Former Patriots captains Devin McCourty and Rodney Harrison criticized Apple TV+’s “The Dynasty,” for its negative portrayal of the franchise’s record-setting 20-year run built on six Super Bowl titles.
McCourty went as far as to say he felt “kinda duped” by the 10-part production, for which he sat for several hours of interviews, as did Harrison. “The Dynasty” has already received outside criticism for focusing too heavily on scandal, with separate episodes dedicated to Spygate, Deflategate and the Aaron Herandez saga. The final episodes, where McCourty is prominently featured, also hammer home how the Bill-Belichick-Tom Brady relationship fractured in their final seasons together, a time when the Patriots won their last two Super Bowls.
“I was like, ‘Man, this is gonna be great. Like the storytelling, we’re talking about this, and we’re talking about that.’ Everything that we all gave to the 20 years that it encompassed, they only hit anything that was negative,” McCourty said on a clip shared to X/Twitter by NBC Sports’ ProFootball Talk.
He continued: “Hey, we won at a high level, and guys stayed there. Like I could’ve left two times. I signed back (in free agency). There (are) reasons why.”
Harrison specifically objected to the docuseries glossing over his two Super Bowl seasons with the team in 2003 and 2004, a decision director Hamachek has explained by saying those stories could not be advanced from what’s already been told.
“It didn’t tell the stories like of me coming, and Corey Dillon. I interviewed for five or six hours, I was in New York, and all they had me say was ‘F— ’em all, f— ’em all.’ Like, that’s it!” Harrison said, referring to the Spygate episode.
Harrison also came to the defense of former head coach Bill Belichick. The most common criticism of the docuseries, which includes never-before-seen footage and lengthy interviews with Brady, Belichick and Robert Kraft, among others, has been it lays too much blame for the Patriots’ downfall at the ex-coach’s feet.
“Think about this: He gave me an opportunity, a fifth-round draft choice,” Harrison said. “He gave Tom Brady an opportunity. He sent out a hundred-million-dollar quarterback when no one thought it was popular and started Tom Brady. … He gives guys who are the underdog an opportunity. No one talks about that. When everybody else is done with a guy, he brings in a Corey Dillon, he brings in a Randy Moss, he brings in a Rodney Harrison.
“And I just don’t think that he got enough credit, enough respect, enough props, man. This dude is the greatest coach of all time.”