Belichick’s ‘forever’ beef 🥩

Plus: 🏴‍☠️ Tom Brady’s new team

Good Morning, Boston.

🎂 Happy Birthday, Alex Cora! The Red Sox skipper turns 49 today. Here’s hoping he can ring in his 50th next year during a postseason run. October baseball isn’t the same without the Sox.

🎃 Boston fans get an early Halloween treat: a bonus episode of “The Quick Snap” podcast featuring retired Bruins legend Patrice Bergeron. Watching him explain the culture of hockey fighting to an enraptured David Andrews is peak Boston sports.

What’s on tap today:

• BOS Nation’s rocky rollout
• The Pat who got away
• Pop Douglas the prophet

Let’s get into it …

LEADING OFF

Bill Belichick and the art of holding a grudge

Image: John T. Greilick/AP

Bill Belichick’s beef with the New York Jets is legendary. Tom Brady’s not the only Patriots great who owns an NFL team. Belichick has spent much of this quarter-century destroying the AFC rival Jets, and smiling as he does it. But why did the legendary coach take particular joy in grounding the Jets? Probably because in an alternate reality, Belichick might have led New York to six Super Bowl championships, instead of New England.

Belichick almost became the face of the Jets. He was actually named New York’s head coach twice:

• Temporarily in 1997, while the Jets tried to wrest Belichick’s mentor Bill Parcells away from Robert Kraft and the Patriots — just after leading New England to a Super Bowl. After Kraft finally released Parcells from his contract, Belichick became the Jets’ defensive coordinator under Parcells.
• In 2000, when Parcells stepped away from coaching and made Belichick his successor.

But Belichick left them at the altar. On Jan. 4, 2000, one day after Parcells handed him the reins in New York, Belichick wrote on a slip of paper that he gave to Jets officials, “I resign as HC of the NYJ.” Belichick later claimed he didn’t want to work for Woody Johnson (who still owns the Jets), but many suspect Kraft of backroom scheming to bring Belichick to Foxborough. Sure enough: Kraft introduced Belichick as the Patriots head coach on Jan. 27 after sending three draft picks to the Jets as payment for his contract.

He then owned the Jets for 24 years. New York got the first laugh, beating Belichick’s Patriots three times in a row during his first few seasons — including the game that famously jumpstarted Tom Brady’s career after Mo Lewis’ sideline hit on Drew Bledsoe. But Belichick later owned the matchup, winning 38 of the 50 games against the AFC East rivals. That included a 15-game winning streak that was snapped in Belichick’s final game with the Patriots last season.

Now, Belichick hates the Jets in semi-retirement. The ex-Patriots coach reportedly wants another job next year. Butanyone who thought he might bury the hatchet and coach the hapless Jets now that they’ve fired Robert Saleh needs to think again: Belichick roasted the Jets while appearing on Peyton and Eli Manning’s Monday Night Football broadcast and all but killed those rumors. Some beefs are meant to last, like the Celtics vs. the Lakers, Bruins vs. Habs, and Sox vs. Yankees. Put Belichick vs. the Jets up there with them.

BOSTON SPORTS

Quick hits & headlines

Image: Jerome Mion/AP

💸 Tom Brady now owns the Raiders. Put them in the portfolio right next to the Jets, Dolphins, Bills and Colts. The NFL officially approved Brady’s minority ownership stake with Las Vegas this week, and he received a warm welcome from Raiders nation. (Never thought we’d see that after the Tuck Rule game.) But his new status comes with conditions. He can’t:

• Attend another team’s practice
• Attend in-person or virtual broadcast production meetings with coaches or players
• Publicly criticize officials and other clubs

How’s he supposed to do his job as a broadcaster then?

🏀 Boston’s NWSL team name reveal goes awry. The city’s new professional women’s soccer team just unveiled its new name: BOS Nation FC — which is an anagram for “Bostonian.” But the rollout didn’t go very smoothly. Critics panned the team’s marketing slogan — “Too many balls” — as transphobic, and Mass. native and former U.S. women’s national team player Sam Mewis said the launch didn’t acknowledge New England’s women’s pro teams enough. The club apologized Wednesday, saying it “missed the mark.” Fortunately, it has until 2026 to shake off the rough start.

🚨 Christian Barmore has a run-in with police. The Patriots defensive tackle, who is still sidelined while recovering from blood clots, accused police in Providence of racial profiling during a traffic stop early Wednesday morning. Though officers towed Barmore’s car and claimed he was “belligerent” during the encounter, he was not arrested. This comes after Pats captain Jabrill Peppers’ recent arrest for suspected domestic violence and rookie receiver Javon Baker’s confrontation with police at Logan Airport before the season. Can the Patriots have one normal week?

BEYOND BOSTON

Out-of-town report

Image: Ed Mulholland/Getty Images

The Jets and Bills add star receivers. New York traded for Davante Adams just in time for the Patriots’ matchup with the Jets next week, and Buffalo acquired Amari Cooper from the scuffling Browns. Young Pats cornerback Christian Gonzalez will have his hands full with those two.

Kiké Hernández lifts off in October again. The former Red Sox fan favorite is reenacting his October heroics from Boston’s 2021 playoff run, clubbing two home runs and driving in three clutch runs for the Dodgers this postseason. He also couldn’t help but drop an F-bomb on live TV while doing it. You can take the player out of Boston …

Nick Chubb laments being snubbed by the Patriots. The Browns’ All-Pro running back wrote in The Players’ Tribune that he was disappointed when the Patriots passed on him in the 2018 NFL Draft in favor of Georgia teammates Isaiah Wynn (No. 23 overall pick) and Sony Michel (No. 31). Michel did help the Pats win a Super Bowl his rookie year, but Chubb shredding NFL defenses in a Patriots uniform would be a welcome sight.

ON THIS DAY | OCTOBER 18, 2009

Snow Bowl stomping

Image: Jim Davis/Boston Globe

Patriots blow the Titans out in a blizzard. Tom Brady tied a career-high with six touchdown passes – including an NFL record five touchdowns in the second quarter alone – as New England obliterated Tennessee 59-0 on a snow-swept October day at Gillette Stadium. The win tied for the most points the Patriots have ever scored in a game and the NFL’s largest margin of victory since the 1970 merger. Much like moving someone’s space saver in Southie after a nor’easter, the Titans were on the wrong end of a beatdown in the snow.

THE BEST THING I SAW IN SPORTS

The first of many

Image: New England Patriots

🍿 Pop Douglas manifests a TD. The dynamic Pats receiver had his best game of the season (92 yards, TD) in Drake Maye’s first NFL start vs. Houston. He was so locked in that he even predicted his own touchdown catch and run while mic’d up and pulled it off to a “T.” Someone ask him for some lottery numbers next.

🗞 That’s a wrap. I’m manifesting three more Drake Maye TD passes in a Pats victory this Sunday in London.

🫢 We asked, you answered: 84% of you who responded Monday said you liked what you saw out of Drake Maye in his first NFL start. Here’s to many more.

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