
“We’re focused on what we’re doing, trying to get better and taking each day we can to try to improve our football team,” Belichick said. “Not really focused on what everybody else is doing.”
To that end Belichick allowed another five-time champ to address his team at OTAs this week, former NBA superstar Kobe Bryant, ironically an Eagles fan from his time leaving near the city his dad once played in.
“I have a ton of respect for Kobe,” Belichick said. “Obviously a great player, had a great career. Spent the day with him [Wednesday]. He had a lot of great observations and things we could learn from. He’s a tremendous guy.”
There were at least some whispers after the Super Bowl that Belichick is growing tired of current generation of athlete, a group some believe doesn’t take to the disciplined style that had defined Belichick and his one-time mentor Bill Parcells.
Whether that’s true or not can be debated but one thing is certain, if you’re looking for fun there are easier ways to find it outside of Foxborough. If you want to win, however, the Patriots remain your best bet.
“A lot of guys don’t really have a problem. If you want to get better you don’t mind sacrificing a little bit, which that stuff sucks sometimes,” Hightower explained. “At the end of the day when you know that you’ve done all that you can do and you go out on Sunday or Monday and you’re winning those games and you go back and you’re watching film and you see all of the extra work and all of the stuff that you sacrificed, that it was actually worth it. … I love being here. I loved being at Alabama. I love what I’m doing.”
