“Todd Bowles And Bill Belichick Are A Lot Alike”
April 3rd, 2022
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles
The following comes from a four-time Pro Bowler who played for Bill Belichick (aka Bill Belicheat) and who knows Bucco Bruce Arians and Todd Bowles extremely well.
For the past three years, Joe has consumed quite a bit of Arizona sports radio in search of insight tied to Arians and his staff. Arians was a darling of the media during his five seasons in the desert and was known to do plenty of radio interviews. In addition, his staff was accessible and the overall culture was very media-friendly.
One guy who knows all things Cardinals is retired fullback Ron Wolfley, an institution on Phoenix radio and Belicheat’s special teams captain during his days in Cleveland. “Wolf,” as he’s known, has had Arians on his show many times, calls him someone he knows well, openly professes his love for Arians, and he used to attend Cardinals practices.
So it was interesting for Joe to hear Wolfley talk this week about how he easily could see Tom Brady tiring of Arians’ act.
Wolfley shared stories of working with Belicheat, who he said used to walk the treadmill, eat and watch film at the same time, and even bring guys in for a meeting while he did all that.
Belicheat’s work schedule was around 18 hours per day, Wolfley said, and Bowles is the same kind of guy — serious, dedicated and in the office before 5 a.m.
Hardcore Bucs fans, of course, know Bowles worked on extra film study with his young Bucs secondary back in 2019 and 2020 at that hour of the day.
Arians? Wolfley joked that Arians used to like knocking off at 4:30 p.m. for a cocktail and always preached to his coaches to get their work done and get home.
Wolfley said he easily could see Brady losing patience with the Arians way, and because the hard coaching by Arians is more extreme than many understand. He shared a story of Arians arriving in Arizona in 2013 and tearing into Larry Fitzgerald on Day 3 of training camp in a public setting.
Arians is “a walking talking paradox,” Wolfley explained, because of how old school he is as a coach but he’s so progressive in his beliefs and approaches.
Joe was intrigued to hear Wolfley explain how Bowles is very much like Belicheat, saying they “are a lot alike.” Joe is unsure how that will shock the Bucs roster and how it will play with Brady. But Wolfley said he sees that Brady is “that kind of grinder” who will appreciate the move to hard-working and intelligent Bowles.
April 3rd, 2022 at 10:20 pm
This is some of what the Boston Media has been saying. They say Tom Brady is a workaholic perfectionist, and was used to Bill Belichick who is also a workaholic perfectionist.
They said Brady resented Arians lazy approach to coaching, among other things.
For many years, Brady was kept in check by Belichick, but not anymore. Brady has learned to throw his weight around, and it is all motivated by his desire to win!
April 3rd, 2022 at 10:33 pm
I hope they get along and work together great.. It could keep Tom interested in coming back for next year..
April 3rd, 2022 at 10:37 pm
This makes Arians sound almost derelict compared to bowles. This shuts the book on whom Brady wanted. It may shock the system for some bucs players, that’s called cutting the fat. One thing about belichick teams, the players are always in superior shape. Not sure that can be said about BA coached teams. Brady himself credited the Patriots incredible conditioning as the key factor in beating the falcons in the superbowl.
April 3rd, 2022 at 11:23 pm
Jimmy Carter was probably the hardest working President….’nuff said
April 3rd, 2022 at 11:54 pm
Hopefully there is some measure of truth to this and not just overhyping the guy..
But for now, no one really knows so anything can be said until something gets proven on the field over the next 2 seasons!
April 4th, 2022 at 12:22 am
BA steers the ship and lets his assistance do the work. So what? I don’t see why that would wear thin on Brady. He knew the type of coach he was getting coming here and he knew what he was leaving.
April 4th, 2022 at 1:20 am
Cool story and I am going to miss the hell out of Arians.
April 4th, 2022 at 7:22 am
Bowles is just the opposite he’s easy going and not a disciplinarian. Belicheat is not easy going he’s a disciplinarian just the opposite of Bowles. Most NFL head coaches spend 15 to 18 hours a day its part of the job.
April 4th, 2022 at 7:50 am
Except Belichick was smart enough to run away from the Jets.
April 4th, 2022 at 8:42 am
This sounds like a metaphor for the tortoise (TB) and the hare (BA) approach to football. Whatever works to get the Bucs back to a championship!
April 4th, 2022 at 11:02 am
I hope Bowles is a better HC than he was DC. The Bucs can thank him for not getting to the super bowl.
April 4th, 2022 at 12:50 pm
Yeah Bowels is exactly like the greatest HC of all time. Except one has 6 titles and the other has a sub 400 winning percentage. I can hardly tell them apart. Propaganda much Joes? You guys are pathetic.
April 4th, 2022 at 3:01 pm
“Todd Bowles And Bill Belichick Are A Lot Alike”
Bwahahaha. LMAO.