Colin Cowherd Rips Bill Belichick: ‘What Is He Without Tom Brady?’

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is largely credited for New England’s dynasty run, however, has a new conversation opened about the 71-year-old’s credibility amid a rough three-year run without Tom Brady?

Since Brady departed New England, birthing a never-ending line of theories surrounding his possible animosity toward the Patriots, things haven’t gone so well in Foxboro, Mass. The Patriots have been reduced to a punching bag in the AFC East, watching as others such as the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills improve while they fail to perform up to standard and move on without Brady.

“Maybe we should take a step back and go, ‘What really is he without Tom Brady?’ He doesn’t get along with his quarterback, he just made a defensive coordinator an offensive coordinator — a silly move that’s tone-deaf offense,” Colin Cowherd said on FOX Sports‘ “The Herd” this past Thursday. “What is he without Tom Brady? And it’s funny, I don’t think most people really talk about it.”

“Belichick’s career is absolutely, inarguably tied to one player: Brady.”

FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd

The Patriots have embarked on one playoff run without Brady and missed the playoffs in 2020 and 2022. In 2021, they fell miserably in a 47-17 blowout loss to the Bills in the wild-card round. That’s uncharacteristic — certainly to Belichick’s standards — downfall in New England while Brady captured his seventh Super Bowl title with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.

Cowherd also highlighted Belichick’s 36-44 record as head coach of the Cleveland Browns and 25-25 record in New England with other quarterbacks, plus his measly two postseason appearances without Brady, too.

“Belichick’s career is absolutely, inarguably tied to one player: Brady,” Cowherd claimed. “Otherwise, 10 years, one playoff win, seven losing seasons. I mean you got to give Pete Carroll credit last year. Got to the playoffs with Geno Smith. Got to a couple of Super Bowls with Russell Wilson. … Belichick’s career is tied to one player. Brady’s career isn’t tied to Belichick anymore. He left to a wobbly, wanky franchise and won a championship.”

To Cowherd’s credit, Belichick hasn’t exceeded expectations with anyone other than Brady as the field general, failing with Cam Newton and yet to do anything noteworthy with current Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.

New England had a tumultuous campaign in 2022, especially offensively, speculating friction between Belichick and Jones following their 8-9 run. With Brady having taken his walk into the sunshine, retiring after 23 seasons, Belichick is on the clock to prove the naysayers wrong, but so far, it’s difficult to challenge that narrative at this point.