Patriots insider discusses Bill Belichick's feelings on 'Dynasty' series

New England Patriots insider Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston sounds convinced that former New England head coach Bill Belichick doesn't love Apple TV's "The Dynasty" documentary series about the rise and fall of the franchise that won six Super Bowl championships across the first two decades of the 2000s. 

"Hated it," Curran said when asked during an appearance on WEEI's "Jones and Mego" program about Belichick's likely reaction to the project that premiered on Friday, as shared by Gayle Troiani of NESN. "What’s going to be really striking for people is watching the first two episodes and seeing just how different Bill is in 2000 and 2001 than he is in 2024."

Early reviews of the series seemingly depict Belichick as the reason why legendary quarterback Tom Brady refused to sign another contract with the Patriots after the 2019 season. It's also been suggested that Patriots owner Robert Kraft had to serve as somewhat of a "marriage counselor" to keep the Belichick-Brady relationship together long enough for the New England dynasty to claim three of its six Super Bowl titles from February 2015 through February 2019. 

"You’ll see at length in this documentary the number of times he says, 'I’m not commenting on that,'" Curran said about Belichick's performances for the series. "… Or just gives a blank three-word answer and then the camera doesn’t blink and just sticks on him as he adjusts his jaw. There’s a lot of that." 

Specifically, The Athletic's Chad Graff mentioned earlier this week that Belichick essentially implied during the series he and director Matthew Hamachek had "some kind of agreement" about avoiding certain subjects, such as why cornerback Malcolm Butler was benched in Super Bowl LII.

"I don’t think Bill liked it," Curran added. "I don’t think Bill’s gonna love it but it’s not slanted. We do have (longtime Patriots captain) Matthew Slater or (three-time Super Bowl champion) Devin McCourty giving a very unvarnished opinion that is unflattering to Bill on the way he created an atmosphere in the latter portions of the dynasty."

For what it's worth, Belichick has received praise for his work on previous projects such as the NFL Network "NFL 100 All-Time Team" series. That, however, placed no blame on the 71-year-old for New England's run of dominance ending after the 2019 campaign.