The New England Patriots have struggled after Tom Brady’s departure from the franchise in 2020. According to statmuse.com, the Patriots have an all-time record of 43-42 following the loss of the talismanic quarterback. Coach Bill Belichick will enter the 24th year of his reign at the Gillette Stadium this NFL season’s end. The Patriots are presently 1-4, following a 34-0 thumping at the hands of the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. With the worrisome signs, speculation mounts regarding Belichick’s future, at which Shannon Sharpe defended the coach.

An 8x Super Bowl winner with an imperious 330-169 record, Belichick is considered one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. Considering the Patriots managed to reach the playoffs only once post Brady’s exit, Belichick is now under the scanner. That same question was posed to Shannon Sharpe following the game on ESPN’s First Take. When asked if Belichick was ordinary sans Brady, Sharpe responded soundly in the negative. Moreover, he admitted to having a different take on Brady. 

Shannon Sharpe: “I should’ve given him even more credit“

Shannon Sharpe, once one of Brady’s biggest critics, offered him an apology. Sharpe admitted, after saying Belichick needs to be commended, he did not give the recently retired quarterback enough credit. According to the former tight end, Brady papered over all the cracks that emerged during Belichick’s reign. He said, “… I think I owe Brady an apology because I don’t think I gave him enough credit. Or I should’ve given him even more credit because what Brady allowed coach Belichick to do, Brady is the largest eraser in pro sport. Because every mistake that coach Belichick made during that two decades, Brady could erase it.”

Shannon Sharpe gave the example of wide receiver Julian Edelman where Brady erased one of Belichick’s mistakes as he put it. Edelman was a seventh-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Before retiring in 2021, he won three Super Bowls with the Patriots. Edelman was also named the Super Bowl LIII MVP. According to Bleacher Report, he became Brady’s go-to wide receiver following Wes Walker’s exit in 2013. Sharpe said, “You took a bad receiver, Brady would take a seventh-round receiver, a receiver you took in the first or the second or the third round and Brady would erase it with a Julian Edelman. Or you would make a mistake with a defensive back, he would take somebody else and he would erase it.”

Without Brady, none of it might have been possible

Simultaneously, Shannon Sharpe gave Belichick his due credit, commending him for his defensive mind. He praised Belichick’s work against the 1999-2001 St. Louis Rams. Sharpe noted, “Coach Belichick did a great job of designing defensive schemes to keep the point, what he did with the ‘Greatest Show on Turf,’ against these high-flying offenses.”

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Shannon Sharpe also paid tribute to Belichick. Sharpe then posited that Brady always made the play expected of him. He admitted Belichick’s scheming would be pointless without a player who could run those plays on the field. Sharpe said, “… At the end of the day, when you needed a quarterback to make the play, Brady always made that play … A regular coach can’t have this level of success for two decades. What it does go to show you, no matter how great of a defensive mind or an offensive mind you are, if you don’t have a guy that’s 6’4” and 200 pounds with an arm, you’re whistling in the wind.”

Shannon Sharpe had long been a critic of retired quarterback Tom Brady. However, after the most recent disappointment suffered by the Patriots, he began singing a different tune. Sharpe admitted he owed Brady an apology and more credit for the Patriots’ achievements over the last two decades. Simultaneously, he shut down questions of Bill Belichick’s pedigree. It remains to be seen whether Belichick gets the chance to turn things around at the Gillette Stadium.

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