Tom Brady gets an APOLOGY from Shannon Sharpe on First Take – as he claims the quarterback ‘erased every mistake Bill Belichick made’ at New England Patriots amid their awful start to the NFL season

Shannon Sharpe has apologized to Tom Brady for failing to realize exactly how influential he was at the New England Patriots.

This season, there have been murmurs around the extent of Bill Belichick’s legacy after the Patriots sank to 1-4 with a dreadful start to the season compounded by Sunday’s 34-0 loss to New Orleans Saints.

The result formed a key talking point on Monday’s episode of First Take, where Sharpe was asked if Belichick, who is an eight-time Super Bowl winner – six coming with Brady in New England – was ‘just another coach’.

Sharpe – himself a three-time Super Bowl champion from his own career – responded: ‘No, I don’t think he’s just another coach. I think the success he’s had with his team over the last two decades is something to be applauded and commended.

‘I think what has happened, and I can just speak for me, is I owe Brady an apology because I don’t think I gave him enough credit. 

Brady and Belichick won six Super Bowls together when they were at New England Patriots 

This season, Belichick’s Patriots are 1-4 and have scored three points in the last two games 

‘I should’ve given him even more credit, because what Brady allowed coach Belichick to do, Brady is the largest eraser in pro sports. 

‘Every mistake that coach Belichick made during those two decades, Brady could erase it.

‘You took a bad receiver? Brady would take a mistake that you made in the first, second, or third round, and erase it with Julian Edelman.’ 

The Patriots offense is now in crisis – with Sunday’s shutout meaning the team have scored three points in two games. The current quarterback in New England, Mac Jones, was benched for the second straight game for Bailey Zappe.

Belichick now has some big questions to answer for Sunday’s match with the Las Vegas Raiders, who beat the Green Bay Packers 13-17 on Monday night.

Sharpe, on the pressure Belichick is facing, added: ‘A regular coach can’t have this level of success for two decades.

‘But what it does go to show you is that no matter how great of a defensive or offensive mind you are, if you don’t have a guy that’s 6’4 and 200-plus pounds with an arm, you’re whistling in the wind.’

After heading to Vegas to play the Raiders, the Patriots then host the Bills on October 22.