Bill Belichick is still the right coach for the New England Patriots despite their struggles this season.

That is the view of Duron Harmon, who played for the Patriots between 2013 and 2019, winning three Super Bowl rings in that time.

All of those triumphs came under Belichick's guidance, with the 71-year-old having been head coach of the Patriots since 2000.

His 24th straight season in charge has proved a dismal one, with the Patriots sinking to a 2-10 record.

New England have lost their last five games including their 6-0 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 13.

Their displays have cast doubt over the future of veteran coach Belichick, but Harmon – who is on the practice roster at the Cleveland Browns – does not think making a change is the right solution.

"I just think it's timing," he told Stats Perform. "How many organisations do you know that are this successful for this long? That's life.

"You look at all the great organisations, the [Chicago] Bulls when they had their run, then eventually, you've got to go through [hard times]. 

"That's just a part of sports that happens because when you're at the top, everybody's gunning for you. Everybody's trying to figure out how to get better.

"They're taking from you, they're taking coaches from you. They're taking players from you. That's sports, it's life.

"We've come where it's time for the Patriots to be on the other side for a little bit. I think if there is one person that can reverse it and turn it the other way, it's the man that's right there, and that's Bill Belichick – he's done it before.

"If he has the, I don't want to say patience, but if he wants to go through that again, I think he's the man to do it."

Harmon also believes Belichick would choose to stay on with the Patriots, rather than end his tenure on a low ebb.

He added: "Besides Tom Brady, he's the most competitive person I know. People don't realise, Bill is a competitor. He loves to win, but he hates to lose even more. And you can kind of just see it in his demeanour.

"Losing is not a part of his nature and I can't see him just going out like this.

"I think this would be the motivation. He does everything there. He's the coach, he's the front office. It's all on him."

Former New England Patriots offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien has rejoined the team over a decade after his previous stint.

The ex-Houston Texans head coach spent five seasons as part of Bill Belichick's staff between 2007 and 2011.

During that time, he helped the Patriots to a winning record in each campaign, plus two AFC Conference Championship crowns.

Following a dismal 2022 season that saw the Patriots miss out on the playoffs with an 8-9 record, Belichick is delighted to have O'Brien back on-board.

"I am looking forward to working with Bill again," New England's head coach said. "He is an outstanding coach and an asset to our staff."

The return of O'Brien to the Patriots' staff will raise question marks over the future of Joe Judge, who succeeded Josh McDaniels following his move to the Las Vegas Raiders last year.

O'Brien joined the Patriots in 2007 as a coaching assistant, before holding various positions such as wide receivers coach and quarterbacks coach.

The 53-year-old also spent seven seasons in charge of the Texans, earning four AFC South titles during his tenure.

He also spent time with Penn State, and most recently worked as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach with Alabama under Nick Saban.

The New England Patriots are aiming to fend off the Cleveland Browns and the Carolina Panthers by extending inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo's contract.

While Cleveland are looking for a new defensive coordinator after firing Joe Woods, while the Panthers want a new head coach.

There appears little appetite from the Patriots' side to let linebackers coach Mayo leave, however, with a team statement confirming talks on a contract extension were under way.

"The Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick have begun contract extension discussions with Jerod Mayo that would keep him with the team long-term," read a statement released to the media.

Mayo has spent his entire senior career with the Patriots since he was drafted by New England in the 2008 draft.

He retired in 2016 after three successive seasons derailed by injury, but joined the coaching staff in 2019.

New England also confirmed they are on the search for an offensive coordinator after a disappointing campaign saw them miss out on the playoffs.

Bill Belichick has confirmed he will continue as head coach of the New England Patriots for a 24th season in 2023.

Turning 71 in April, Belichick has been at the helm since 2000, guiding the Patriots to six Super Bowl rings and establishing the franchise as a dominant force in the NFL.

However, Belichick's Patriots have posted a losing record in two of three seasons since Tom Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, having previously not had a losing season since his first year in charge.

Defeat to the Buffalo Bills in Week 18 saw the Patriots miss out on a playoff spot for the second time in three years but work ahead of the 2023 season is set to begin, with Belichick set to remain in his post.

"Our record is around .500, which is what it has been right around this year. With that, there have been some good things and some not so good things," he told reporters.

"Nobody is satisfied with that, it's not our goal, and we need to improve on that. All of us, there is accountability everywhere, starting with me, the coaching staff, the players, each unit, there are things that we will all address, and that process will start later today.

"We'll begin to turn the page and move on, to start to do the things we need to do to improve our team, to be competitive, and get better results.

"We haven't started that yet, we're still in the wake of yesterday's game. I'm sure there will be different aspects to that, as we evaluate everything, to have a stronger team in the future."

Despite being tied for the league-lead in sacks, Matthew Judon insisted he is only the second-best pass-rusher playing for the New England Patriots after Josh Uche's career night against the Arizona Cardinals.

Uche, 24, was a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but struggled in his first two seasons, totaling only four combined sacks.

In Monday's 27-13 win against the Cardinals, he led all comers with three, taking his season tally to 10 – and all 10 have been in the past six weeks.

Judon was credited with one-and-a-half sacks on Cardinals backup quarterback Colt McCoy – who was thrust into the action after just three plays following Kyler Murray's knee injury – taking his total to 14.5 to tie with elite San Francisco 49ers talent Nick Bosa for the league's most.

Uche and Judon are the only pair of teammates this season with at least 10 sacks each.

The Patriots' defense was the dominant force in the win, turning a 13-13 tie into a two-score lead after returning a fumble for a touchdown, and securing an interception on the next drive to set up Pierre Strong Jr's sealer.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Judon said Uche's dominant performance was no surprise.

"I told y'all I wasn't our best pass-rusher," he said. "Our best pass-rusher is emerging. 

"People are going to have to block him, and if they don't, and they chip my side and worry about me, Uche will do that every week.

"I love the way he's playing with confidence, and poise, and this is the most he's played since he's been in the NFL. It's taken a toll on him, but he's going out there and having a lot of success.

"We all knew it, we all knew the type of player he was, he was drafted pretty high here, and now he's just emerging. Folks are going to have to watch out."

When asked how he feels about the Patriots' defense often having to carry their struggling offense, Judon said he has no issues with it.

"Honestly, as a defender, you relish it," he said. "You relish it.

"We'd love for our offense to go out there and score 40 points each game, but as a defender, it's like, skip it. It is what it is. We're going out there, and we've got to do our job.

"We can't let our offense down and come out there and slip, and let stuff go. Every play we have to defend every blade of grass, and that's what we came out and did.

"We got a lot of tipped balls, we put pressure on the quarterback, we were hitting receivers, jamming them – and that's how you beat a team like that with an explosive offense."

Judon's admiration of Uche is reciprocated, with Uche making a point to credit Judon in aiding his development.

"I've learned a lot, I've been through a lot of adversity," he said. "Just leaning back on my faith, my family, my teammates, my girl, my parents – everybody. Just leaning back on them, and them helping me stay up.

"Judon has been a blessing in my life, man. That's big bro. I don't know where I'd be without him."

Future Hall-of-Fame coach Bill Belichick also singled out Uche when asked about his defence's performance.

"Uche had a couple big plays for us," he said. "He hit McCoy to force the interception to [Marcus] Jones. 

"We were able to hit the quarterback, but of course that comes from getting ahead, and playing from ahead, and it became a passing game in the second half.

"Our defense did a pretty good job tonight. They have a lot of firepower, and Arizona moved the ball, but we fortunately got a couple red-area stops, and didn't give them much in the second half, so it was good."

The Patriots are now 7-6, and occupy the final AFC Wildcard spot with four weeks to play.

Bill Belichick believes it is too late in the season to rip up the playbook for the New England Patriots, even as the perennial contenders continue to struggle with their form.

A 24-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills last Thursday saw the Foxborough outfit drop to 6-6 for the season, leaving them outside the AFC's wild card slots with a handful of games to go.

Though there is plenty of time to still salvage their season, the Patriots appear to be in something of a rut, with quarterback Mac Jones involved in a sideline outburst last week.

Belichick, however, will not introduce wholesale changes, claiming they are too deep into the season to do so, and stating they merely need to execute their existing tactics.

"I think we need to do what we're doing better," he told radio station WEEI. "I don't think at this point making a lot of dramatic changes. It's too hard to do that.

"If we can just do, consistently, what we're doing, I think we'll be all right. We just haven't been able to have enough consistency. That's hurt us.

"It's not one thing. One time, it's one thing, [and] next time, it's something else. We just have to play and coach more consistently.

"I think we'd all certainly like to be doing better than what we've been doing, from a record standpoint and from an individual execution [standpoint]. But we're going to look ahead and not backward."

The Patriots are not in action for another week now, and will return to the field against the struggling Arizona Cardinals next Monday.

Hunter Henry felt the officials made a mistake by not awarding him a touchdown in the New England Patriots' Thanksgiving Day defeat to the Minnesota Vikings.

Henry was initially awarded a touchdown after taking a pass from Mac Jones midway through the third quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium on Thursday.

That appeared to have given the Patriots a 30-23 lead, but the call was overturned as the pass was deemed to be incomplete following a lengthy review.

The Vikings went on to win 33-26, so the decision to rule out Henry's touchdown proved to be a huge call.

The tight end was adamant that he had control of the ball under pressure from Vikings defensive back Chandon Sullivan.

He said: "I believe I caught it. He said it hit the ground. But I believe my hand was under the ball.

"The hand was under the ball, with hitting the ground, that's what kind of caused it to jump up. They made the call. Just got to live with it."

Quarterback Jones said the Patriots cannot use that contentious call as an excuse for their loss.

"We have to move on from that [overturned] play and play the rest of the game. There was plenty of time left," he said.

"There were other times we could have punched it in and that wouldn't have been an issue. One call can't determine the outcome. We have to be able to do better, so it's not even close."

Patriots coach Bill Belichick urged reporters to ask the officials why they overturned the decision.

"Why don't you guys go to them with your pool reporter and ask them about the play? Isn't that what you do?" he said.

After a busy NFL trade deadline, the focus is back on the field this weekend.

Josh Allen faces Zach Wilson as the New York Jets confront a major test of their defense against the soaraway Buffalo Bills, while the Los Angeles Rams will look to keep up their remarkable record against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Could Derrick Henry have another monumental game in him after last week's big effort, and after he dispelled worries about a foot problem?

Stats Perform has taken a look at the numbers ahead of Sunday's games, beginning with the travails of the Brady bunch.

Los Angeles Rams (3-4) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5)

The Buccaneers are on the slide, and the Rams are just about the nightmare opponents this weekend, judging by recent games between the teams.

Including Los Angeles' win in last season's Divisional Round, the Rams are 9-1 in their last 10 games against the Bucs, and that includes a 5-0 streak in Tampa.

This game is big for both, and for the Bucs it offers a chance to halt a losing sequence of three. They were beaten 27-22 by the Baltimore last week and are on their longest single-season losing run since a dismal four-game run in the 2019 season.

It remains to be seen whether Tom Brady can get them out of this mess. Brady threw for 325 yards and zero interceptions in last week's loss to Baltimore. Across his stellar career, he is 54-7 when throwing 300 yards and no interceptions, but this season he is 1-2 in such games.

Brady might fancy the job against a Rams team who have scored 14 or fewer points and lost by double-digits four times already this season, including last time out in a 31-14 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Rival quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 187 yards last week on 33 attempts. His team are 2-9 in games where Stafford has thrown the ball at least 30 times and finished with fewer than 200 passing yards.

Buffalo Bills (6-1) at New York Jets (5-3)

The Buffalo Bills are 6-1 for the first time since 1993, the season they last made it through to the Super Bowl. This weekend they go after a fifth win in a row after getting the better of the Green Bay Packers last time out.

What's more, they have strung together a four-game winning streak in road games against the Jets, second only in franchise history to a seven-game streak from 1987 to 1993.

The Bills have outscored this season's opponents by 105 points (203-98) so far, the widest differential in the NFL.

Bills quarterback Josh Allen has urged the Jets to show patience with his struggling counterpart Zach Wilson, who has completed just 54.9 per cent of passes this season, the second-worst rate in the NFL heading into Week 9. Wilson has thrown for 1,048 yards across five games, with three touchdowns and five interceptions, compared to Allen's 2,198 yards for 19 TDs and six interceptions from seven games.

Stefon Diggs has at least 100 yards and a receiving touchdown in three straight games, the longest streak of the Bills wide receiver's career and tied for the longest streak in team history with Elbert Dubenion (1964). The last NFL player with a longer streak was Adam Thielen in 2018 (five). How Diggs fares against Jets rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner will be a factor.

The Jets have already topped last season's four wins, but they are 8-30 against divisional opponents since 2016, the worst record in the NFL.

Tennessee Titans (5-2) at Kansas City Chiefs (5-2)

What does Titans running back Henry have in store for an encore? Henry last week recorded his sixth career 200-yard rushing game, with 219 yards and two touchdowns against the Texans, tying Adrian Peterson and O.J. Simpson for the most all-time. All other active players have combined for just four such games.

The Chiefs will be wary of that threat, and will look to their own WR, JuJu Smith-Schuster, to make his own impact. After failing to reach 90 yards or find the endzone in his first five games this season, Smith-Schuster now has back-to-back games with at least 100 yards and a touchdown. He had not had such a game since Week 8, 2019 and now has eight such games in his career.

The Titans have won four straight regular season matchups with the Chiefs but lost in the 2020 AFC Championship Game in Kansas City.

Their respective 5-2 records this season disguise the fact each of those wins has been relatively close. The Titans and Vikings have only won by single digits this season. Only five teams in NFL history have seen such a streak reach six games – the 2020 Chiefs, 1997 Vikings, 1994 Giants, 1988 Saints and 1986 Giants. Of those, only the Chiefs' streak reached seven.

Elsewhere...

The Miami Dolphins (5-3) will be looking for a fourth consecutive road win against the Chicago Bears (3-5), which would make the Dolphins the first AFC team since the conference came into being in 1970 to have such a streak in Chicago. Miami's Tyreek Hill has gone 52 consecutive receptions without a receiving touchdown. That accounts for the longest streak of his career, nearly doubling his previous career-long streak (27, twice).

Memories of a record-setting 2014 game between the Carolina Panthers and the Bengals will be stoked when the teams meet in Cincinnati on Sunday. The last time these teams met at the home of the Bengals it finished in a 37-37 tie, and entering Week 9 in 2022 that remains the highest-scoring tie in an NFL game since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970.

The New England Patriots are 4-4 for the fifth time in the Bill Belichick era (since 2000) as they approach a home game against the Indianapolis Colts (3-4-1). The other four times the Patriots started 4-4 under Belichick, they made the playoffs three times (2001, 2005, 2021) and missed the playoffs once (2002). Between the regular season and playoffs, Belichick owns an 18-9 career record against the Colts, with only Don Shula (36 wins as coach of the Dolphins from 1970 to 1995) having achieved more such wins.

Bill Belichick has become the outright number two in NFL career victories as a head coach after claiming his 325th win on Sunday.

The New England Patriots head coach surpassed George Halas' tally, notching up his 258th regular season scalp at the expense of the New York Jets.

Combined with the 36 wins he claimed in charge of the Cleveland Browns, along with postseason victories and six Super Bowl triumphs, Belichick now trails only Don Shula (347). 

After a 22-17 win over the Jets, to move 4-4 for the season, the 70-year-old expressed his gratitude to the players who have enabled him to have such success.

"Maybe we can talk about that [his tally of wins] when it's over," Belichick stated. "Add them up at the end here or whatever. I appreciate all the great players we've had that have won those games.

"We had a couple of them in the locker room there. Besides our players -- guys like [Devin] McCourty and [Matthew] Slater -- [Jerod] Mayo, Troy Brown, those guys won a lot for us, for me. So it's really a team win."

Belichick's record now stands at 325 wins from 440 games, with Halas racking up 324 in 497.

He is significantly behind Halas for regular season victories as a head coach with one team, with his 258 wins in charge of the Patriots considerably fewer than the former Chicago Bears chief, who notched 318.

Mystery remains around the New England Patriots starting quarterback for Sunday's game against the New York Jets with head coach Bill Belichick refusing to declare his hand.

Mac Jones was benched after three series for backup Bailey Zappe in the Patriots' 33-14 home defeat to the Chicago Bears on Monday.

Belichick insisted that decision was not performance-based after the game, alluding to the fact Jones was returning in Week 7 following a three-game absence due to a high ankle sprain.

Jones was not listed on the Patriots' injury report this week, yet Belichick declined to elaborate on the situation on Wednesday ahead of practice.

"We'll see how it goes today," Belichick told reporters five times when asked about the QB situation.

Onlookers at Patriots practice on Wednesday claimed that Jones took the vast majority of first team reps in an indication he will start on Sunday.

Jones, who was taken with the 15th pick in last year's NFL Draft, has started four games this season, completing 67 of 103 attempts for 799 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions.

The second-year quarterback admitted that he had not been told by Belichick if he would start against the Jets but insisted he was fine with that.

"He's done a good job, been very open with me," Jones said. "I think that's all you can ask for, clear communication. Putting all the rat poison away and playing the best I can play and becoming the best quarterback I can be.

"Like I said, those are things that we want to work through as the week goes along. I don’t really care if they tell me or not, it's just important that I'm ready to go. Just as Zappe is ready to go.

"It's the same way every week, you want to prepare as a starter… I plan to start every game I've ever played in."

Mac Jones' benching in the New England Patriots' 33-14 home defeat to the Chicago Bears was not performance-based, head coach Bill Belichick insists.

It was not the return from a high ankle sprain Jones would have anticipated, with the starting quarterback playing only the first three series and recording a sixth interception of the season.

A disgruntled home crowd started calling for Jones' backup Bailey Zappe, who entered the fray in the second quarter.

The Pats made a couple of quick touchdowns but fizzled out from there as Justin Fields led the Bears to 23 unanswered points and left both teams at 3-4 for the season.

Speaking to the media after the game, Belichick said the plan was always to use both quarterbacks and Jones did not re-enter the field as the game was getting away from the Patriots.

"That's [benching Jones after the interception] not what it was, but you can write whatever you want to write. That's not what it was," Belichick said.

"We had planned to play – I told the quarterbacks that we were going to play both of them, and that's what we did.

"We went through the week of practice. Mac was inactive last week. [Jones] would have gone back in. The score got out of hand. I didn't think that was the right thing to do."

Pushed on whether Jones had enough game time to have the confidence to face the New York Jets next week, a curt Belichick replied "I don't know" and said "I don't see that" when it was suggested he could switch up his quarterbacks week to week.

Belichick also confirmed the thinking to play both quarterbacks was related to Jones' ankle injury but that was not a factor at the time he was pulled from the field.

The stats did not make for kind reading, with Jones going 3-of-6 for 13 yards and the pick. Zappe was 14-of-22 for 185 yards, including a touchdown, two interceptions and a lost fumble.

For Jones' part, the chants for Zappe are not something playing on his mind and he is focused just on improving his own performance.

" I just have to do better at my job, and that's all it comes down to. That's all I can control," he said.

"Honestly, we've got a good chance here to go against the Jets, and that's what I'm focused on. I'm going to do my best to put my best foot forward. 

"I've been in this situation before, and just going to try to help the team. Whatever my role is, I'll be ready, and I'll give it 100 per cent."

Asked if he was surprised by the timing of Belichick's decision, he added: "I think coach Belichick had a really good plan for us. 

"Obviously, that's kind of internal stuff, but I understood the plan and what was going to happen. I wish we got off to a better start, and I played a little bit better, but I'll have a chance to practice and get back into my routine. 

"Something that I want to work on is getting back in my routine. I'm a very routine person, and I'm excited for this week. That's all you can do, right? 

"You can't really look back in the past. The game wasn't good by any of us, and that starts with me."

Bill Belichick celebrated his 324th career NFL win on Sunday as Bailey Zappe led the New England Patriots to a 38-15 victory at the Cleveland Browns.

This latest success moved Belichick into a tie for second for the most all-time coaching wins across the regular season and postseason.

The Patriots legend is now level with George Halas, trailing only Don Shula's 347.

The dominant defeat of the Browns was Belichick's 293rd regular season win, which has him third behind Halas (318) and Shula (328), while he leads all coaches with 31 playoff victories.

"I've got a ton of respect for coach Halas and the McCaskey family and what he did for professional football," Belichick said.

"The way that he and, since we're here, [first Browns coach] Paul Brown and others like them paved the way for us, as coaches, and paved the way for the National Football League to grow to what it is today. They laid down a lot of the building blocks."

Meanwhile, Zappe was as impressive in his second NFL start as he had been in his first, a 29-0 rout of the Detroit Lions last week.

The rookie fourth-rounder, who against the Lions became the fifth of five Patriot quarterbacks selected by Belichick outside the first round to win his first start, threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns in Cleveland, achieving a 118.4 passer rating.

Zappe is therefore the first rookie to win his first two career starts while recording a rating of at least 100 in both games since Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen in 1957.

The New England Patriots have not officially named an offensive coordinator and are installing a "new offense", but quarterback Mac Jones said he is not overly concerned. 

With longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels now the head coach for the Las Vegas Raiders, the Patriots have not named anyone to fill his role. Instead, head coach Bill Belichick is spending more time with the offense and former Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia and ex-New York Giants coach Joe Judge are also working with the unit. 

"I’m going to figure it out. I always have. I always will," said Jones, entering his second NFL season. "At the end of the day, you’re going to have your ups and downs with anything new. I think we’re close on a lot of things. It’s just that 2 per cent we need to fix."

The notoriously tight-lipped Belichick has acknowledged that the Patriots have "streamlined" their offense this year, with multiple players saying the goal is to make it simpler so they can play faster.  

Jones and the new-look offense has struggled at times this preseason, with numerous breakdowns and rushers coming free too often. 

"It’s just getting the communication down," Jones said. "It’s different than what we’ve done in the past. It’s a little frustrating sometimes, but our offensive line – the players and coaches – are trying the best they can.

"I have all the trust in the world in those guys. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’re trying to grow." 

Jones led the Patriots to a 10-7 record and a playoff berth in his rookie season, throwing 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.  

New England host the New York Giants in their preseason opener on Thursday night. 

Super Bowl XLIX hero Malcolm Butler is returning to the New England Patriots on a two-year deal worth up to $9million.

Butler, 32, famously intercepted would-be go-ahead touchdown pass at the goal-line to give the Patriots a 28-24 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

Two years after his Super Bowl heroics, Butler signed a big-money, five-year deal with the Tennessee Titans, who released the cornerback after three seasons.

His unsuccessful stint with the Titans was followed by a brief stay on the Arizona Cardinals' roster, with Butler retiring in August citing "personal reasons" before playing a regular-season game.

He was released by the Cardinals in February, and will now attempt to revive his career under the stewardship of Bill Belichick once again.

The New York Giants insist they decided on their next head coach only after interviewing Brian Flores, disputing claims made in a class action lawsuit he filed against the league.

Flores alleged in the suit that the NFL is rife with racism and has a "disingenuous commitment to social equity".

He is suing the league along with teams at whose hands he claims he experienced racism, naming former team the Miami Dolphins along with the Giants and Denver Broncos as defendants, together with "John Doe Teams 1 through 29".

The NFL said Flores' claims "are without merit", saying it would put up a defence. The three teams named by Flores also rejected his allegations.

Among the allegations made by Flores is that he inadvertently learned he had failed to get the Giants job last week before his interview, which the lawsuit claims was "a sham" that "humiliated" him.

The suit contains screen grabs of an alleged text message conversation between New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and Flores, in which Belichick congratulates Flores on what he believes is an impending appointment, only to realise he was messaging the wrong person, having intended to contact Brian Daboll, who got the Giants job.

During the text exchange, Flores questioned whether Belichick had messaged the correct person, with the Patriots coach having indicated he had inside knowledge on who would land the job.

According to the lawsuit's contents, Belichick at this point realised his error and apologised to Flores, who worked for him for 10 years with the Patriots.

However, the Giants released a lengthy statement on Thursday, saying: "The decision on who we would hire as head coach was made on the evening of January 28, one day after Mr. Flores spent an entire day in our offices going through his second interview for the position, meeting with ownership and other staff members, and receiving a tour of our facility."

The team added Belichick would have no knowledge of any decision, as the alleged conversation suggested.

"The allegation that the Giants' decision had been made prior to Friday evening, January 28, is false," the Giants said.

"And to base that allegation on a text exchange with Bill Belichick in which he ultimately states that he 'thinks' Brian Daboll would get the job is irresponsible.

"The text exchange occurred the day before Coach Daboll's in-person interview even took place. Giants' ownership would never hire a head coach based only on a 20-minute zoom interview, which is all that Mr. Daboll had at that point.

"In addition, Mr. Belichick does not speak for and has no affiliation with the Giants. Mr. Belichick's text exchange provides no insight into what actually transpired during our head coaching search."

The Giants included a timeline of Flores' day at their facility and said: "We hired Brian Daboll as our head coach at the conclusion of an open and thorough interview process. No decision was made, and no job offer was extended, until the evening of January 28, a full day after Mr. Flores' in-person interview and day-long visit to the Giants."