April 16 is a red-letter day in Patriot land. William Stephen Belichick was born 64 years ago today, and 16 years ago today, Belichick selected a quarterback out of Michigan in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, the 199th pick overall.
Here's a excerpt of Belichick's draft day comments about Brady, via WEEI.com's Chris Price, who in 2013 recapped Belichick's best draft picks:
Brady is a guy that has obviously played at a high level of competition in front of a lot of people and he’s been in a lot of pressure situations. We felt that this year his decision-making was improved from his junior year after he took over for Brian Griese. He cut his interceptions down. He’s a good, tough, competitive, smart quarterback that is a good value and how he does and what he’ll be able to do, we’ll just put him out there with everybody else and let him compete and see what happens.
And here's Brady tearfully recalling that day in ESPN's "Brady 6" documentary.
As for Belichick, he stated back in the NFL's Network 2009 "A Football Life" documentary that he "didn't think he'd be like Marv Levy coaching when in my 70s. You don't have to worry about that."
Still, team president Jonathan Kraft sounded as if he was hoping the coach would re-think that statement when NFL Network looked back on it as part of the 2014 "Do Your Job" documentary.
The coach has shown no inkling of stepping aside and, for now, it's clear the Patriots will still need him, still feed him, when he's 64.