Bill Belichick gets reflective after 400th game as head coach of the Patriots
BOSTON -- When Bill Belichick looks back at the start of his head coaching career in New England, he offers a rather blunt assessment.
"It was hard to hire me in 2000," Belichick said Monday morning.
Belichick was, of course, referring to the fact that his contractual situation with the New York Jets required Patriots owner Robert Kraft to work a little harder to hire Belichick away from their division rival, ultimately giving up a first-round pick to do so. Kraft could have hired Dom Capers without having to give up anything, but he had a feeling that Belichick was worth the trouble.
Now 400 games later, it's safe to say the decision was correct.
On Sunday, Belichick picked up his 256th regular-season win and 286th overall win as head coach of the Patriots, in what was his 400th game on the sidelines for New England. That 400-game journey has involved time in two stadiums in Foxboro, nine Super Bowls, 13 conference championship games, a couple of jaunts to London, a trip to Mexico City, and visits to every NFL building in America.
A day after coaching his 400th game for New England, the 70-year-old Belichick was rather reflective.
"A blessing for me to have this opportunity. And then, it's worked out pretty well since then, all the way around," Belichick told reporters over Zoom. "And so hopefully we continue to improve and keep it going. I didn't realize that, thanks for giving me that number. I didn't realize that it had been 400, but it doesn't seem like that."
Though Belichick is obviously still going strong, his New England career came full circle a bit this year, when Richard Seymour -- Belichick's first first-round pick with the Patriots -- was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Belichick has also taken center stage for a number of inductions into the Patriots Hall of Fame, moments which force the otherwise always-present coach to spend some time looking back.
"It's been just awesome to see so many players and coaches come through here, come in as rookies, grow and develop into great players, have great careers. We've had a couple of the [Patriots] Hall of Fame inductions the last couple years with Seymour and [Vince] Wilfork, and you know guys like that. And of course, there were the other ones like Troy [Brown] and Kevin Faulk and those players that were already here when I got here. And Ty [Law], guys like that," Belichick said.
Belichick also called upon a couple of current longtime captains while explaining where he seems to find the most joy in his job.
"[Matthew] Slater, [Devin] McCourty, people like that, to just watch them come in as rookies and just start from scratch and then develop and grow into some of the greatest players in Patriots history, and some of the greatest players of all time," Belichick said. "You know, certainly you know, [Tom] Brady and Slater will go down in that category at their positions and for the game. So yeah, it's been an incredible number of years."
Turning his attention to the sidelines and the booth upstairs, Belichick also reflected on the number of talented coaches he's worked with over the past 23 years.
"Same thing with the coaches, all the coaches that have come in here and gone from quality control assistants to, you know, all the way up the ladder of coordinators and head coaches and other places in the league," Belichick said. "I think back on that every once in a while and just kind of say, 'Wow.' I've been so fortunate to be able to work with so many great, great people. Great coaches, great players, great people in the organization, the personnel department, Scott [Pioli], Nick [Caserio], and all -- you know, I could go on here for days."
The question posed to Belichick was framed in a way that suggested he was likely more focused on devising a game plan for this week's game in Cleveland than he was on his past 23 years with the Patriots. And after spending about three minutes reflecting on his past, Belichick reverted back to his normal disposition.
"So yeah, thanks for bringing it up," Belichick concluded. "It's good to kind of reflect on it, and you're right. Probably time for me to start thinking about Cleveland."
With the 400th game milestone in the rearview, Belichick isn't far from his next accolade, as he's one win away from tying the great George Halas on the all-time win list with 324. It would be fitting if Belichick could reach that mark in Cleveland, the place where his head coaching career began back in 1991.
