We got the Boston sports Quote of the Year earlier this week on WEEI, and Christian Fauria of OMF is the man responsible for procuring it.

Fauria was Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men, pressing his Colonel Jessup - Belichick -and did he ever get his man on that wall.

As a result, We sold out will forever define the Pandemic Patriots of 2020. A year of excuses? As Jessup would say it, youre Goddamn right it is.

Now, I ran my cinematic comparison past Fauria on Wednesday, and he didnt quite agree with the characterization. I wasnt trying to get some sort of gotcha moment, Fauria said. I did want an honest conversation and I did want to bring up the fact that it sounded like [Belichick] was making excuses, and thats not something you hear from him.

Those excuses Fauria was referencing began during an interview Belichick had with Charlie Weis on Sirius XM radio last week, where Belichick referenced youth, the NFL salary cap, Covid-19 opt-outs, and injuries while discussing his teams rough 2-5 start to the 2020 season.

The Weis interview opened the portal for OMF Monday to press Belichick on his newly found in-season introspection.

It was obvious when he talked to Charlie [Weis] that he was willing to go there, said Fauria. It was on his mind. Because he doesnt do anything unless he wants to. How long have we been interviewing him and how many times have we asked him tough questions and nothing, no information, no explanation? My rabbit ears went up with the Weis interview, and then talking with other people who were listening to it or covering the team for years, they all said the response was odd. It was off script. Different from what were used to. I just felt like it was weird.

But would Belichick give them that information after an agonizing loss to the Bills? That was no extra point.

I didnt think it should go without it at least being said, Fauria explained about his pre-interview thoughts. And I respect Bill like crazy but that was something that was too much in the open. In my head I was like, This really sounds like a bunch of excuses. Is that the case?

Fauria continued: I felt like as a show, we couldnt go into that situation without asking or wed lose credibility. We talked about it beforehand, there were a couple of things we wanted to get in there. We always kind of assume [Belichicks] not going to answer anything. We have a question and a follow-up, always, youve always got to keep one in your back pocket. And then when Glenn [Ordway] got into it.

Ordway indeed started the line of questioning about why Belichick had been so revealing to Weis, but he received a terse response.

It seems pretty obvious to me, Belichick grumbled. Whats the question?

Why are you doing it now? Ordway asked.

I mean its pretty obvious," Belichick said. "It was an honest answer to an honest question. No more, no less than that. Im sure you can read a lot into it if you want to. That wasnt the intent.

To Faurias credit, his follow-up made all the difference.

What it sounds like is a lot of excuses, Fauria declared. Covid excuses, things youve never said before.

And then, after a few awkward seconds, the reveal.

"I didn't say it as an excuse. I never said that," said Belichick. "Look, we paid Cam Newton a million dollars. It's obvious we didn't have any money. It's nobody's fault. That's what we did the last five years. We sold out and won three Super Bowls, played in a fourth, and played in an AFC championship game. This year we have less to work with. It's not an excuse. It's just a fact."

Its the quote of the year because it lets Patriots Nation under the hood for arare glimpse of how Bill really feels. Frustrated, obviously. But also vulnerable for the first time in two decades. Belichick appears to even be reaching out for sympathy, for a mulligan of sorts. He IS concerned about the current state of his team. He knows theres no simple, quick fix. The greatest coach of all time cant do it all himself.

As Fauria reflected back on the Q&A, he felt the same. Bill is human, he makes mistakes. But for me this is something we always addressed as a team, we werent making excuses, we werent going to tell you the reason why, we were just going to be like, Weve got to be better. And then for the past three days, chapter and verse of how things went on? I just thought it was interesting. Its almost like a moral sin, making excuses is kind of taboo. Belichick doesnt make excuses and thats the point.

No excuses until this week, that is. Excuses dressed up as facts. All thanks to Weis ... and to Fauria, whose question elicited 2020s Code Red.

Read this article:
Laird: The anatomy of the Bill Belichick quote everybody is talking about - RADIO.COM