As players around the NFL have taken shots at the Patriots this offseason, saying the atmosphere in New England isn’t fun, Reggie Wayne’s brief stint with the team has been brought back up. But Wayne says the perception that he had a problem with Bill Belichick’s way of running a team is incorrect.
Wayne played for the Colts from 2001 to 2014, then signed with the Patriots in 2015, only to walk away after two weeks. There were reports in 2015 that Wayne wasn’t having fun, but Wayne said on NFL Network on Thursday that it wasn’t like that.
“There are some reports out there that I left New England because I said it was not fun or it was too hard. Those reports are false. The fact is, I was done. It was time for me to retire. There were other teams that wanted my services but I knew it was done for me,” Wayne said.
Wayne acknowledged that Belichick can be hard-nosed, but he added that different coaches have different policies and in some respects, former Colts coach Tony Dungy was stricter than Belichick. Overall, Wayne said, players understand what they’re getting with Belichick and respect that he wants to do whatever is going to help the team win.
“Bill Belichick is not a party planner. That is not what he is in it for. I think he’s in it for winning championships, winning games for that organization,” Wayne said.
That is the ultimate goal. And no coach wins like Belichick.
