I doubt this is true tbh. I’m certain Brady and Gronk didn’t want to talk about Hernandez, for example, but the documentary/decision makers decided not to put in footage of them saying no comment, just Bill’s. Make of that what you will.
It was infuriating to watch the Spygate episode with no mention of “the rule was changed in the offseason before” and “you can film from other locations”, and then to put the BB and Ernie “no comments” to make things look nefarious. They were definitely playing into the “cheaters!” narrative by ommitting facts and framing things.
To me, given the player comments, it was pretty clear that Hernandez kind of operated by his own set of rules. Given the anecdotes, it feels like nobody in the organization really wanted to know what sort of stuff Aaron was up to or they could have easily found out. The fact that he was extra in an NFL locker room was probably not lost on BB and the staff if they are as hands on as all the reports say.
Gasper was taking today about this and one thing I hadn’t heard is Breer put out an article back sometime after Hernandez was drafted about all the problems Hernandez had and the concerns. Reportedly BB was furious at Breer because he reported it, which BB knew the details, but BB never told the Krafts the full story. Take it for what it’s worth but if BB knew way more than the Krafts and didn’t disclose it it makes a lot of sense.
Yes - the request came in February 2013, and the nightclub shootings were in July 2012.
Good thing Aaron Hernandez never told foot jokes about Rex Ryan because that’s a line that gets you benched.
Is that a shot? It's literally BB's modus operandi and we all know it.
With the caveat that none of us knows all the details, BB could have taken Hernandez's fear that his life was in danger much more seriously. Coupled with what the organization already knew about the player continuing to hang with a dangerous crew from Bristol, it seems clear--to me at least--that team security and maybe even a psychologist should have been involved when he relayed that fear to Belichick. They knew he was troubled when they drafted him. When his life had then become so unmanageable that he pleaded with his coach to be traded so he could relocate to the West Coast--and Adams admits that trading him to Seattle was something they should have considered more carefully--that should have set off major alarm bells. It was obviously crisis intervention time. BB dosn't bear all the blame for this. We don't know what Branch, Welker, or Lloyd said, did, didn't do, or didn't say to alert the coaches or anyone else higher up about what they observed. But it's awfully sad to know that players and coaches knew that this already volatile, violent, and fragile person was becoming more deeply destructive--yet little, if anything, appears to have been done to help him. It may well not have worked or even made the situation worse, but for BB to not even acknowledge the sorrowful mess left in Hernandez's wake strikes me as all kinds of fucked up.
And yet an other alternate universe where he is traded….and he gets arrested for a crime when he returns home in the offseason or while out in Seattle because someone else ‘disrespects’ him.
I agree. What I meant from my post was the following: 1. At least now there is awareness that CTE can impact players of playing age whether you can diagnose it or not 2. The Patriots had no idea that latent CTE could be a "headwind" in treating AH's behavioral issues making improvement more difficult or impossible. 3. If CTE was/is present it could blunt attempts to develop a more "normal" behavior pattern through Cognitive Behavior Therapy or other therapies, or medicines. So if player does not improve with therapy what can a team have done then, and now? 4. And this I didn't state in my original post but I wonder about after watching the episode and seeing your comment: Do organizations now take a possible CTE issue into their evaluation of player behavior/treatment? If behavior continues to worsen, can they? should they? Does the player assistance protocol help players who display these behaviors and are the players obligated to ask for help or can them team initiate on their own? More broadly, What protects the player from the team that just wants his production, and disregards behavior issues and, vice versa, what protects the team from a player that needs help but won't admit to an issue?
Because of how much weight the episode gave to "he wanted to move so he could be a good person and not murder people but BB wouldn't trade him" it is entirely put on Bill's shoulders that Aaron had to stay here and HAD to hang out his bad friends even though everyone knows he was a bad person in Florida 1,000 miles away from his big bad friends AND he was the one who orchestrated the murder of Lloyd, not his boys from Bristol.
Yeah, Florida isn't as far as Seattle, but he was still getting in trouble there.
This, as they say, is a take.
As good an answer to this as any. Who knows if Bill offered him support from the team other than security (counseling, etc.) but that's probably the only thing that would have made a difference. And given the CTE, that probably had a very poor chance as well.
Well when you have 53 guys who're playing a gladiator sport, you're going to have some guys who come from questionable backgrounds and have some bad qualities, a lot of them aren't choir boys.
yea that's why I think he was maybe hoodwinked about this documentary. Like us I think maybe he assumed it would be a deep dive into the football aspect of the dynasty and I'm sure he would've waxed poetic about plays and schemes and games and players, but he clearly wasn't down for deep dives into the non-football stories.
If he thought that, that's a pretty big miss by BB. Almost all NFL media is spin and hagiography (that faint voice some hear is Steve Sabol's gassing up some late 70s running back for their courage under fire). Why would this be different?
That's most likely. In my experience post-production on a ten episode series is five to six months on average.
I guess I'll lend a voice to what I feel like is the minority position. Between 3 games to Glory, America's Game, the 10 part Brady documentary, Tom vs. Time, Do Your Job Part 1 and 2, etc, we've had a lot of deep dives on individual seasons and games. As someone who has watched everything related to the dynasty, I've come away with new info on the Hernandez fall out (I mean wtf with that Kraft quote) and the reaction to losing the undefeated season. Of course I would have loved another Pats lovefest but as someone who was obsessed with the Pats during this period, I'm enjoying it.
Yeah, but the word "expendable" makes him sound inhuman. He obviously treated players as replaceable, because he had to. Any good coach or personnel director does. But "expendable" makes it sound like he sees players as worthless. Which is clearly not true.
But for pure entertainment value, it's a crazy wild ride that you can't not watch. For most of their existence, the Patriots were this NFL afterthought, underexposed and tucked away in some obscure northern outpost. Then Kraft comes along and for 20 fucking years, for better and for worse, the Patriots rode the NFL like a rented mule. Commanded the headlines. Broke the rules, rewrote the rule book, rewrote the record book and wiped their collective dick on the drapes. Looking forward to the episode where Mayo wins a Lombardi with Zappe.
and would have still called the slant to Lockette...
He realized that he was so close to getting caught for being the cause of multiple deaths.
‘Dynasty’ director explains Tom Brady’s absence in Aaron Hernandez episode - masslive.com ($$)
‘Dynasty’ director shares why two Patriots SBs didn’t get much screen time - masslive.com (free)
‘Dynasty’ director responds to criticism of Bill Belichick’s portrayal - masslive.com ($$)
Yes, Kraft is doing the thing that other powerful football guys do (namely Goodell, but I'm sure Jones, etc. are all like this): thinking that if they tell someone to look them in their eyes and answer a question honestly, that person is powerless to do otherwise. It's cute because of how childish it is.
You forgot to mention that God was on their side in 2001, and then the devil crept in later. I mean this guy has a direct line to divine intervention. You wouldn't believe him when he looks in your eyes?
If the viewer misunderstands what the director intended/presents that's on them not the viewer. And to say they are presenting information with no point of view is disingenuous.
