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One thing about the man who runs their football operation.
Bill Belichick, is he loves to use quotes from other teams, that he deems disrespectful, as bulletin board fodder, to motivate his team, the New England Patriots.
Sometimes the stuff that was said wasn’t really that insulting, but he will trump it up to rally the troops.
And he also emphasizes to his players to be careful what they say about opponents.
So Belichick must be seething right now after what his owner, Robert Kraft said, about the Jets.
“The world we’re living in now, we need the World Cup more than ever,” Kraft said. “Because seeing different communities from different parts of the world gather together and celebrate and really be excited in a way — I guess only when the Patriots are kicking butt against the Jets, that’s the same feeling.”
It was kind of a strange quote. Because in a quote where you are talking about people coming together during these particular times, some might consider it odd to end the quote by taking a shot at people.
Belichick has to be seething. Now he’s not going to come out publicly against his owner, but this isn’t “The Patriots Way.” That is a term you often heard during their remarkable run of winning six Super Bowl from 2001-2018. It’s about their modus operandi since Belichick took over. In a nutshell, it’s obviously about being a very disciplined program, focused on hard work, and not outside nonsense.
This quote is so not “The Patriots Way.”
And also, the timing is pretty bad.
Let’s say Kraft something like this when the Patriots were a juggernaut when Tom Brady was on the team. Yes, it wouldn’t have been “The Patriots Way” back then either, but what were the Jets going to do about it?
Brady’s Patriots dominated the Jets, who didn’t have quarterbacks who could match him.
But now, the Jets have the better roster and the better QB, with the addition of Aaron Rodgers.
This Kraft quote at this point in history is the last thing Belichick needed.
While obviously, it remains to be seen how Rodgers and the Jets do this season, on paper, this could be the Jets’ best team in a long time.
And now Kraft has provided the quintessential bulletin board fodder for Sunday, September 24, when the Patriots visit the Jets.
This quote is going to be used, there is no doubt about it.
We all know Kraft hates the Jets, and there are three reasons why – Bill Parcells to the Jets after quitting in New England, Bill Belichick to the Patriots after stepping down as Jets coach before coaching a game, and of course Spy-Gate.
There could be more reasons he hates the Jets, but those are the three biggest reasons. All three were nasty disputes that had to be settled by the league office.
Kraft is 81, and we know often when people get older, they sometimes have less of a filter in their communications.
This quote was a case of that.
But he did his coach no favors, because Rodgers and the Jets are going use this as fuel – big-time – on September 24.
And unlike in so many past games in the Jets-Patriots rivalry over the last two decades, the Jets are in the best shape to make Kraft eat his words.
May 19, 2023
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