Patriots Champion Takes Issue With Bill Belichick’s View Of 2001 Team

Retired New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson took issue with the comments made by his former coach Bill Belichick regarding the Super Bowl XXXVI championship team.

Belichick talked about his transition from Cleveland to New England and the opportunity he had with the Patriots with The 33rd Team on June 20, noting that even though he had success with the team in his second year, he wasn't exactly thrilled with the roster.

"When the opportunity came in 2000, even though this team was nowhere near the team that we left in '96, it had declined quite a bit, there were still a few pillars here that we could build with," Belichick said during the interview. "And I'd say by '03 -- even though we won in '01 -- by '03 this was a pretty good football team in all three phases of the game. It kind of took the same basic four-year window that it took in Cleveland. Again, we were fortunate to win in '01, but I'd say by '03, '04, we had one of the better teams in the league."

Johnson wasn't pleased with the comments and discussed his thoughts with Scott Zolak and Marc Bertrand on their WEEI mid-day show.

After listing some of the staple players on the 2001 team -- Drew Bledsoe, Troy Brown, Tedy Bruschi, Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Lawyer Malloy and Adam Vinatieri, Johnson noted there were quite a few "pillars" on the roster.

"It's amazing to me that he would devalue or discredit the 2001 Super Bowl," Johnson told Zolak and Bertrand. "I know we were 14-point underdogs, but it's weird. I would think he would be more proud of that Super Bowl than any of them -- the way we were able to win it. ... I take issue with these comments."

The Patriots finished 11-5 in 2001 winning the AFC East, defeating the Raiders and Steelers en route to their 20-17 Super Bowl win over the St. Louis Rams. They had four Pro Bowlers in Tom Brady, Brown, Law and Milloy.