FOXBORO, Mass. — Bill Belichick prefers to stay in the now. In most situations, he would be on to the Pittsburgh Steelers neither looking back nor forward before the New England Patriots kick off their season Sunday night.
But you know when the Patriots head coach is in a good mood when he is willing to reminisce on his 19 years in New England. That happened Friday after he talked about Julian Edelman’s leadership to a young wide receiver corps.
“Julian’s got such a competitive attitude that it just rubs off on everybody,” Belichick said. “Everybody sees how hard he works, how competitive he is, and it makes you want to do the same.”
Belichick has watched Edelman grow from a seventh-round rookie scrapping to make it onto the Patriots roster to that veteran leader over the last 10 years. And it seemed to make him a bit sentimental.
“I’ve seen a lot of players go through that,” Belichick said. “That transition and those phases that you mention. Pretty much all of them. It is. It’s interesting to see them come in and — Jerod Mayo. That’s the ultimate. From coming in as a rookie to being a captain his second year to being one of the great Patriot players during the time I’ve been here to transitioning out of football to now transitioning back onto the coaching staff.
“Troy Brown — I wasn’t here for all of Troy Brown’s career, but I was here for the beginning of it in ’96. Kind of a similar type of situation. So, that’s the extreme because there’s even another chapter or two to those guys. But yeah, other players, Julian is in that category. I remember Tom (Brady) when he came in here. He was the fourth-string quarterback. You know, we’ve all grown.”
That Belichick was in such a good mood Friday could be bad news for the Steelers. Or maybe Belichick is just excited like the rest of us for the NFL season to begin.
