Two notorious figures were nowhere to be found during this weekend’s 25th anniversary of the Super Bowl-winning 2001 Patriots team: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
Brady’s absence, as a color commentator for Fox, was expected due to him being on assignment in Seattle for the Seahawks-49ers game.
Belichick, on the other hand, is more peculiar: although he’s also busy coaching North Carolina, he attended the 40th anniversary of the 1986 Giants team, celebrating the milestone of the franchise’s first Super Bowl at a private dinner with former players.
He didn’t stay around for the halftime ceremony the Giants hosted during their Week 4 win against the Cardinals.
The absence is confusing, since he could attend the Giants festivities and celebrate the team he coordinated for, but didn’t do the same for his first championship as a head coach in New England.
Belichick’s relationship with the Patriots has soured over time, as the Tar Heels coach reportedly doesn’t allow New England scouts to visit North Carolina’s facilities.
“It’s clear I’m not welcome there at their facility. So they’re not welcome at ours,” Belichick said at the time.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft described the split between franchise and coach as a mutual parting. But over time, it became clear that the team forced Belichick out after the 2023 season. Belichick was unhappy with how the team handled his departure, and that has strained his relationship with the franchise in the years since.
Since then, both Kraft and Belichick have thrown jabs at each other in the media. Kraft initially said he took a “big risk” by trading for Belichick, who was under contract with the Jets, to make him the Patriots’ new coach before the 2000 season. Belichick replied that he took the risk by coming to New England.
“As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job,” Belichick told ESPN. “I already had an opportunity to be the Head Coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable.”
Despite the current feuds, Belichick and Kraft’s run in New England will be etched into NFL history. Over their 23 seasons together, this partnership produced six Super Bowl championships, nine AFC titles and 17 AFC East division titles.
