NFL fans chastise Bill Belichick for snapping at the referees during the Dolphins vs. Patriots game
Bill Belichick’s difficulties in his latter years persisted as the team lost 17–31 away to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The New England Patriots were outclassed the rest of the way, even after Mac Jones’ touchdown pass to Cedrick Bourne kicked off the scoring. However, the head coach did not make things any better by criticizing the refereeing and even yelling at a referee as the second quarter came to a close:
Bill Belichick is PISSED on the sidelines.pic.twitter.com/ip6hyvH6CMhttps://t.co/H2uQS7VSox
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) October 29, 2023
When isn’t he mad? He’s a baby
— Last Take™ (@TheRealLastTake) October 29, 2023
bill losing sleep every night
— ????? ??? (@BengalsMVP) October 29, 2023
Cry baby
— JO OAO (@JOOAO443566) October 29, 2023
Bill Belichick’s remarks following the Patriots’ defeat to the Dolphins
The Dolphins have swept the Patriots for the second time in three seasons. Furthermore, a lot of people credit Jalen Ramsey’s interception of Mac Jones—who was making his Miami debut—as the pivotal moment:
GUESS WHO'S BACK? @JalenRamsey
— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
?: #NEvsMIA on CBS
?: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/vbUm6o516l
But rather than being direct about Jones’ potential as the starting quarterback going forward, Bill Belichick said this:
Everybody has to play better. Everybody has to improve as a coach and player.
To everyone’s astonishment, the Patriots saved their best wide receiver, JuJu Smith-Schuster, for the fourth quarter when the game was almost settled. Regarding his lack of opportunity, the former Pro Bowl player and Super Bowl winner stated:
“It is what it is, you know.”
But Belichick had different ideas:
“We took on several roles. Absent for two weeks. However, we took on many roles. We can’t play everyone, so if a player plays less, you’ll wonder why he didn’t play more.
The long list of calls that seemed to go wrong, however, took up most of the veteran coach’s press conference: Smith-Schuster being called for a seemingly legal knockdown on Brandon Jones, another safety, Dolphins safety Deshon Elliott getting away with a helmet-to-helmet hit on DeVante Parker, and the Dolphins holding onto the ball after a fumble.
And he told the media the same thing again and over again:
“You should talk to the officials about that.
“I think you should ask them about it. It doesn’t make a difference what I think.
“Talk to the officials. They’re the ones who call them. I’m sure they’ll have an explanation for it.
“Yeah… talk to the officials about it. What do you want me to do?”
Next up for the Patriots are the similarly-struggling Washington Commanders on November 5.
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