The glory days of the New England Patriots are deep in the rearview mirror at this point, but head coach Bill Belichick still has a team capable of surprising people. Case in point: the Patriots were down to third string rookie QB Bailey Zappe in Week 6 against the Cleveland Browns, but still found a way to win 38-15 in a game they controlled wire-to-wire.
Bill Belichick had literally zero interest in game ball from Patriots rookie
Bill Belichick snubbed a Patriots rookie who tried to give him a game ball for a historic win.
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
This wasn’t just any old win for Belichick — it was win No. 324 of his career, which ties him for No. 2 all-time among NFL head coaches with George Halas. By the way, the Patriots play the team Halas founded, the Chicago Bears, in primetime next week to give Belichick the chance to break the tie.
As the Patriots iced the win late in the fourth quarter, rookie Brendan Schooler tried to present Belichick with a game ball on the sidelines for the historic win. Belichick reacted about how you’d expect him to: he didn’t care even a little bit.
This is classic Belichick in every way. He’s never been one to bask in his accomplishments. Moving into the No. 2 spot for all-time wins among head coaches might seem cool to some people, but it’s very much a secondary concern to Belichick. Even with the game clearly in hand, he was much more invested in running out the clock than taking a beat to let the moment sink in.
Zappe threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns in the win. The Patriots have won back-to-back games with their rookie third string QB as the starter. Belichick always finds a way. Just don’t ask him to care about anything other than the next objective at hand.
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