Bill Belichick sparks social media outrage with derogatory nickname for Massachusetts – as Patriots fans hit back at legendary former coach.

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick didn’t do his old employer’s state any favors when appearing on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday.

Belichick, who left the Patriots this past offseason, opened up about the hardships of trying to bring players to New England.

One of the things that he pointed to was the high tax rates in the commonwealth of Massachusetts – with the 72-year-old coach referring to one of the state’s more infamous nicknames.

‘Oh, yeah. It’s Taxachusetts. Yeah. They take more from you. So virtually every player, even a practice squad, but even the minimum players are pretty close to a million dollars. 

‘And so once you hit that million dollar threshold, then you pay more state tax in Massachusetts. So just another thing you got to contend with in negotiations up there. 

Belichick called the state ‘Taxachusetts’ and said high rates kept players from signing 

‘It’s not like Tennessee or Florida or Nevada or some of these teams that have no state income tax. So you get hit pretty hard on that with the agents. 

‘They’ll come and sledgehammer you down about the tax they’re paying. We don’t get any benefit from that.’

While comments under the initial post from the Pat McAfee Show made fun of the nickname, it was re-posted by a Patriots fan. Comments under that post show many people defending the state.

‘Yeah we’re all weeping for you bill. You can move now that you’re unemployed. Let’s compare education/healthcare/infant mortality etc to Tennessee or other red states,’ wrote one user.

Another wrote, ‘Amazing this doesn’t affect any of the other teams in Boston, or other high tax states. Maybe it was you Bill lol’

‘Not gonna get lectured about MA having high taxes when it’s also constantly leading the nation in things like education and health care,’ another user said. ‘MA also gives more to the federal tax fund than it receives. It’s literally subsidizing the economies of TN, FL, & NV.’

Others compared the situation on the Patriots to other Massachusetts sports teams.

‘Do the Celtics not play in Mass? Seems like they don’t have too hard of a time signing FAs,’ wrote one user.

Under a repost of that video were a number of Twitter users defending Massachusetts

Another user said, ‘Six rings. Celtics just won. If state taxes make the difference, we don’t want that player anyway. Selfish mentally. Massachusetts is the greatest state in the nation and it’s not close.’

‘So failing to sign, Jacobi Myers or DeAndre Hopkins was a state tax issue or was it Bill and Robert Kraft making these cheap lowball offers,’ another said.

The Patriots just closed out their preseason on Sunday night with a 20-10 loss to the Washington Commanders.

New England went 1-3 in the preseason under new head coach Jerod Mayo.

They open the regular season on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.