In a recent appearance on The 33rd Team podcast, Patriots coach Bill Belichick discussed his early days in New England and one of his former players took issue with how he described his 2001 team.
Belichick said his team declined “quite a bit” after 1996 and said by 2003, the team had vastly improved despite winning a Super Bow during the ’01 season.
“Again, we were fortunate to win in 2001, but I would say by ’03 and ’04, we had one of the better teams in the league,” Belichick said.
Former New England linebacker Ted Johnson took exception to the comments.
“It amazes me that he would devalue or discredit the 2001 Super Bowl team,” Johnson said Wednesday on WBZ-FM. “I know we were 14-point underdogs, but it’s weird. I would think he would be more proud of that Super Bowl than any of them. I take issue with these comments.”
He also didn’t like that Belichick said there were just “a few pillars here to build with” after 1996. Johnson, who played for New England from ’95 to 2004 and won three Super Bowls with the team, proceeded to name Drew Bledsoe, Troy Brown, Tedy Bruschi, Ty Law, Willie McGinest, Lawyer Milloy and Adam Vinatieri as players Belichick inherited when he was named coach in ’00.
