As Bill Belichick and the Patriots move closer and closer to what seems to be an inevitable divorce, it’s unknown where he’ll coach next year. If he’s trying to make himself as attractive as possible to a new team, he might want to revisit his approach to the final days of his time in New England.
His sudden refusal to disclose the name of the team’s starting quarterback seemed a little quirky at first. A little odd. Now, two days before the 2-8 Patriots take on the 3-8 Giants, Belichick’s stubbornness to name a starter has become bizarre.
It’s not the first time he’s been a little nutty. It plays much better when the team is playing well. With the Patriots currently one of the worst teams in the NFL, it’s just a weird pivot to suddenly engage in gamesmanship over who will be playing quarterback on Sunday.
Consider this chunk of the transcript from Friday’s press conference, when Belichick once again wouldn’t say who will play quarterback.
Q: Bill, on Tuesday or Wednesday, Mac Jones said that he was hopeful that he will be the starter against the Giants and he felt like that was the plan. Is that the plan?
BB: I’ve told everybody to be ready to go. Hopefully that’s what they’re all doing. I’m not going to announce starters at every position or whatever. Everybody will be ready to go.
Q: Is it mostly Mac and Bailey [Zappe] taking the first team reps in practice?
BB: I’ve told everybody to be ready to go.
Q: Even though you’ve told them to be ready to go, have you, in your own mind, settled on a guy yet?
BB: I’ve told everybody to be ready to go.
Q: Bill, why aren’t you going to announce it?
BB: Then we’ll be announcing who’s starting this, who’s playing that, who’s doing this, who’s doing that. I mean, once we get going on that then — I’m not going down that road. So, sorry.
Q: We promise to keep it to just one position.
BB: Yeah, right.
Q: Is that because it’s a competitive advantage in your opinion?
BB: I’m not getting into that. Whoever we put in, I hope they’re ready to go and 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 practice today dictate that one way or another?
BB: Practice is important for every player.
Q: Would the matchup impact this decision for you much? I’m just thinking that the Giants, seems like they are pretty blitz heavy team, would that factor in?
BB: You’re going to have to ask the Giants what they do, I don’t know. Don’t blitz on every play, maybe they will, I don’t know. You’d have to ask [Don] Wink [Martindale] that, I don’t know. I can’t tell you what they’re going to do.
Q: But would that factor into your call?
BB: I don’t know what they’re going to do. Can you tell me what their game plan is? I don’t know.
Q: Bill, do you believe there would be any benefit to announcing to the team who it is, so they can know and rally around them?
BB: I’ve told everybody to prepare and get ready to play. That’s what they all are doing. I think everyone’s got their own things to work on. Just concentrate on what you have to do, be ready to go and don’t worry about what everybody else is doing. I think that’s good advice for all of us. . . .
Q: Bill, do you tell all the players to be ready to go every game?
BB: Yeah, that’s right. What? You think I tell them not to be ready? ‘Don’t worry about this one, just take the week off’. Every day, every game, that’s what we come in here for. Every day. There are goals that we try to accomplish every day and we try to accomplish them. Every day.
That’s all fine. It’s all obvious. Every player needs to be ready to play in every game. Got it.
In this specific case, the question is simple. Who’s the quarterback?
Either Belichick and the team know who it is and no one will say so, or the players truly don’t know and they’ll kind out on Sunday.
My money is on the former. Regardless, it’s all bizarre. And it’s the kind of thing that could make owners who might be thinking about trying to hire Belichick think twice about bringing the full Belichick experience to their town, to their team, to their fans, and to the reporters who will have to deal with him, multiple times per week.
