There used to be a time when you’d have no problem picking out a notable New England Patriots player to feature when promoting an upcoming game.
Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Randy Moss, Julian Edelman, Tedy Bruschi, Willie McGinest. The list goes on and on.
These days, however, it’s a bit harder to find someone on their roster who might get an NFL audience excited to watch a Patriots game. Heck, you can’t even go with the tried-and-true method of just picking the quarterback because New England doesn’t even seem to know which one they’ll trot out there.
Amazon’s Prime Video found themselves in a bit of a quandary Thursday night when they wanted to promote next week’s matchup between the Pats and Pittsburgh Steelers. They needed someone to represent each team in a graphic that might entice viewers to tune in for what will probably be a bit of a snoozer given how bad 2-9 New England is this season.
While it was a no-brainer to pick T.J. Watt as the Steelers’ representative, it turns out no player met the criteria for the Patriots. So, they used head coach Bill Belichick instead.
https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1730416403558150261?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1730416403558150261%7Ctwgr%5E3b57e08a3aa276e9d1b313488082ed404be595a7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fftw.usatoday.com%2Flists%2Famazon-bill-belichick-patriots-promo-nfl-fan-reactions
That is not something you see very often.
We’re not sure if an NFL broadcaster has ever resorted to picking a coach instead of a player for something like this before, but it says everything that needs to be said about the sorry state of the franchise. No wonder the Patriots got flexed out on the “Monday Night Football” game in Week 15.
As you might imagine there were some pretty fun reactions to Amazon’s Belichick selection here.
Someone in the comments said this is a college basketball promo and it couldn’t be more accurate https://t.co/18AlHMEXRZ
— Cole Adams (@coleadamss) December 1, 2023
They should've gone pure degenerate and put Michael Onwenu up there. https://t.co/PkpvN2fAWa
— Schlasser (@UrinatingTree) December 1, 2023
Belichick is the architect of a hapless, nearly completely anonymous 2-9 team. Makes perfect sense. https://t.co/GA1NPMD8TA
— Don Van Natta Jr. (@DVNJr) December 1, 2023
Al Michaels has recaptured some of his old magic in recent weeks but we’re a little concerned this one might send him spiraling.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.