Sharing general manager duties with Belichick for nearly a decade, few people know more about the inner workings of the Patriots in that era than Pioli, so he knows more than anyone how to build a dynasty in the NFL.
And keeping up with such gaming giants will be difficult because “there is an expectation, and it may be an unrealistic expectation for Jerod and Eliot Wolf, the new general manager.”
“They need time to implement their program and get their players in,” Pioli said. “Just because there are players who played for Bill doesn’t mean they’re the right players for Jerod. They’re starting from scratch and it’s a complete rebuild.”
The “Patriot Way” was built around Belichick’s pragmatic approach of simply “doing your job” and not worrying about anything else.
No egos were allowed, not even Brady, because although he was the shining light of the league, he regularly restructured his contract and took less than he could have made elsewhere in order to build a championship-winning team under salary cap constraints.
But a dynasty is built on much more than a star coach and a quarterback: “It was never just Bill, it was never just Tom, it was never just the two of them.” insisted Pioli. “We built this thing and there were masses of people.”
