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Bill Belichick reportedly instructed UNC staff to not mention Patriots players on social media
"That's clearly why UNC football has not posted anything from Drake Maye's electric primetime win over the Buffalo Bills.â
Drake Maye put forth the best performance of his young NFL career on Sunday night against the Bills, out-dueling Josh Allen and helping New England beat Buffalo, 23-20, in a primetime matchup.
But, despite Maye’s efforts at Highmark Stadium, the former UNC standout didn’t receive a shoutout from his alma mater via social media Sunday night or early Monday morning.
And according to Ross Martin of CBS Sports/247Sports, the radio silence from the Tar Heels was due to UNC head coach Bill Belichick’s icy sentiment toward his former team.
“According to sources inside the UNC football program, it is a directive from the staff (Bill Belichick) to not tweet/retweet anything Patriots-related,” Martin posted via X early Monday morning. “That’s clearly why UNC football has not posted anything from Drake Maye’s electric primetime win over the Buffalo Bills.”
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Over an hour after Martin’s post started to make the rounds on social media, the Tar Heels’ main X account posted a video highlighting some of Maye’s throws on Sunday night football that helped New England beat the last undefeated team remaining in the NFL.
Shortly before the Tar Heels finally gave Maye his flowers online, former UNC head coach Mack Brown congratulated his former QB for his efforts against the Bills.
“So Happy for Drake,” Brown posted. “Fun to watch him win last night in Buffalo like he did so many times at UNC. Love ❤️ and Appreciate you my friend! Keep it rolling!”
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This is not the first time that Belichick has seemingly butted heads with a Patriots franchise that he coached for 24 seasons before leaving on poor terms after the 2023 campaign.
Last month, Belichick confirmed that he banned a Patriots scout from attending football practices at North Carolina earlier this summer.
“It’s clear that I’m not welcome there around their facility, so they’re not welcome at ours,” Belichick said of the Patriots after a win over UNC Charlotte on September 6. “Pretty simple.”
While the Patriots improved to 3-2 under Mike Vrabel following Sunday’s win, Belichick has had a tougher time in his first season as head coach at UNC. The Tar Heels were blown out, 38-10, by Clemson on Saturday, with Belichick falling to 2-3 so far at Chapel Hill.
Speaking on NBC Sports Boston’s “Patriots Pregame Live” on Sunday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said that UNC potentially buying out Belichick from his five-year, $50 million contract is “something they have to look at.”
“There’s so many things that they’ve done there — this is one thing you hear from a lot of NFL people that have been through there — there are so many things that they have done there that fly in the face of what you should be doing to try to attract top talent,” Breer said.
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“There’s no question that job No. 1 for any coach is attracting top talent to North Carolina, and I think that’s where you start if you’re the North Carolina administration,” Breer added. “You look at their roster and you say, ‘You turned over 70 percent of the roster and that’s where we’re getting beat on a week-to-week basis.’ … I think there are lots of fair questions to ask in those departments.”
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