While you won’t catch Bill Belichick heaping praise on his own players, one guy has the New England Patriots head coach’s utmost respect.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden for “The MMQB,” Belichick gushed about former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown. Belichick grew up rooting for Cleveland because of Brown and later developed a relationship with the Hall of Famer when he became the Browns’ head coach in 1991.
“Jim Brown was probably my favorite player,” Belichick told Layden. “I loved the guy.”
Belichick valued Brown so much, he brought him in to talk to his running backs in Cleveland. However, he didn’t get the results he wanted.
“It was embarrassing,” Belichick said. “They had never heard of Jim, didn’t know who he was. I mean, this was f—ing Jim Brown, the greatest football player in history. That was my mistake. After that I made sure to educate the players ahead of time, to explain who Jim was, show them some highlights.”
The Pats coach couldn’t think of anyone who could compare to Brown, either. Layden suggested Los Angeles Rams legend Eric Dickerson, but that wasn’t quite right.
“Dickerson was more of a straight-line runner,” Belichick said. “Not that he didn’t have great skills. But Jim moved like a 185-pound runner.”
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was another option, but that didn’t work for Belichick, either.
“Another guy who is explosive at the line and pulls away, but Jim had so much short-area quickness,” Belichick said. “Quick feet, lateral movement. Franco Harris had some of that, but less speed. I’m not saying Franco was slow, but he didn’t have Jim’s breakaway speed.”
But how Belichick really feels about Brown came out when he was asked if a 22-year-old Jim Brown would be effective if he was drafted into the NFL today. The coach only needed one of his usual short responses.
“Oh, my god,” Belichick said.
Thumbnail photo via Ron Schwane/USA TODAY Sports Images
