Falcons say talk with Bill Belichick is over
The Atlanta Falcons stated Monday that they have finished an interview with Bill Belichick over the job of head coach.
Belichick has been the head coach for the New England Patriots for 24 years. During that time, the Patriots won 17 division wins and six Super Bowls.
The Atlanta Falcons said Monday night that they have met Bill Belichick to be their head coach. NFL Media reports that Belichick has talked to team CEO Arthur Blank directly in the past few days.
Recently, there has been a lot of talk that Blank wants to hire Belichick following the firing of former head coach Arthur Smith shortly after Week 18 of the playoffs when the team was eliminated.
Since Belichick and the Patriots mutually split ways last week, the Falcons are the first squad to meet him since then. During his 24-year stint with New England, the famous coach won six Super Bowls.
That one title was against Atlanta in 2017. The Patriots came back from being down 28-3 and prevailed in overtime, which is the biggest return in Super Bowl history.
Since QB Tom Brady left the Patriots in 2020, they have had a tough time. They have only had one winning time since then. In 2023, they went 4-13 and had a lot of problems on offense.
Still, Belichick is likely to have a lot of suitors, but Atlanta may want him the most. Rob Gronkowski, a former Patriots tight end who now works as an NFL reporter for FOX Sports, said on Sunday that he believed Atlanta would “come in hot” after his old coach.
A lot of people have also said that Belichick could work for the Cowboys if they decide to fire coach Mike McCarthy shortly after their shocking loss to the Packers on Sunday.
The Atlanta Falcons made it public that they want to hire the coach who led the team to its worst loss ever.
They beat the Falcons in one of people Super Bowls after coming back from being down 28-3 in Super Bowl LI to prevail 34-28 in overtime.
The Falcons said on Monday that they were interviewing former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick over their head coaching job.
This is the first interview that Belichick is known to have had since he as well as the Patriots split ways last week.
Belichick, 71, has served as a head coach for 29 years, 24 in New England as well as 5 in Cleveland. With the Patriots, he has a 302-165 record as well as six Super Bowl wins.
The moment was talked about at a news conference last Monday with Falcons owner Arthur Blank as well as CEO Rich McKay. The conference was held after the squad fired Arthur Smith as coach after three years.
People asked Blank and McKay, who are in charge of the search for a replacement Smith if they would look at or value head-coaching experience when hiring their next person. Neither McKay nor Blank said no, but it was brought up.
“The areas you look at should be very general and should include experience as a head coach.” “There is something to having experience as a head coach,” McKay said. “However, it has to be the right head teaching.
That’s not easy to find; it’s been hard for me to find it for years. Not many in the NFL had done it as well as Belichick when he arrived from England.
Blank brought up Belichick’s name at Atlanta’s news conference, along with those of Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Los Angeles’ Sean McVay, and San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan.
Not as possible candidates for the job, but as examples of stability, having a long-term vision, and seeing that vision through.
Belichick and Patriots boss Robert Kraft said that Belichick wasn’t going to continue coaching the team.
Kraft’s words seemed to imply that Belichick would like to keep teaching. The news on Monday was the initial clear sign that this is the case.
Finally, Kraft said last week, “It’ll be hard to see him on the sidelines in a cutoff hoodie.” “But I’ll always wish them continued success, save when it is toward the beloved Patriots.”
Blank has been a Falcons owner since 2012, but he has never chosen a coach who has been a head coach in the NFL before. Blank and McKay are in charge of the search, and manager Terry Fontenot is giving them advice.
Belichick is the sixth person the team has said will be interviewing for the job. The others are Anthony Weaver, Mike Macdonald, Baltimore’s assistant head coach, Steve Wilks, Carolina’s defensive coordinator, and Brian Callahan, Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator.