Tom Brady Passionately Defends Bill Belichick, He's Not Issue In New England!

Tom Brady is going to bat for his old coach ... saying it's not Bill Belichick's fault the New England Patriots are having a terrible season right now.

TB12 addressed the state of his former team in an interview with Stephen A. Smith this week ... where he was asked whether it was time for BB to move on to a new team after more than two decades in Foxborough.

Brady -- who won six Super Bowls with Belichick -- had nothing but positive things to say about the mastermind ... and pointed the finger at other issues that could factor into the Pats being 2-8.

"I think he's an incredible coach," Brady told SAS. "He's the best coach, in my belief, in the history of the game."

"The thought of him not being in New England is hard for me to think about. He prepares the team really well. Ultimately, you got to have a lot of people around you to succeed. You got to have a lot of things in place for the organization to be successful."

In fact, Brady thinks BB is coaching just like he did when the Pats went undefeated during the 2007 regular season.

"I'm sure he's preparing the team the same way," he added. "The results are different. But again, that's why the sport's so challenging."

TB12 said there's other roles outside of the head coaching gig that have a greater impact on gameday performance -- like the quarterback and defensive coordinator -- but claimed he's not taking a shot at the Patriots' current situation with Mac Jones.

Of course, Brady's comments are interesting ... considering the belief is that Belichick helped usher him out of New England before he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020.