When the New England Patriots were blown out by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2014 regular season, famously prickly head coach Bill Belichick did not feel like talking to reporters after the game.
He answered post-game questions with “We’re on to Cincinnati,” referencing the Patriots’ next opponent, no fewer than five times.
A few years later, Belichick has debuted a variation on that theme — “We’re all in on Tennessee” — in the face of persistent questions about the team’s chemistry and future.
ESPN’s Seth Wickersham published a report last week detailing turmoil among Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady and owner Robert Kraft, which relied on numerous anonymous sources. At Belichick’s media availability Tuesday, he made it clear he was only interested in talking about New England’s opponent in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs, the Tennessee Titans, according to this video by an NESN reporter.
Bill Belichick –– simply not having it. #OnToTennessee pic.twitter.com/cOgZmKIjjl
— Michaela Vernava (@MichaelaNESN) January 9, 2018
“Dealt with some non-Tennessee subjects here over the last few days. At this point I’m all in on Tennessee, so I’ll answer any questions about the Titans, but that’s it,” Belichick said.
When a reporter then tried to coax him to talk about those lingering “non-Tennessee subjects,” he said, “Yeah, we’re on Tennessee.”
Perhaps the wildest rumor that came out of the ESPN story was that Belichick could be interested in leaving the Patriots to take the New York Giants’ vacant head coach job. But after all, the Giants aren’t playing Tennessee this week, so Belichick’s mind is probably elsewhere.
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