Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft continue to be at odds

The recent comments from Patriots owner Robert Kraft regarding former Patriots coach Bill Belichick seemed to suggest a thawing of the frozen-shoulder relationship that has emerged between them.

Belichick didn’t see it that way.

He apparently viewed Kraft’s remarks about the hiring of Belichick being the best move Kraft has made as a slight, a diss. A backhanded compliment.

Which prompted Belichick to push back with his own thinly-if-at-all veiled comments about Kraft.

“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.”

Of course, those two statements aren’t entirely consistent. Belichick wanted nothing to do with coaching the Jets. So it’s not as if he had any interest in the bird in the hand that he surrendered when he flew off to New England.

“I had been warned by multiple previous Patriots’ coaches, as well as other members of other NFL organizations and the media, that the New England job was going to come with many internal obstacles,” Belichick added. “I made it clear that we would have to change the way the team was managed to regain the previously attained success.”

It’s no surprise that Belichick took a negative view of Kraft’s comments. Last year, ESPN reported that Kraft had warned Falcons owner Arthur Blank to not trust Belichick, which surely didn’t help Belichick’s effort to land on his feet in Atlanta. (The Patriots disputed the report.)

While taking a shot at Kraft may have given Belichick a rush of dopamine, there’s a very real potential consequence to Belichick popping off. Owners who are already reluctant to give Belichick another NFL job can look at his comments about Kraft and conclude that, in time, Belichick will be saying the same kind of things about his next NFL boss.

Of course, there seem to be various other reasons for NFL owners to not hire Belichick. The question is whether that vibe will change if/when he can turn a basketball school into a football school.

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