Bill Belichick says he intends to return to Patriots next year

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

One of the sticking points of Seth Wickersham's article last Friday was that Bill Belichick may leave the Patriots after this season.

Belichick basically shot that down earlier today, saying he "absolutely" intends to return to the team as its head coach next year. Belichick said he hadn't read the article (which is a lie, he definitely has) but declined to add anything further on what was written.

Since Friday, Belichick, Tom Brady and Robert Kraft released a joint statement and have spoken individually about the ESPN piece, calling it in so many words a bunch of lies.

The rumor now is that the Patriots are more pissed about this situation than they were about Deflategate and Spygate, which is really, really bad news for the teams standing in the way of the franchise's sixth Super Bowl title.

Tennessee's up first, and they've got no shot.

Follow me on Twitter - @JesseGaunce

For more of my articles, click here.