Maybe the conversation wasn’t as interesting as you’d think. Maybe it was a lot of platitudes with a bit of “how’s your family” thrown in. Perhaps the stories shared and memories regaled were incidental and minor rather than the way we’d ideally imagine it, which is as some epic retelling of the finest moments of a historic football partnership. But is there any conversation in sports you’d love to have been a fly on the wall for more than this one? As Sunday night crossed over into Monday morning, Bill Belichick went looking for Tom Brady in the visitors’ locker room at Gillette Stadium, found him, and the pair found something to chat about for around 25 minutes. We’re not going to know what the topics were because they’re not going to say. We probably won’t even hear about who did the bulk of the talking or if there were some laughs shared. Belichick doesn’t reveal anything publicly that he doesn’t have to and Brady wasn’t biting. “All those are personal,” Brady said, when asked about the details of what was said. “We’ve got a personal relationship for 20-plus years. He drafted me here. We’ve had a lot of personal conversations that should remain that way and are very private.” For a moment, it looked as if there would be some lingering awkwardness from a now-separated duo that combined for the small matter of six Super Bowl rings. Belichick’s New England Patriots did a masterful defensive job of containing their former quarterback on Sunday night. However, it wasn’t quite enough as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers squeaked out a 19-17 victory as Pats kicker Nick Folk saw his 56-yard field goal attempt drift into the upright as time ran out. If it hadn’t, Brady would’ve had just under a minute to get the Bucs into field goal range. How delicious an ending would that have been? We can’t always get what we want, and as close as this game was, the storyline was always going to be about Brady and Belichick, who hadn’t spoken, it is believed, since Brady left New England. Reports have suggested Brady was hurt that the coach did not want to meet personally at Foxborough to see him off once the decision was made. Things were tense and made tenser by public comments from Brady’s father Tom Sr. and mentor Alex Guerrero that did not cast Belichick in a good light. Then, after the Bucs won on Sunday, the on-field exchange was momentary. Rarely has a postgame on-field meeting been more greatly anticipated. The cameras made sure they were ready for it. Yet while Brady had a long hug for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and for plenty of former teammates, Belichick interacted with him for no more than a second before heading off. But that was just what we saw on television and it wasn’t the real story. “So much is made of our relationship,” Brady said later. “But nothing is really accurate that I ever see. It’s all kind of – definitely doesn’t come from my personal feelings or beliefs.” Away from the cameras and the spotlight, Belichick made a gesture and it wasn’t a small one. He could have met Brady in a corridor, could have invited him into his office, could have done it some other way, but instead he went to him, went into the one part of Gillette he doesn’t make a habit of frequenting. People show their respect and love in different ways. Brady tells everyone he loves them, calls many of his teammates “baby,” unwittingly sparked a silly controversy when he kissed his son in a documentary and never met a hug he didn’t like. Belichick is not that way and never will be, but when one of the greatest coaches to have ever lived heads to an enemy locker room to have a conversation, it means something. “Hurt feelings, slights or misunderstandings drove them apart,” wrote Dan Wetzel on Yahoo Sports. “Or maybe Belichick just bet on the idea that no one could be an elite quarterback at age 44, so he moved the franchise on to the inevitable rebuild. Then Brady proved him wrong.” And so it is. For now, for certain, Tampa’s immediate future is brighter than that of New England’s. The Patriots played an excellent game – “Belichick coached better than Brady played,” FS1’s Chris Broussard said on “First Things First” – but it still wasn’t enough. That’s how it goes sometimes, when you’re up against a historically great QB instead of having one to call upon yourself. It changes the decisions you make, it affects how you feel and the perception of a lead or deficit. Maybe that was one of the things they chatted about. Who knows? This was the game the league had been waiting for, the fixture circled on the calendar months in advance, and now it’s come and gone. It was anticipated for the soap opera element, centered around the extraordinary reality that two iconic football figures who for so long had been intertwined now seemed to have some beef. It feels like that’s done now. The talking has taken place, by the people who were supposed to do it. It was quite a show, for quite a while. It’s time to move on to something else. AMERICA’S GREATEST GAME DAY EATS SHIPPED TO YOU! Sponsored Content It’s MLB playoff week—and it’s time to knock it out of the park with an all-star line-up of eats from across the USA. And you know your star slugger—Goldbelly, America’s #1 food experience marketplace, shipping iconic regional foods from across the country right to your door for a home-run feast! Forget the peanuts & Cracker Jack—we’ve got the heavy hitters on-deck. 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My guarantee of a Patriots victory may have been right, even though they lost?” |
