Bill Belichick is preparing to coach in his ninth Super Bowl as head coach of the New England Patriots and 12th overall.
The 66-year-old coach normally seems unflappable on the sidelines, seemingly always prepared for whatever the opposition throws at him.
But it wasn’t always that way.
Belichick went on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni and Fauria” on Monday, and explained how he was “overwhelmed” as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants from 1985 to 1990.
“Look, every week is a challenge in the National Football League,” he said, as transcribed by WEEI. “It doesn’t matter what you are up against. There is a big challenge, but when I was a defensive coordinator with the Giants, the people on the other side of the field calling plays — Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs, Tom Landry — yeah, I realized that. ‘OK, here we are. We’re game-planning against Landry. We’re game-planning against Joe Gibbs, or we’re game-planning against Bill Walsh.’ Look, that was the competition. It was obviously never me against them. It is never the coach against the coach, it is just players against players and team against team. You certainly don’t want me blocking out there, that wouldn’t be good for any of us.
“The competition of trying to put your team in a competitive position — in the end, it really doesn’t matter if it is Bill Walsh or Tom Landry, it could be any offensive coordinator or any defensive coordinator. People wouldn’t have jobs in this league if they weren’t good coaches and qualified and hadn’t done enough to get into those spots. I respect everybody and in the end, it is really about doing the best that you can regardless who is on the other side of the field.”
Belichick’s next challenge will come against Sean McVay and the Rams when the Patriots face LA in Super Bowl LIII on Sunday in Atlanta.
