After the Patriots lost in the AFC Championship Game, coach Bill Belichick was ripped on the postgame show for declining to give an interview to CBS. That wasn’t the first time that happened.
Six years ago, Belichick was curt with CBS’s Solomon Wilcotts after the Patriots lost the AFC Championship Game to the Colts, and CBS’s Boomer Esiason ripped him for that.
“I was pretty disgusted with Belichick,” Esiason said in 2007. “I’ve interviewed him on my MSG show. It’s hard. It’s really hard. I don’t think he does it on purpose. I just think he doesn’t know any better. I just thought it was unprofessional.”
So it’s no surprise that Esiason said today that he agrees with his CBS colleague Shannon Sharpe that Belichick did not conduct himself well.
“Unfortunately it’s not in Bill’s nature,” Esiason said today on WEEI. “For all those people who want to have a reason to hate Bill Belichick, well, he gives it to them. And I can understand why Shannon said what he said. I’ve been down this road before. I’ve come to expect it.”
Belichick did what was required of him under NFL rules, holding a post-game press conference on Sunday night and a post-season press conference on Monday morning. If you’re going to hate a coach for not doing more than that, you’re going to hate Belichick.