Bill Belichick has never been afraid to play the hits during his usual monotone press conferences. "On to Cincinnati" has morphed into "On to (insert next opponent)" over the years. He's also fond of telling us he does what's best for the team, even if he won't reveal why it's best 99 out of 100 times.
During his weekly appearance on WEEI Tuesday, Belichick dialed one up from the way back machine, trying to find humor in an oldie but goody after being repeatedly asked about his future in New England.
"You know, if I was going to do anything, I'd put it out there on Twitter and MyFace so everybody could see that," Belichick said. "But if I don't do that, then I'll just keep it private."
Gallows humor? Or a rare attempt at levity during a trying season? Only Bill knows for sure, but he did his best to explain why he won't engage in these conversations.
"Whatever success I have had, I've tried to go about my job the same way every week - win, lose, good years, bad years, whatever they are," he said. "Each week, get ready to go for that week, do the best you can to help your team win, and after that game, move on to the next one. And at the end of the season, that's the end of the season.
"But on a week-to-week basis, I don't want to spend time, or get caught up in what happened 5 years ago, or what's going to happen 2 years from now, and a bunch of other random stuff. Just working on the Jets.
"... I'm committed to the team that I'm coaching right now, the players that are here. They deserve my best every day, and that's what I'm going to give them."
Despite this season not coming remotely close to meeting expectations, Belichick still has the team playing hard - with the rare exception (see Brown, Trent). That he assembled a deficient roster from a talent perspective is a big reason they're in this spot - 4-12 - but the effort is worth something.
MAYO RESPONDS
Jerod Mayo may be Belichick's successor, should ownership move on from the coaching legend after 24 seasons on the job in Foxborough.
But a recent report by my boss, Greg Bedard, about Mayo rubbing people inside the building the wrong way increased media and fan chatter that perhaps it's too soon for the keys to be handed over to Mayo, who hasn't been in the coaching profession for very long.
In a video conference call with the 37-year-old, he admitted the story bothered him.
"Honestly, when that report came out, my brother sent it to me. It was more hurtful than anything," said Mayo. "I found it to be ... well, the timing of it was a little bit weird in my opinion. And if that was the case, I feel like this would have been leaked sometime earlier. At the same time, I try to treat everyone the same way.
"And I will say this: I thought about it for a while. When people talk about rubbing people the wrong way, I mean, that's part of the job of being a leader is to rub people the wrong way. And I always try to be constructive and respectful with my feedback. Some people appreciate that transparency. Some don't. But at the end of the day, if we can't rub people the wrong way, how do you expect that you can be the best that you can be. And I would say, anytime there's a change or anything like that, it's going to be painful if someone rubs you the wrong way. At the end of the day, you have to look through all the words that really get to the substance and the meat and potatoes of what that person is trying to say."
That honesty from a Patriots employee is refreshing. Rare for a delicate topic to be answered with honesty. There's also truth to it. Being a leader doesn't mean nodding your head and smiling at everyone. Some friction is good. In fact, you could argue Belichick hasn't surrounded himself with enough voices that felt emboldened enough to push back, and that may have contributed to some of the odd roster and coaching staff decisions that Belichick has executed. Regardless, Mayo said he used the story as a learning tool.
"It actually helped me," he said. "It triggered a period of self-reflection. I know it's recent, a week old at this point, but it triggered an opportunity of self-reflection. We all have blind spots. And maybe that's one of my blind spots. But at the end of the day, hopefully, whoever put that story out is man or woman enough to bring it to my attention to have a conversation."
