Ex-Patriots Staffer Finds Certain Bill Belichick Narratives ‘Ridiculous’

Former New England Patriots staffer Michael Lombardi has plenty of gripes about the way his former boss and friend Bill Belichick was treated on his way out of New England.

And Lombardi, who served as an assistant to New England's coaching staff from 2014-16 and also worked with Belichick with the Cleveland Browns, chose 98.5 The Sports Hub's "Felger and Mazz" show to air out those grievances on Tuesday.

There was much that Lombardi took issue with, but focused first on media pundits bringing up Belichick's lack of success without Tom Brady as his quarterback. Belichick went 83-101 in his head coaching career without Brady as his starting signal-caller.

"It's a completely ridiculous narrative. It's the laziest narrative you could ever have," Lombardi said. "Don Shula is the winningest coach in football and he went to one Super Bowl with Danny Marino. You look at Andy Reid after Donovan McNabb and Kevin Kolb when they went through that. ... I think there's always a transitional period you have to go through. That's such a lazy narrative that, 'Oh, he's no good but Brady was the reason.' All good coaches are good with a quarterback."

Lombardi didn't stop there. Lombardi blasted the notion that some think the game of football has past by Belichick, who turns 72 years old in April.

Belichick's final four seasons with the Patriots, in which he went 29-39 and bottomed out this past season with a 4-13 mark, and New England's offense looking epically inept over that time certainly doesn't help his cause in this regard.

But Lombardi believes it is blasphemous to even suggest that Belichick has regressed as a coach.

"I think he's been treated unfairly by the national media," Lombardi said. "I think there's a narrative out there that he's lost touch with the game. I think that's a ridiculous narrative. I think if you've ever spent any time with him, you realize he hasn't. ... Talk to any coaches in the league. You sitting here and you're judging from afar. Talk to the people who competed against him in the league."

While Lombardi shows loyalty to Belichick and feverishly supports him, the legendary head coach is still out of a job for next season, which even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell weighed in on this week.