New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is done with Microsoft"s Surface tablets, and he"s not afraid to say so. He ranted today for a full five minutes and 25 seconds about why he won"t be using them anymore.
Microsoft and the NFL have had a partnership since 2014 that brought Surface Pro 2 devices to the field, but in 2015, those were replaced by the Surface Pro 3.
Zack Cox of NESN posted the full transcript to Twitter:
So what"s more reliable than a Surface Pro 3? The answer is simple; Belichick will be using good old-fashioned paper printouts.
The coach says that he has problems with the device every week, and perhaps what"s more interesting is that the Surfaces are owned by the NFL, and he doesn"t get his hands on one until game day. This leaves the team unable to fix problems before they arise.
Belichick was hard on the Surface Pro 3, saying that they"re undependable and that they have no consistency. Microsoft issued a statement to Business Insider regarding Belichick"s decision:
We respect Coach Belichick’s decision, but stand behind the reliability of Surface. We continue to receive positive feedback on having Surface devices on the sidelines from coaches, players and team personnel across the league. In the instances where sideline issues are reported in NFL games, we work closely with the NFL to quickly address and resolve.
The NFL also issued a statement:
Microsoft is an integral, strategic partner of the NFL and implementing their technology on our sidelines has increased the efficiency and speed of collaboration between coaches and players to an all-time high. Within our complex environment, many factors can affect the performance of a particular technology either related to or outside of our partner’s solutions. We continue to work with all of our partners to ensure the best systems are in place to most effectively assist the clubs in the execution of their game plan.
It doesn"t sound like Belichick"s problems are the result of the Surface itself, but rather connectivity issues, which would understandably be an issue at a football game.