FOXBORO, Mass. — After Bill Belichick won his 300th game as an NFL head coach Sunday, New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman was asked to describe the legendary bench boss in one word.
He paused for a moment, pondered and settled on “extraordinary.” Then, a few minutes later, he amended his answer to “machine.”
Both would accurately describe Belichick, whom Edelman said might be the greatest coach in the history of sports.
“It’s awesome,” Edelman said, who caught two touchdown passes in the Patriots’ 27-13 victory over the Cleveland Browns at Gillette Stadium. “He’s the best coach to ever do it, and I think in any sport, it’s getting there. You can put that (on) the record. You can put that in your pad — whatever. I may not know any other place, but I don’t think they get any better in any kind of sport. He’s an absolute beast, and you always feel like you have a shot to win a game with him at the lead.”
Edelman has spent his entire NFL career with the Patriots, and he remains in awe of Belichick’s ability to inspire.
“He’s a very motivating guy,” the wideout said. “I joke around with all the little stories here and there about him and how he is, but he’s got a special way of making guys want to go out and work to their fullest for him. He’s just got that mindset. I don’t know what it is. But he can only talk to you once or twice a week, and those one or two times, it makes your day.
“I don’t know if it’s strategic, but — I explain to everyone, football coaches are usually ex-football players. He’s like a general or someone that should be, like, a governor or leading some sort of military operation. That’s a football coach. That’s how I feel, and that’s how I always explain it to people.”
Two-hundred sixty-three of Belichick’s 300 victories have come with the Patriots, as team owner Robert Kraft pointed out while saluting the coach in a postgame address.
Those 263 Patriots wins include 30 in the postseason and six in the Super Bowl. Belichick trails only George Halas (324 victories) and Don Shula (347) on the NFL’s all-time wins list.
“I don’t know what keeps him motivated,” Edelman said. “That’s one of the things that’s the most extraordinary thing about him. He doesn’t ever let complacency kick in. It doesn’t matter what time of the year it is. And that’s something I really look up to him and I try to pull from him, because … he just does all the work all time, and he never lets up. He never cuts a corner. That’s why he’s him.”
