If you don't support Bill Belichick then you aren't a Patriots fan

"With the 29th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the New England Patriots select Cole Strange, guard, Chattanooga."

- Roger Goodell

Roger Goodell announces the pick, and 3,000 miles across the country, Rams head coach Sean McVay laughs hysterically while the six states that makeup New England collectively sigh and sadly lower their heads into their hands.

This is not the first head-scratching pick that Bill Belichick has made in his tenure. Ras-I Dowling, Isaiah Wynn, and Dominique Easley are just a few picks that left Patriots fans wondering what was happening.

Belichick has received enormous criticism for his draft strategy, and deservedly so. No coach or general manager (Bill wears both hats in Foxborough) is above questioning, regardless of their career achievements.

Nobody gets it right 100% of the time, and when it comes to the complicated job of deciding what 21-year-old kids will be building blocks for a professional football team, the people doing that job get it wrong more often than they get it right. Despite this reality, which to die-hard fans is an obvious truth, there seems to be growing rumblings in Patriots Nation that go beyond regular criticism.

Anywhere that people can share their thoughts on the Patriots, there are clusters of casual fans calling for Belichick to be replaced. Some are calling for it to happen if he has a losing season this year, and something that should have happened years ago, before Tom Brady left.

These are not true Patriots fans. They are imposters. They are Jets, Dolphins, or Bills fans at heart and merely threw on a Patriots Super Bowl champion t-shirt when the weather was nice. Now it's the middle of winter,  and we need to huddle around OUR coach and protect him from these traitors.

Go root for another AFC East team, and leave Bill Belichick's name out of your e mouths.

The true Patriots fans out there may criticize Bill, but they would never call for his removal. The real ones among us remember what it was like before the G.O.A.T. got here, cut off his sleeves, and led us to the promised land.

In the dark ages, before the hoodie, the Patriots were 275-312-9. They won only 46% of their games and five divisional titles in 30 years. Since 2000 they are 262-108. That's 71%, and thanks to the legendary head coach, six banners are flying in Gillette Stadium. The team won 17 division titles under his watch so far.

I say "so far" because the greatest coach to ever step on a football field, at any level, still has work to do, and the real fans can't wait to see him do it. He still has some winning seasons left in him, and we will cheer as he breaks the all-time win record because he'll do it as the Patriots' head coach.

All those folks saying his success was just because of Brady are embarrassing themselves. Go cheer for Aaron Rodgers this year or Josh Allen.

I hear there's some fair weather at Arrowhead Stadium, and they have plenty of t-shirts for you fakers. Go get yours and feel free not to come back. We don't have time for you casuals here in New England. We've got work to do. From me and all the other REAL Patriots fans out there, "In Bill we trust! In Bill, we trust!"