"Stats are for losers, final scores are for winners": When Bill Belichick dropped one of his most iconic responses after win against Panthers

In 2009, after a 20-10 win over the Carolina Panthers, then-Patriots head coach Bill Belichick fiercely defended Randy Moss against accusations of poor effort. Panthers defenders Chris Gamble and Chris Harris suggested Moss had checked out, but Belichick dismissed the criticism.

“Randy Moss has been one of our most consistent players since he's been here,” Belichick said. “His production has been pretty good. … They must have an awful lot of respect for him, too. Which I do."

Moss had just one catch that game, sparking claims he was running lazy routes. But Belichick saw a bad stat line, not a bad effort. His now-famous response read:

"Stats are for losers, the final score is for winners."

When pressed on whether stats hold value, he clarified:

“I think they all have meaning; it’s just the priority of the stats. Wins is No. 1. Points is No. 2, because that correlates to winning.”

For Belichick, individual numbers mattered less than the scoreboard — and on that night, the Patriots had already won where it counted.

Bill Belichick’s North Carolina is a national brand

Bill Belichick with recruit quarterback Bryce Baker - Source: Imagn

Bill Belichick is making waves in college football recruiting, declaring that “everybody wants to go to Carolina” because the University of North Carolina is a national brand.

“We want to be a national school, and we are a national school. It is a national brand, and everybody wants to go to Carolina,” Belichick said, per On3.

The former NFL coach, now active in college recruiting, believes UNC has broad appeal among student-athletes. While focusing on in-state talent, he’s casting a wide net, targeting prospects from the East Coast to the Midwest, Texas, and California.

“We’ve kind of pretty much been up and down the eastern seaboard and then in many places, from Chicago to Nashville to some of the Midwest, even though we’re recruiting nationally in Texas and California as well,” Belichick said. “But we, I personally, have, you know, haven’t probably gotten past the Mississippi.”

His involvement is generating fresh buzz around the Tar Heels, reinforcing UNC’s push to compete for top talent nationwide.