Max Kellerman shockingly (somewhat) supportive of Patriots

Longtime New England Patriots hater Max Kellerman, an ESPN television analyst, predicted Bill Belichick will win another Super Bowl with the team.

New York City native Max Kellerman has long been a thorn in the side of New England Patriots players and their fans.

Actually, let’s rephrase that:

New York City native Max Kellerman has long tried to be a thorn in the side of New England Patriots players and their fans … and usually quite unsucessfully.

Even casual sports fans will recognize Kellerman’s name as being the most prominent one linked to the whole “Tom Brady is going to fall off a cliff” argument. You know, the “argument” that’s been going for over a decade plus now wherein someone claims this is the year Brady finally falls off the metaphorical cliff and starts to suck.

Kellerman’s been spouting this nonsense longer and louder than anyone else in the media. He did it on ESPN sports radio for years before getting a promotion to TV and doing it opposite Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim on ESPN’s “First Take” now.

Usually, the script goes something like this: Kellerman says something asinine about how Brady’s old and the Patriots are going to suck, and Smith rolls his eyes, tunes out, or flat-out obliterates his co-host with the facts regarding New England’s dominance during the Brady/Belichick era.

Kellerman has had to eat crow several times — including after the Patriots’ last two Super Bowl wins over the Falcons and Rams. Former New England linebacker Kyle Van Noy even went on the show once upon a time to rub salt in the wound and embarrass Kellerman publicly for being wrong about Brady and the Pats.

Kellerman isn’t about to go against the Patriots on the air again it seems

Now that Brady’s gone, though, it seems as if Kellerman’s vitriol may be cooling just a bit.

That, or perhaps he’s finally learned his lesson when it comes to doubting New England and the Patriots as a winning franchise.

According to Boston.com’s Hayden Bird, Kellerman got into the prediction game again on Monday’s segment of “First Take” — and he inadvertently said something nice about the Patriots while doing so.

The debate was whether Tom Brady or Bill Belichick will win another Super Bowl first — with Tampa Bay or New England, respectively. Here’s what Kellerman had to say:

"“Belichick will win first. First of all, Belichick is much more responsible for the Patriots’ success and the Patriot Way than Brady, although Brady is also very responsible. If you have to ask, in the NFL, it’s the head coach. It’s the head coach … Look, the over-under on the Patriots is what, 9.5 games, 8.5 games? And they don’t even have a roster! They lost everybody, including the quarterback, and people still think they’re going to have a winning season. Belichick’s going to be there every single year. They’re going to win the Super Bowl first.”"

You heard it here first: Max Kellerman is predicting a New England Patriots Super Bowl victory.

It might not be this year or next year. But considering that Bill Belichick will turn 70 in less than two years from now, it’s only logical to take Kellerman at his word that the Patriots are “going to win the Super Bowl first.”

Besides, Brady himself will turn 43 before this new regular season begins. There’s a better chance Brady retires before Belichick, and if so, it could happen in the next two or three years — if not sooner.

That would only further speed up Kellerman’s Patriots Super Bowl-winning timeline.

Who’s ready for a seventh Lombardi Trophy?