Bill Belichick left a lasting legacy in New England, but the Patriots’ new regime clearly isn’t trying to mimic the former coach’s method of operation.
Belichick ran a tight ship in Foxboro, Mass., to say the least. Countless players have remarked about how tough it was to play under the future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach, who was a game-planning wizard in New England but seemingly left much to be desired with his interpersonal skills.
With Jerod Mayo and other new faces now highest on the Patriots’ totem pole, the environment inside the walls of Gillette Stadium figures to lighten up a bit. That’s the hope for Eliot Wolf, who might’ve taken a shot at Belichick on Tuesday when asked about the Patriots’ change in culture.
“Less of a hard ass vibe,” Wolf told a group of reporters at the NFL’s Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, per MassLive’s Mark Daniels.
Mayo also has suggested the vibe at One Patriot Place will be less tense than it was when Belichick was calling the shots. The first-year head coach even harped on the importance of a solid relationship with the media, which was never particularly great across Belichick’s 24 seasons with the Patriots.
So, while New England is expected to give as much effort to Mayo and company as it did to Belichick, players might enjoy going to work a bit more in this new era of the franchise.
