Little late getting to the final two episodes this week thanks to spring ball ramping up across New England.

I had a chance to watch the finale early on Sunday, so here’s the final running log of thoughts I had during both. Overall, it’s been a pretty decent product, but there’s definitely been a lot wrong with it as well. It’s also felt like a chore watching these the last few compared to the first three or four episodes.

Anyway, let’s wrap this thing up and never speak of it again…

Episode 9

-Welp. I did not see a Trump campaign scene coming to open this one, but here we are.

-I totally forgot the sh*t storm the letter from Belichick to Trump created for many people. What a time to be alive.

-Interesting to hear Slater of all people call BB hypocritical.

-Man, I forgot how many times the word ‘unequivocally’ was said around New England during this time. How was it not on a shirt (unless it was…looking at you Mike Dussault, and I just missed it).

-Championships and championship parades are fun. That’s all. (Sigh).

-Tome E. Curran with a great quote about Brady starting to not care about what BB thought anymore and did his own thing outside of football. Calls it ‘The Brady Industry’ and it’s the perfect way to put it.

-A simple fitness facility (TB12) became SUCH a point of contention. It’s wild the drama that building going up ultimately caused with several players, not just Brady.

-“Tom was starting to separate from team first all the time.” -RKK on Brady after 2016 title. Guy still found a way to make it the priority when necessary, going to two more Super Bowls the next two years and BB still couldn’t acquiesce in the end. Mind boggling.

-Alex Guerrero throwing the words ‘soul mate’ around with Brady was downright creepy.

-It’s also hard to argue with the results considering how much longer Brady played after the elbow injury in 2004 that’s mentioned here. As weird as the relationship might be to some people, and as questionable as some of Guerrero’s past history is, it worked and kept very important players on the field.

-“Bill was about to cut me.” -Gronk on BB in 2017 camp. I’m pretty sure this was when the Detroit trade talk started, right? Either way, this thing (the run) still got two more years out of it when sh*t was hitting the fan. Crazy.

-Mini cheap shot from Gronk saying ‘some people’ didn’t like him following Brady’s method. I mean, there is always the possibility there was something else going on that’s not talked about when it comes to Guerrero’s ‘methods’ other than the simple massage therapy and general exercise we see here on film. However, BB certainly didn’t have to make such an issue out of whatever was working at the time.

-“You’re not doing these squats because you’re doing these fuc*ing bands…you’re weak.” -BB to Gronk (from Curan) when he wouldn’t squat in the offseason. Imagine saying that to a massive human like that. Also, Gronk had over 1,000 yards receiving, eight TD’s and was a first team All-Pro that year…

-I (like Amendola explains) understands how the actual training staff could feel about an ‘outsider’ being around, but it’s not like all 53 guys were working with Guerrero, at least it doesn’t come off that way. Select few and they just happened to be the stars of the team.

-Ernie Adams saying it was fine outside the building but they didn’t want guys getting ‘mixed messages’ in the building between Guerrero and the Pats’ training staff. Again, is it an odd situation if the whole team is doing it? Sure, but the handful of guys using Guerrero were the ones producing the most, how can you not be ok with it? Feels like simply an ego thing with Bill, which I think we all sort of knew but now confirmed.

-Brady extremely defensive at the press conference when Ben Volin asks a simple question of his reaction when BB told him he was banning Guerrero from the facility and plane. Can see he was just seething.

-“It was so stupid…he kept me healthy…there’s no way I play probably 12 years in the NFL without (Alex’s) commitment to me and our team. Instead of getting credit for it, he got blamed. I kept going, what the f**k is wrong with you people?” -Brady. Incredible stuff here. The first time we’ve obviously ever truly gotten anything honest from him on the Guerrero thing. He’s 100% right too.

-Now that we know the depths of the Guerrero turmoil, the Jimmy G trade at this time is even more crazy. I remember covering a Natick basketball game when the news broke. Still absurd they only got a second rounder for him.

“I never asked him to do it, I just told Bill, we’re not trading Brady, ever. So, that made it a little awkward.” -RKK on the Jimmy G trade. More great stuff here, getting the owner on record finally about that whole situation.

-“I don’t know. Every year in the NFL is a challenging season. You’d have to ask them why they said that.” -BB when asked why he thought players from 2017 said it was the most challenging season. He gets awfully awkward and tone is defensive when he answers. This was clearly a season all about power and Kraft was on Brady’s side to a certain point.

-“It was like two parents fighting with each other…there was always so much tension. Right when you opened up that door your asshole is just super tight. You’re walking around quenching your butt cheeks. That’s what it felt like and I thought I was the only one that felt that. But, then I asked other people…” -Gronk describing 2017 as only Gronk could. What a statement about how dysfunctional it was. And they STILL made the Super Bowl.

-“I could feel the tension building.” -Amendola. Again, it’s so insane they still made a run to the Super Bowl with it being this much of a sh*t show.

-“It was just weird. It was just something you could feel within people, within yourself, within the team.” -Malcolm Butler.

-“That was a trying year. Not just because of what’s happening behind the scenes in the building, but also what’s going on socially all over the country.” -Slater talking about the state of the team and country. I forgot about how huge the anthem protest thing was at the time.

-I feel like ‘Do Your Job’ was a big thing before this season but it blew up during this run.

-That regular season game in Pittsburgh might be a Top 10 regular season game of that era. Instant classic.

-So lucky in that AFCCG against Jacksonville. Scoop and return should’ve never been called back. Having said that, the comeback from Brady and dart to Amendola in the end zone are obviously legendary.

-“Our quest for a title is not going to change.” -Slater on mindset that year and before the Philly Super Bowl. Acknowledges guys didn’t ‘love ball’ the way they probably should have. Speaks to the remarkable drive they all had and ultimately how much they followed Brady and greatness.

-Butler says he didn’t find out until game time he wouldn’t play, which explains the iconic scene of him crying during the anthem. Obviously, at the time as a fan I remember thinking how awesome it was he was that emotional about playing in another Super Bowl. Obviously, that wasn’t it.

-“As players, I know we all feel strongly Malcolm should’ve been out there, but that’s not our call and at the end of the day, we trust our coach.” -Slater. Ouch.

-McDaniels says he told Bill ‘I don’t think they can stop us,’ but adds he felt like the game was ‘out of control.’ I remember thinking (like probably everyone else) that while it was an unexpected shootout, they’d eventually get that stop and win again. They always do. It clearly never came.

-Butler says to this day he still doesn’t know why he didn’t play. I’d love to believe him and how sincere he sounds, but I can’t.

-“We’ve talked about that.” -BB in a VERY awkward scene when asked about the Butler situation. Director tells BB he didn’t ask him about it. He stares directly into the camera for 10? awkward seconds before they move on. WTF happened that weekend?!

-“What has been told to me is that there was something personal going on between Bill and Malcolm that was not football related.” -RKK. I’m sorry, but as the owner, how do you not get a full explanation?

-Ridiculous Brady’s historic performance went to waste. But, this one doesn’t hurt as a fan as much as others do.

-Amendola says he’s still pissed to this day about it. “To not get an explanation, I feel like we got cheated a bit.” How an you blame them.

-Gronk says “so many guys” in the shower after the Super Bowl said they were “so fuking glad the season’s over, I’m getting the fuk out of there.” Just a complete dumpster fire and they still should’ve won the game.

-Gronk says players couldn’t be who they wanted to be that whole year. Imagine going to work every day feeling like you couldn’t be a normal human being? Again, speaks to how much they played for TB12.

-The famous clip we’ve all seen of Kraft saying he was just trying to hold it together for as long as he could closes out what was maybe the best episode aside from the Hernandez one in my opinion. We all knew it was ugly down there, but man what an epic nightmare 2017 was.

Episode 10

-Brady’s lucky they leave the strip sack to end the Philly Super Bowl. Kind of a big deal.

-‘Offensively, they scored more points than we did. So, give their staff and players credit.” -BB when asked what Brady did so well in that game after throwing for 505 yards. I mean…come on, man.

-“There are things I’d like to keep to myself…there’s no perfect relationship. There’s things that are said and are done that can’t be unsaid or undone.” -Brady on the meeting at RKK’s house in 2017 offseason. His facial expressions dramatically change when the question is asked. Interesting that he would still get emotional about it after this much time has passed.

-The image of Gisele yelling about BB in RKK’s home is hilarious to me.

-RKK says he told Brady he’d “work it out” if Brady wanted to leave before the 2018 season. They won the Super Bowl…think about that.

-Forgot about the saga of Brady skipping OTA’s. Again, just let it go Bill.

-RKK says ‘for the first time in 20 years’ it was the first time he’d stepped in and gotten involved by allowing Guerrero back in the building and around the team. But, in the previous episodes he acknowledges he told BB he’d never trade Brady, so that’s not totally true.

-“For a head coach, all the relationships are important. It starts at the top with ownership and they can derail some positive and constructive progress if those things don’t work out well.” -BB. Wow. And to think, he was still under contract coaching the team saying this at the time. It’s also the first shot they’ve had in here for him against  RKK after what’s been one giant pig pile on him throughout this whole documentary.

-No mention of any conversation of how RKK kept Gronk around. Would have loved to have seen or heard more about it because he was obviously a massive reason they had one more shot in 2018.

-“I hoped and believed winning was a special elixir that would help Bill and Tommy’s relationship, but it was still unnatural and uncomfortable.” -RKK. During this they repeatedly show a miserable Brady in the locker room after wins as other guys are being complimented. Pouring it on a little thick here, but again, would it have killed Bill to pump his tires just a little bit?

-Slater saying there was awkwardness in the captains meetings between BB and TB is a nice little nugget we get. Once again, this team won a Super Bowl with the coach and QB literally despising each other. Incredible.

-Brady says ‘we didn’t talk a lot’ referring to him and BB and Slater says when Tom wanted something done, he’d tell him to go tell Bill. How the F do you function as an NFL team this way and still win games regularly?

-AFCCG in Arrowhead is a Top 10 game in NFL and team history.

-Anytime I can do this I will until the day I die…GET RID OF THE STUPID PARTICIPATION TROPHIES FOR THE NFC AND AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES AND BRING BACK THE OLD ONES.

-“He didn’t want Tommy there.” -RKK on Brady as they show postgame championship celebration footage. Mind blowing.

-“To be honest, my head coach is a pain int he tush, but I was willing to put up with it as long as we won.” -RKK as only RKK could say BB was a pain in the ass. Pretty funny.

-RKK says he ‘wanted to keep an eye on him,’ talking about BB at the 2018 Super Bowl after the decision the year prior. What a damning quote about the trust level everyone around there had at the time.

-Surprisingly BB gets a ton of credit here for going Zone against the Rams before the Super Bowl after playing mostly man all year. First time in this entire documentary he gets this much credit and rightfully so.

-“I can see McVay, it’s definitely fu*king them up.” -BB to Van Noy on the sidelines, Just great behind the scenes stuff there. Hilarious too.

-Man, if Goff doesn’t under throw Cooks and allow Jason McCourty to recover on that play we probably don’t even get that final year of Brady in 2019.

-Can still picture all of us going ape shit in my buddy’s apartment in Waltham on that dime to Gronk to set up the Michel TD. Man, I miss those types of Sundays. Hopefully the C’s or B’s can give us some special moments this summer.

-“This is what we fuc*ing talked about all year now.” -BB on head set before final Rams drive. Again, just an awesome little moment we’ve never seen before.

-Clearly remember yelling ‘pick that!’ immediately after the ball went up from Goff when Gilmore ices it. Just had a feeling.

-Great shot of Wilfok with BB postgame saying ‘three f’ing points.”

-According to RKK, that game literally saved BB’s job in his eyes. And he lasted five more seasons after that somehow…

-“At that point Tommy understood Bill would be the head coach for a number of years going forward.” -RKK. Love this little nugget for some reason. Like, we all speculated every season, but as far as RKK was concerned, BB had a job for life until he literally tanked the franchise, which is ultimately what happened here.

-“I wasn’t going to re-sign another contract, even if I wanted to play until I was 50…I knew that based on how things had gone, I wasn’t going to sign up for more of it.” -Brady. Well, that finally ends that discussion. He was leaving unless BB wasn’t here.

-“I think he made the right and the best decision.” -BB on the conversation he had with Tom the day he decided he was going to leave. Ya, can’t say I or the rest of the region agree with that and probably never will.

-Pretty clear with the emotion TB wanted to be here for life but Bill made that impossible in the end by being so stuck in how own ways and thinking. Now, RKK had the final call and should get more criticism than he does for keeping the wrong guy, but still, BB certainly could have made the situation much easier.

-The fact that the ‘pandemic’ started the same week as Brady’s announcement is still insane to think about.

-I loved rooting for him that year in Tampa, even bought a Tampa hoodie. He was responsible for so many memories with my dad and friends through the years, I was always rooting for him.

-“I could have got the kid from Foxborough High School to tell you that you shouldn’t have let Tom Brady go.” -Amendola. Damn.

-They showed the Jakobi Meyers lateral against the Raiders?! Hahahaha, poor guy. He didn’t deserve to catch a stray in this documentary.

-“Sure. I would have liked to have seen he seventh Super Bowl as a Patriot.” -RKK on if he has any regrets with how it ended. He says ‘yes’ Brady would have remained if BB wasn’t the head coach. Glad we have that on record finally.

-Pretty cool they have footage from the opener this past season. There was definitely a buzz around there that day and it’ll be incredible to be around for the Brady Night in June.

“It’s disrespectful.” -Scott Pioli on the question whether it was Bill or Tom who meant more to the 20-year run. Agreed.

-“Our fun, frankly, is being on that field after the Super Bowl with the confetti flying down, putting your finger prints on the Lombardi Trophy. That’s the fun.” -Nice little parting shot from Ernie Adams to everyone who questions whether playing here was fun.

-“We all play a part in it and we all need each other.” -BB at the end. Nice way to tie it all together.

-The extra little editors note at the end about RKK and BB parting ways this past January was a little jarring but I’m glad they got it in there for full closure. I wish we had some footage from the last three seasons now though, knowing they were clearly filming during this final debacle.

Well, that was really fun re-living all the memories over the past 20 years and as I’ve said before it’s still surreal to me to be covering this team now. Hopefully, there’s another special run in here somewhere these next 20 years, but if not, the fan base should remember how lucky it is to have witnessed what we did while we’re all here.

Thank you to RKK, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and every player that played a part in providing so many of us with memories we’ll all cherish, while also inspiring some of us professionally as well.