Patriots 'Dynasty' documentary reveals how bad Brady-Belichick relationship had become

In the video, Tom Brady sits cross-legged and looks at the camera. He’s trying to express how bad things had gotten between him and Bill Belichick in the late 2010s, toward the end of his 20-year career together with the New England Patriots.

By now, everyone knows how that time ended: with Brady fleeing Belichick’s often miserable ship in search of greener pastures in Tampa Bay. Belichick did not offer the two-year, $50 million contract that Brady wanted, one that would have given the legendary quarterback the stability he sought. For years, that has been seen as the main reason Brady didn’t return to the Patriots.

But as part of a new 10-episode documentary about the Patriots dynasty, Brady makes clear that his departure had more to do with who was coaching the team than the amount of money he was offered.

“Coach Belichick and I did what we love and competed together for 20 years,” Brady said. “But he wasn’t going to sign another contract (in New England) even if he wanted to play until he was 50. Based on how things had gone, he wasn’t going to sign for more.”

On Friday, Apple TV+ will debut “The Dynasty,” a long-form documentary with two episodes that will be released every Friday for the next five weeks. Proclaimed to be a look at the Patriots between 2000 and 2020, it covers Brady’s rise to prominence after Drew Bledsoe’s injury, how the Pats navigated three Super Bowls in four years, the controversies that followed, and how a second dynasty before finally falling. in the midst of fractured relationships. Those early episodes are worth it for Patriots fans who want to relive the early years of the dynasty. And the middle episodes are worth it for Patriots haters who want to reveal some new details about Spygate, Deflategate and other team indiscretions.

The good. The bad… and the untold story.

The Dynasty: New England Patriots premieres on February 16. pic.twitter.com/VcOAr33hrn

—Apple TV (@AppleTV) January 9, 2024

But more than anything, the documentary feels like a referendum on how bad the Brady-Belichick relationship became and why it never had a storybook ending with the two riding off into the sunset together. Although the interviews were conducted months before the Patriots parted ways with Belichick, the subjects in them (including Brady, Belichick, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and nearly every well-known player of the Patriots over the past two decades (except, in particular, Jerod Mayo) – speak openly about the dictatorial, all-embracing style in which Belichick led the Patriots.

Players, including several still on the roster, reveal how difficult it was for Belichick to play. “It was brutal,” Matthew Slater said. Rob Gronkowski described arriving at 1 Patriot Place and not wanting to get out of his car to go to work. Wes Welker compared Brady to an abused dog for continually returning to work for Belichick.

ESPN made local headlines last month when a story following Belichick’s departure from the Patriots quoted someone referring to this upcoming documentary as an “infomercial” for Kraft’s candidacy for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This documentary, which The Athletic You were allowed to filter for this review, weren’t you? It’s much more focused on the relationship between Brady and Belichick, and overall it’s the most comprehensive look yet at just how miserable the people in the building were in the final years of their dynasty. Or at least that’s the juiciest and most interesting part.

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The first episodes address the beginning of the Patriots dynasty. It’s still interesting after all these years to hear from Bledsoe and Brady about that injury-induced transition, even if those first few innings won’t generate many headlines. The middle episodes (specifically the fourth, sixth, and seventh) focus on Spygate, Aaron Hernandez’s arrest, and Deflategate, respectively. There are captivating moments in them, too, including a reenactment by Robyn Glaser (who was recently named the Patriots’ executive vice president of football business and senior advisor to the head coach) of how she smashed the Spygate tapes with a hammer.

Those early episodes are worth it for fans who want to relive the glory days, and the middle ones are interesting, even if the series slowed down and occasionally dragged a little in those parts. It should be noted that the documentary does not address Belichick’s departure from the team last month or Mayo’s promotion to head coach through Kraft’s little-known succession plan.

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For football fans less inclined to enjoy the shots of confetti raining down on the Patriots, the documentary really comes into its own in the final four episodes as it examines the fracture of Brady and Belichick’s relationship.

Brady, even as he dodges a couple of the sharper issues raised by Emmy-winning director Matthew Hamachek, who also directed HBO’s 2021 documentary Tiger Woods, is more direct than usual. So is Kraft. Belichick, as expected, doesn’t say much. Perhaps his most interesting comment comes when he dodges a question from Hamachek about why Malcolm Butler was benched in Super Bowl LII.

“Matt, we’ve talked about that,” Belichick says without further explanation, implying some kind of agreement between coach and manager to avoid that topic.

Former teammates, and occasionally Kraft as well, are the ones who speak most directly about how bad the relationship between Brady and Belichick was. They describe a hostile work environment and a miserable atmosphere within the team headquarters.

The payoff of those final four episodes makes it worth revisiting the Patriots from 2000 to 2015. The ending may not be pleasant for Patriots fans. It leaves one with a sense of what could have been if Belichick’s style had been a little different or if Brady had been willing to deal with it a little more.

But overall, the documentary is gripping and worth watching as it reveals just how bad things had gotten with the Patriots before Brady’s departure.

As Kraft says, “Tom and I had several conversations about how Bill treated him. Tommy is very sensitive. He was always seeking Bill’s approval, almost like a father-son. And that’s not Bill’s style, to give that.”