Beyond Brady: Return of Eagles Coach Overshadowed by Patriots Legend

While acknowledging the hoopla that will surround Tom Brady's return to Foxboro, Bill Belichick is downplaying the return of former New England Patriots' assistant Matt Patricia in Sunday's season opener.

It's not often that Week 1 games carry a championship atmosphere, but the return of a New England Patriots legend who hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy multiple times will make Gillette Stadium's Sunday hosting of the Philadelphia Eagles (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS) a rare exception. 

Matt Patricia obviously won't receive the raucous reception presumably building for Tom Brady, especially considering the way his Foxborough tenure ended. His name, however, can never be erased from the Patriots' championship ledgers as Patricia was on the coaching staff for wins in the 39th, 49th, and 51st Super Bowls, earning the latter two as the Patriots' defensive coordinator under head coach Bill Belichick.

Patricia's NFL journey, which began as an offensive assistant with New England in 2004, has brought him to Philadelphia, where he's now listed as a "senior defensive assistant." Already forced to deal with the Brady hullaballoo, Belichick downplayed Patricia's prescience during a Monday appearance on WEEI.

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"This type of thing gets talked about every week and every year,” Belichick said on "The Greg Hill Show." "There’s always somebody on the other team that we know or somebody that’s on our team that was with somebody else. So, it’s pretty common in the National Football League."

Patricia's immediate facing of the Foxborough faithful is somewhat more noteworthy because of the hostility his potential reintroduction could face if he's publicly revealed to the Gillette Stadium crowd on Sunday: while Patricia's defenses were constant contenders and eventually yielded a head coaching opportunity in Detroit, his time role as the Patriots' offensive play-caller (and de facto coordinator next to the likewise-departed Joe Judge) was seen as ill-fitting.

The results supported that point: Mac Jones' second season under New England center was a noticeable downgrade from his first, as the unit fell to 26th in total yardage and failed to generate consecutive playoff berths. Both Patricia and Judge were relieved of duty while the Patriots brought back Bill O'Brien to take over.

Belichick did give Patricia props and indirectly hoped that fans would remember the prosperous times of his Patriots career but quickly returned to business with a bit of rare humor.

"I have a ton of respect for Matt. Matt’s helped us win a lot of games (and) championships here," Belichick said. "But Sunday’s game will be about the Eagles and the Patriots. You won’t see either one of us playing on the field, which is probably a good thing." 

Patricia previously appeared on a sideline opposite Belichick's in September 2018 during his aforementioned time wearing the Detroit Lions' top headset: in a primetime showdown, Patricia guided the Lions to a 26-10 victory, his first as a head coach. Alas for Patricia, he acquired only 12 more after that and was fired from the team in the midst of his third season, leading to his return to New England.