The anticipation building up to the New England Patriots upcoming Week 4 matchup against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is through the roof. Fans across the NFL are excited to see how Brady will fare in his return to Gillette Stadium, and whether or not Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has something up his sleeve to slow down his former franchise quarterback.
Only adding to the suspense have been recent comments made by Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., and his longtime trainer and business partner, Alex Guerrero, that were disparaging against the Patriots, and Belichick in particular. They only add to the already infinite amount of storylines heading into this game.
This morning, more fuel was added to the fire when ESPN published an article that provided a sneak-peek of Seth Wickersham’s new book “It’s Better to Be Feared”. The book takes an inside look at the relationship between Brady, Belichick, and Pats owner Robert Kraft, while also looking at some of the other workings of New England’s 20+ year dynasty. Wickersham is a writer for ESPN, so it’s no surprise ESPN decided to put this out in the buildup to the Week 4 matchup.
Wickersham has been notorious for trying to detail, and potentially overexaggerate, the demise between the three key pieces of the Patriots dynasty. Regardless, there are tons of interesting tidbits on the inner workings of the Patriots that weren’t common knowledge beforehand. Let’s take a look at three big takeaways from the preview of the book, which is set to drop in full on October 12th.
3 takeaways from the upcoming New England Patriots book
No. 3: Tom Brady’s reasons for leaving New England
For the most part, fans can figure out why Tom Brady decided to upend his life in New England and start fresh in Tampa Bay. Belichick seemed to think Brady was beginning to regress, and didn’t think it was worth it to pursue brining Brady back. They had clearly grown tired of working with each other to an extent, but that’s what happens when you work with someone for 20 years, even if you spend most your time together winning.
But Wickersham reports there was also another big reason for Brady’s departure, which also seems a bit obvious. Brady was tired of having his input on the team ignored by Belichick and Kraft. He figured since he was taking these team-friendly deals for New England, he should have some input on where that money ended up getting used.
Tampa Bay offered Brady a chance to do just that. It’s not a surprise that Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown were pretty quickly recruited down to Tampa to help the Bucs win a Super Bowl. It certainly wasn’t a good look for Belichick and the Pats.
It’s fair to wonder whether New England releasing Brown after just one game due to him being accused of sexual assault was the final straw for Brady. He had taken Brown under his wing during his short stint in New England, and his loss depleted the Pats wide receiver corps. The offense stalled out towards the end of the season, and it wasn’t all that surprising to see them flame out in the wild card round against the Tennessee Titans to end their season.
Brady has basically called the shots since he ended up in Tampa, and their front office has obliged. Their rally cry after winning their Super Bowl was “run it back”, which basically meant they wanted to bring all their starters back and make another run for a Super Bowl, which they did. Brady wanted more input, and he got it. Whether this was the main reason for Brady’s departure remains to be seen, but it’s clear it was a big factor in him deciding to call it quits in New England.
No. 2: Bill O’Brien could end up being Bill Belichick’s eventual replacement
One of the more interesting takeaways from Wickersham’s preview involves former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. O’Brien would eventually takeover the Houston Texans, nearly build a Super Bowl contender, and then in one fell swoop, destroy it with a number of befuddling moves. Wickersham picks up key information on what may have led O’Brien to blow things up in Houston, and how he almost made a return to New England.
For those not familiar, O’Brien was involved in a power struggle with Texans general manager Rick Smith, and claimed he was trying to get himself fired from Houston during their battle. O’Brien ended up winning as Smith got fired, and assumed Houston’s general manager role. He promptly pulled off a number of mind-boggling trades, which included trading star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins to the Arizona Cardinals for next to nothing because he wanted a new contract.
During the same period of time O’Brien was bickering with Smith in Houston, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was interviewing for head coaching vacancies around the league. McDaniels even took the Indianapolis Colts job for a point in time before eventually backing out.
In the event McDaniels left, Brady, Kraft, and a few others discussed potentially bringing back O’Brien to fill McDaniels role while setting him up to be Belichick’s eventual successor. O’Brien apparently caught wind of this, which led to him attempting to get fired by Houston. McDaniels ended up sticking around though, and O’Brien ended up doing enough to get himself fired by Houston midway through the 2020 season.
This is a particularly interesting revelation, especially given McDaniels recent playcalling struggles for the New England Patriots. You have to believe McDaniels sticking around was partly due to O’Brien winning his battle in Houston. Kraft was forced to scramble, and ended up convincing McDaniels to stick around as a result.
It raises the question of what will happen once Belichick eventually decides to retire. No one knows when it will happen, but McDaniels has presumably been groomed for the position for years now. But this revelation makes it clear that Kraft certainly doesn’t have as much confidence in McDaniels as originally believed.
It still seems like McDaniels would have the inside track considering how much experience he has in New England, but it’s interesting to see New England would have considered O’Brien given his struggles in Houston. Whether he is making excuses for his struggles or was actually trying to get fired is up to you the reader, but it’s clear there is now another layer to picking Belichick’s successor whenever he decides to call it a career.
No. 1: Why Malcolm Butler was benched in Super Bowl LII by the New England Patriots
Arguably the biggest piece of information Wickersham got his hands on wasn’t even tied into Brady, Belichick, or Kraft. Many fans have wondered why on earth Malcolm Butler, one of the Patriots top cornerbacks in the 2017 season, was benched during Super Bowl LII against the Philadelphia Eagles. Butler’s benching hurt a defense that allowed 41 points to the Eagles and Nick Foles, and is a big reason they ended up losing the game.
The thing is, nobody ever found out why exactly Butler wasn’t playing in this game. Some claimed Butler was having a breakdown, and the coaching staff was concerned about his well being. Others said the coaches believed he wasn’t in condition to play (whatever that means). People around the situation, whether it was players or coaches, said the coaches put who they believed would help them win on the field, and apparently Butler was not one of those players.
According to Wickersham, Butler got into a heated argument with then defensive coordinator Matt Patricia in the week leading up the Super Bowl, and Butler was benched shortly thereafter. There’s a good chance that if Butler played this game, New England would have seven Super Bowl championships rather than six.
Ever since the Patriots lost this game, there has been one play that stuck out to me that changed the game in my opinion, and it was because Butler wasn’t on the field. It’s a simple play; 3rd & 6 for the Eagles early on in the third quarter. Foles finds Nelson Agholor on a short crossing route short of the first down marker. Jonathan Jones is right with Agholor in coverage, but he misses the tackle, and Agholor picks up the first down. Philly would score a touchdown a few plays later.
It’s such a specific play that seems so miniscule that I can’t even find a video of it on it’s own. (If you click here and skip to about the 9:40 mark, you will see what I am talking about.) If Butler is playing, he’s on the field covering Agholor here. Butler was one of the Pats better tacklers at cornerback, and there is no doubt in my mind he drops Agholor before the first down marker here, forcing Philadelphia to punt.
The final score was 41-33. If you take 7 points off the board, it’s 34-33. The Patriots got the ball back with 1:05 left on the clock in the fourth quarter, but were forced to go for a touchdown with no timeouts left. If Butler was on the field, and made that tackle, they would have only had to get a field goal to win the game.
Of course, this is all speculative, and no one really knows how the game would have gone had Butler been on the field. But based on what happened in the game, I’m certain the New England Patriots could have won had Butler played. And now we come to find out that a chance to add a seventh ring, and a three peat, was wasted because of a stupid argument between Patricia and Butler. Do with that what you will Patriots fans.