Hurley: Bill Belichick's clarification might need another clarification

BOSTON -- Bill Belichick issued a clarification on Wednesday evening for his remarks from Monday morning. The clarification may need a clarification, too.

Speaking with The Boston Globe's Jim McBride, Belichick tried to clear up the reception on his "the last 25 years" comment from Monday morning in Arizona.

"We're not resting on our past laurels; that's not the message to the team or the fans," Belichick told McBride. "We have never operated that way and aren't now."  

McBride added that Belichick "indicated he was answering the question from a fan's perspective."

It's a clarification that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Belichick was asked a straightforward and detailed question by ESPN's Mike Reiss on Monday. It went like this:

 "You've talked in the past about how media is a conduit to the fans, between the team and the fans. Would you say anything to the fans right now as to where the team sits and what you're trying to put together? What would you say to them right now if they were listening to go?"

Belichick answered: "Long way to go. It's March. We play in September. Got a long way to go. Lot of work to do."

Reiss then asked another straightforward follow-up: 

"And what would you say to them to give them a reason to be optimistic for what's ahead for the Patriots?"

Belichick answered: "I don't know. The last 25 years."

At no point did Reiss ask Belichick to speak from a fan's perspective. He asked Bill Belichick to share Bill Belichick's opinion regarding what should make fans optimistic for the 2023 season. Belichick answered "the last 25 years." If that's not resting on one's laurels -- or at least heavily leaning upon them -- then what would be?

To say that laurel-resting is "not the message to the team or the fans" after answering a question about what he would say to fans is slightly incongruous to the intended message.

Obviously, nobody questions the success from 2001-18. It was the best run by any team in NFL history. Nobody will ever do it again.

But 2019-22? It hasn't been quite as great. And the record since Tom Brady left, and the decision to let Matt Patricia and Joe Judge run the offense for a year, and the inconsistent roster-building decisions, and the explanation that Cam Achord is the right man for the special teams coordinator despite a disastrous 2022 season because he ran a good operation in 2020, it all leaves some obvious questions about how well the 2023 iteration of the Patriots will fare.

That being said, nobody interpreted the initial "25 years" comment as an indication that Belichick and the Patriots won't be working at maximum effort to be better in 2023 than they were in 2022. That's not how the NFL works. And somebody as obsessively competitive as Belichick is obviously going to invest all his energy toward that effort in the coming months and all the way through the season.

To borrow a term, though, the comment was what it was. The clarification doesn't really change that.