Bill Belichick reveals one key stat behind his NFL success, and it could mean good things for Patriots in 2023

Ever since Tom Brady left following a 20-year run with New England, the Patriots have struggled to remain relevant in the AFC. Besides witnessing the end of an 11-year streak of division titles, the team has gone just 25-25 with zero playoff wins the last three seasons. And yet coach Bill Belichick, Brady’s longtime partner, has indirectly teased a return to form for the Pats in 2023.

Speaking with “The 33rd Team” this week, Belichick argued that his best teams have always required roughly a “four-year window” to emerge as planned, dating back to his first days as a head coach with the Browns.

“I was very fortunate in Cleveland to have the opportunity to build a complete system,” Belichick said, per NBC Sports Boston. “To work with Mike Lombardi on the personnel side … (on) the football side of it with Coach (Nick) Saban, with Scott O’Brien on special teams, (plus assistant) Kirk Ferentz. People like that. And then to put it all together.”

Belichick lasted five seasons in Cleveland, making just a single playoff run before his abrupt dismissal in 1996. But he “felt like by ’94,” four years into his tenure, “we had put together a pretty good football team and organization … considering where it was before we started, and really without free agency.”

A similar progression occurred with the Patriots, Belichick added.

“When the opportunity came in 2000, even though this team was nowhere near the (Patriots) team (I) left in ’96 — it had declined quite a bit — there were still some pillars here that we could build with,” he said. “(And) I would say that by ’03 — even though we won (the Super Bowl) in ’01 — that this was a pretty, pretty good football team in all three phases of the game. It kind of took the same basic four-year window that it took in Cleveland. We were fortunate to win in ’01, but I would say by ’03, ’04, we had one of the better teams in the league.”

Could the 2023 Patriots be next in line for a leap, entering the fourth season since Brady’s departure? Only time will tell, though Belichick has certainly spent this offseason retooling the program. Besides welcoming back Bill O’Brien as an offensive coordinator, the coach oversaw a relatively busy free agency, in which the team shuffled pieces around quarterback Mac Jones. He also infused his signature defense with fresh talent, using the Patriots’ first three picks in the 2023 draft on that side of the ball.