Bill Belichick has never used the term, nor understood the ‘Patriot Way’

While the ‘Patriot Way’ has become a common catchphrase to describe New England’s culture, Bill Belichick of all people still doesn’t get it.

Once a curmudgeon, always a curmudgeon.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Khadrice Rollins, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick isn’t about to dignify what he believes to be a made-up concept with a proper response. Long known for discussing strictly football matters, he wasn’t about to break that habit to talk about matters of culture or mythology with the media.

Asked during his weekly conference call with reporters on Tuesday whether or not he believed new acquisition Antonio Brown would disturb the team dynamic he’s helped to instill, he shrugged off any such notion, pointing out that the media spun a similar narrative when he traded for Oakland malcontent Randy Moss back in 2007 as well… and that experiment proved pretty successful for the Pats.

Pressed further on Brown potentially damaging the all-hallowed “Patriot Way,” Belichick essentially acted like he’d never even heard of that phrase to begin with. As a matter of fact, he straight-up said that he’d never uttered those two words together a single time in his life.

“Yeah, I don’t know that I’ve ever used that term,” Belichick told the media. “I’m not really sure what that is either. I appreciate you asking about it though, but I don’t know. It’s a good question.”

Really? Could Bill Belichick – Darth Hoodie himself – the greatest coach of all time, and the man who is arguably the most responsible for all the success that New England has enjoyed these past two decades, really not know what the “Patriot Way” is? Isn’t he, above all others, the one person most responsible for creating the “Patriot Way” in the first place, and thus the most-qualified individual to discuss it?

"“I’m not really sure what that is…”"

That was Belichick’s response, word for word.

It’s hard to fathom Belichick is completely unfamiliar with the phrase and all it’s come to represent this millennium.

What’s far more likely is that he’s just being classic Belichick – a bit of a sourpuss who would much rather discuss the finer points of special teams, lacrosse, or the history of the Navy football program, than a made-up term used to define the Patriots’ successful approach as an NFL franchise.