Last week, the New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick beat the Cleveland Browns as Belichick became the 4th coach in NFL history to win 250 games. Belichick also broke a tie with Curly Lambeau for sole possession of the 4th most regular season wins by a head coach.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft presented Belichick with a commemorative football to celebrate the occasion in this week’s Patriots post-game locker room video.
“You know last week in Cleveland, special milestone happened, only the 4th time in the 90-odd year history of the NFL that a coach reached 250 wins,” Kraft said to the locker room. “So we all wanted to present Coach Belichick with this game ball and we think it was especially sweet that he did it in Cleveland.”
Kraft threw in a little dig at the Browns because Belichick was famously fired by Cleveland in his first head coaching job. Belichick, in a way that only he does, deflected credit to the players.
“Look, you guys know I’ve said this many times and it’s the truth,” Belichick said. “Coaches don’t win games, they lose them. Players win them. I’m lucky, I’ve been coaching a lot of great players.”
Belichick then turned the focus towards the Steelers.
“Okay men, good job,” Belichick said. “Good job. Played well, much better in the second half, made the plays we needed to make, still a lot of things we got to clean up. Look, five wins isn’t going to be enough this year. Okay? It’s not going to be anywhere near enough. So we’ve still got a long way to go. A lot of things we need to improve on, lot of things we need to be more consistent at. But it’s a good effort. Alright?
“Pittsburgh. Look, these guys are going to be in it all the way. Okay. It’ll be a good test on the road here. We’ll need a real good week, that means getting on it. We’ll need a good week to go out there and win next week. I’ll tell you that right now. But that’s a good job out there today, fellas, that’s a way to step up. Finally got the return game going.”
Belichick used the gift football for the huddle and captain Matthew Slater led the break down.
“Hey fellas, it ain’t always pretty, but we get it done. We find ways to win the game. Everybody out there. That’s a hell of a job. How do we feel about getting our fifth win, though?”
Awwwww, yeah.