Games with Names - Highlight Reel: Best Bill Belichick Stories

Episode Date: November 23, 2025

Bill Belichick's former Patriots players give some of their favorite stories about Coach Belichick during his time in New EnglandSupport the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Uh-oh I want to hear this one Now can you at least Confess that Bill Is way softer on fucking Defensive guys Than offensive guys And you want to know how I know

Because he would come up And ask us questions Like on Wednesdays He'd always test us Right He'd always test us Both offense and defense In front of each other

He'd look over at me Edelman What coverage is this And this This he'd look over at VA V what color Is the team we're playing No, that's not true.

I don't think. But see, we thought, because you got to understand, Bill used to come into our meetings. When he leaves squad and all that, he would come in there with us and grill us. Yeah. So our question answering, he might not give it to us all in a team meeting,

but he'll leave that meeting. When we break up an individual, he'll come in there and grill us with questions. Hey, Big V, we're playing Derek Henry this week. Is this a run? or past team. He's just saying shit, like, I'm not even joking, bro.

I'm sitting there. They're asking us, scheme this, this, this. They're like, hey, is this team coach like to throw it or run it? I'll tell you what, the first, I'll tell you a funny story with Bill and me, right? So my rookie year, we, I think we in,

we in many counts or something like that, and he's asking questions. And, I mean, he's going around and he's asking, like, layup questions, right? So he get to me, he said, What is Memorial Day? So I'm like, man, I don't know if there's a trick question or not. So I was like, barbecue.

He said, no, you aho, what is it? I'm like, that's what we do, barbecue. Man, when I tell you, Bill couldn't do nothing but laugh. He could do it because I'm like, what are you asking? I'm like, it's a trick question. What are you asking me? So he went on to tell everybody about Memorial Day and I'm like, hey, man. I'm like, big, coach, I thought you was asking me what we do on Memorial.

He said, no, I know, you asshole. I'm talking about that, that. I'm like, my bad. That was my first question from Bill. And that's how I answered it. The first question. And he had a little jolly smile. Oh, yeah.

That was an offensive guy. Oh, asshole, you guys got out of it. No, no. When he used to ask a grunt question, we would laugh. If grunt knew what I didn't know. we would laugh and he would laugh so it's like he would but i i truly believe with bill and when it came to me um i can truly think that i think bill was testing me early on in my career on um my knowledge of the game i really was and i appreciate him so much for doing that because

he taught me so much about football in the game itself you know um a lot of questions that he would But you got to understand. When I was a rookie, our defensive line, we was in charge of knowing quarterback pivots, the route tree, blocking schemes, cadence, motions. We had to know all of that. Which gives you an advantage because if you know the concepts, you know that the quarterback's got to get the fallout. Formations, like, yes, we. Which a lot of, it's crazy to me that teams don't do that.

That's, but Bill stopped. I think we were the last. class that came in that he did that to. But I think, looking back now, I think he was just basically trying to see how smart in my football IQ was because in Bill, my bill is thinking three, four steps ahead. Yeah.

He's like, let me see, I'm a test and see what he knows. And I proved to him that I know the game of football, you know. And I think that allowed us to do a lot defensively scheme-wise with me knowing what's going on, not only from a defensive line standpoint, but, you know, the back end from the defense and offensively what they're trying to create and build through formations and this and that.

So it was like not only we had, you know, the secondary, if it was Rodney or if it was deaf with the calls, you know, we had our linebackers with the calls. Now he have trust that, okay, I know Vince would be able to get calls out, get us lined up up front. And it allowed us to play so much faster as a defense and I you know I credit all of that to build because how he taught me the game I thought I knew the game but you know sitting down having a conversation with him you know right

away like I don't know much about what I think I do um so I you know I always thing all up because he meant a lot to me not only in my personal life and the friendship we have and we built over the years but as a coach what he was allowed to coach and teach me That's why I became the player I became, and that's why I moved from nose tackle to a defensive tackle to an end, and then now I can flop to go to this side. So I didn't do, I didn't play a nose tradition like any other two gap nose because Bill had the luxury of moving, moving me in different positions, and I can produce at those positions. So it just allowed us as a team in defense to manipulate a lot of play calls. from my offense and start seeing the point, you know, because they never knew what I was going to be, you know?

And a lot of it is common sense, though, which is, all right, take best defensive alignment, put him on worse offense alignment, may not be in traditional spot, but that's weakness. And then you win, you know what I mean? Like, well, but like, that's, it's crazy. Like, I watch a lot of these defenses, and I'm like, are we, we, I guess we're just that much smarter

because I was out, I'm sitting here, and I was talking to Antonio Gates. We did a show together. And he doesn't realize that I was in seventh grade when he was talking about the game that he was playing. I'm like, I wasn't in this game. But the whole time he keeps on talking to me, how the fuck we lose these patrons?

And it hits to me like, it's because we were like what you're talking about. We were the smartest football team by far. Yeah, we were. We always was. You know what I mean? Like it wasn't just know your position. You knew the rhyming reason why you were doing what you were doing.

Yeah. It's a lot of times I lined up And I knew we had teams Where first player of the game I'm lined up somewhere opposite and then knows Because the office line was said You know, I got a lot of old crap Didn't realize I was going to be over there

So now I know, okay, now I'm playing with your scheme Because everything you prepare for It's not it So now you have to go back to the drawing board And you have to figure out, okay, where events are going to be What they're going to be playing, we thought it was going to be this But now, but yeah, I remember like It's a lot of offensive linemen like, oh, crap, you over here?

What are you doing over here? Yeah. The school year will play up. Simple as that. Now, a guy you played with on those defenses is now the head coach of the New England Patriots, Mike Vrable. Love it. What are your thoughts on that? I love it.

You know, and the thing is, I had the luxury to be a player with Mike, and in Houston, he was a linebacker's coach. So, coach for Mike, I mean, play for Mike. And I always knew since the time Our playing days that he was going to be a head coach I always knew that I mean he was a coach like No doubt in my mind that was going to happen And I love that move

Because he's going to get the best out of everybody Yeah And he's very smart When it comes to the game of football He knows exactly what he's doing He know how he knows how he wanted Deliver messages He's outspoken

if he believe in something he believe in it um if he don't like something he'll tell you i mean he'll speak his mind but at the same time the respect that he receives is because what he pour out so i think we're in good hands with mike um i really do believe we're going to do we're going to do some wonders this year i mean we're going to sell a different football team this year and i'm expecting for us to shock a lot of people you know um just because of i know mike as a person and a player in the coach I've already known him. You know, I know it. And they spent money.

Yeah, they're going to spend, guess what? He ain't for the hottest hand. If he wants somebody, he's going to let it be known. We need this player. I don't want him. We need them. He'll tell him, you know, and that's what I love about him. He's a player's coach, but at the same time, he's discipline.

He's going to have a smart football team. Not going to make a lot of dumb mistakes. And they're going to play hard for him. They're going to play hard for him. So I'm excited about it. I'm happy that, you know, we, dig it might, you know, if that was the choice, I love that we went and grabbed him because I think he'll do wonders for us. Yeah. You think these teams are going to look more like our old

teams? Yeah. In some capacity, yeah. I think one of the main things we're going to get is the competitiveness and aggressive play, I think, and a smart team, you know, so you're going to see, we're going to look, we're going to look apart. We're going to look like we know what we're doing. You know, the past four or five years, we didn't look like that. We would, you know, the past four or five years you know what we look like we look like teams we used to talk about yeah like how you do that that's how we used to look i don't think we'll look like that special teams yeah we're going to be coached very very well and hard and we're going to play hard what's the difference between raves as a coach and a player really nothing really nothing

that's why when i played with him he's the same guy as a coach thing when i played with him you got to understand I've seen Vrae, him and Tom, Bray to go at it on the sideline or practicing. You know, I've seen Brave raves walking out a quarterback's meeting with Tom. I've seen Rave and Tom walking down the hallway with a playbook

talking about this. And I've seen Vrae and Tom talking about scheme. I saw and I heard Vraud tell Tom that would never work against this guy. I've seen it. Like, so the respect Tom gave him for input in what

he was trying to do, that tells you everything. What was the worst thing you ever heard Coach Frable say to Tom? I mean, it got, F you, no F you, no F you. Nothing was off limits. Yeah, F bombs was always a part of it. He didn't care who you, a bill, get F bombs. Brave, man, look here, when I tell you when Mike believe in something, he's going to stand firm in it, and he's going to tell you why.

That's what I love about it. Was he a smart shit talker? Yeah, he was, yeah. So he, like, pulled something out of the cuddies. I've been on the field with a call come in and Bray's, he'll shake a head. This is not going to work. I've been in the huddle with him. Or when we're in the meeting room, that's not going to work.

And he'll tell you why. He was so smart as a player. It was just, you would never believe that he was a lineback. The way he saw the game, he saw it as a head coach. Scenario situation. He's seen it as a head coach. as a player. Now, this just popped it in my head.

Do you think Bill liked Vrable more than you because he let him play offense and gave him a touchdown pass? Man, look, yeah, that's one thing I regret with Bill. Like, come on, Bill. Like, and the crazy thing is... Pullback?

But the thing is, he did Seymour. He let Seymour line up in the back field. So I'm like, man, listen, no, no shade towards anybody, but I was the best... I was the best athlete on the defense. Hands down. Tell them.

Straight up. I returned kicks in high school. I kicked the ball in high school. I played every position you could possibly name on the field. One position I would never play its center. But I tried it and I hated it. Yeah. But I played every position.

Like, I played basketball. I dunk basketball. I did all of that. I was the greatest pound-for-pound athletes on the pages. I mean, Jamie Collins pretty tight. But listen here, a guy my size to do what I did, can be not for the play this. I played lineback. I dropped in cover.

Like, I could do all of that. And you could dance. I can dance. Like a ballerina. I could dance. My footwork was good. That's what people don't realize you're 345 pounds and you could move like a ballerina. So for me not to be on the offensive side of the ball when I see a lot of guys, not just from us, but other teams, you know, putting their guys in the background that's, you know, have some athleticism to them.

You know, that was kind of bummed out for me. Now, would that be a perfect moment to use if Bill, you saw Bill Muffo? Oh, I hit him with that. He hit him one. Yeah, you mornful. D.T. You remember when it was Matt Kassel and Tom going back and forth? I wasn't around for that.

Oh, my gosh. What happened? They was going back and forth pranking each other. So I think Matt filled Tom Carp for all of these little bubbles. The peanuts. The peanuts. So Tom took his tires. And hit him everywhere.

And hit him. Like, so he had three tires and still was looking for one. It was in the bubble. So Bill finally was like, look. guys just stop screwing around yeah you're putting too much playing it's getting out of control just good so bill had to put a stop to it man he was going for weeks he was going dude they were I mean I'm like dude when I when I tell you some of my most funnest times in life is on a football field and with in a locker room oh 1,000 you know what I mean so people always ask me do you

miss the game I'm like no you know I miss my teammates in a locker room and a fan That's what I miss. I don't miss the game itself. I miss the camaraderie just hanging out in the locker room two, three hours after we finish and just sitting down and drinking, gatorade, and just hanging out in the locker room. Next up, Nate Edner shares something he was very nervous to tell Coach Belichick. What's your best bill story? Anything with your best bill story?

I mean, that takes me to the Olympics, honestly. So, yeah, how does this conversation go? So obviously, you know, rugby was still in the background of my mind. I'm on the Patriots. I thought I would play in the NFL for two or three years and get booted. And I'd go back to playing rugby. And here I am. I'm making it at work, right?

We win the Super Bowl versus Seattle. We come back, you know, 2000. And rugby got announced into the Olympics in like 2009. So it was always on my radar. Yeah. It's going to be in the Olympics. We all used to bust your balls about it, right? But we never, yeah.

But we never, you know, we had to still qualify. I didn't think all that. 2015 rolls around. We just won the Super Bowl. USA qualifies for the Olympics. And I'm like, oh, shit. Like, they're going. And at that point, I was obsessed.

You know, we'd be in meetings and I'd be daydreaming about, you know, just Dyson. Laku, Laku. Cissors. Scissors. Switch, switch, man. But, no, I just kind of became obsessed with it. And then in 2015, we made to the AFC Championship versus Denver. You know, obviously that game didn't go how we wanted.

75 and sunny. And within like three days. And I was in a contract year. So I was going into my second contract after that. I knew Bill would be calling pretty soon. And, you know, eventually he does. And we get the contract stuff figured out. And I'm like, I got to talk to him about this Olympic thing.

You know, I was really worried about it because, like, previously, like, when I was a rookie Jeff Demp's, you remember him? Yeah. He wanted to go to the Olympics. And Bill was like, you ain't playing football. If you go to the Olympics, and he went. And I think he actually was on the 4 by 100. Yeah, 4-1. But he never played football again after that. Yeah. And I was like, I got a good thing going here. Like, I don't want to mess this up. And you made plays, though. Jeff Dembs. He never, he was too young. He didn't have enough time in the program yet. That's what I had seen from him. I saw Bill say no, and I'm like, you know, I'm not so sure. So, you know, I'm worried about it, but I call Bill. We talk about the con. Now, how do you, you text him or you call him? Well, he called me about the contracts.

So you have his numbers. Hey, what do you have him saved as? Like, Coach B.B.? Bill Belichick. I just have my coach, Coach B. Yeah. Well, you know, whatever works for you. Yeah.

He won't. Anyway, so he calls about the contract. We get that square. And then, like, I just remember at the end, I just, avoided it the whole conversation. I was like, so Bill, like, there's this other thing I wanted to talk to you about. Did he know? No. And he was like, no clue. He had no clue to Olympics were even fucking close. Yeah, he probably didn't even know. And then I was like, he's like, he's like, what's up? He's like, what do you got? And I'm like, so like rugby is in the Olympics and the USA

qualified and, you know, I feel like I got to go do this. And I was like waiting for his response And right away, though, he was like, yeah, go ahead. And it was just like, what? Go ahead. And he's like, yeah, I mean, I know how much rugby means you and you'll be representing the country if you make it. And that, you know, that'd be great. Go for it.

And I was just like, well, okay. And we hung up and then like... Were you like, is the contract still good? Yeah. So we hung up. And then like an hour or two later, he calls me back and he's like, hey, Nate, so this rugby thing, it's not like you're going sailing. I'll definitely go.

it's not like you're going sailing you know we got to put it's not like you're going fucking sailing exactly that's better and and he's like you know we got to put something in your contract if something happens to you and i said absolutely but i was at the point where i was expecting a no and then i was like i'm doing this anyway and i was going to come back as a free agent and to go with a contract you know you know i just couldn't have been i never thought it would work out that way so i obviously end up going and then you know just to piggyback that while I actually made the team and stuff, and we can talk about that if you want.

But when I played in the Olympics and Bill had you guys stop training camp to watch me in the team room, I mean, I want to know what your perspective was on that if you remember it. But for him to do that because I was one of the guys on the team and it was important and to stop training camp to do that and to have everybody wear the Ebner shirts out there,

like Stevie B made up. I mean, and Mr. craft support just like the Patriots organization and that like brotherhood and support like first class you know they they didn't have to do that bill didn't have to do that no without a doubt that was so awesome i mean we were so happy for you so what was that like when he because i'm obviously in rio so i wasn't you know there but what do you just we just we just had we did like one of those movie things yeah i mean where he got a little bunch of food and shit yeah we all sat in there and we watched it no one knew what the fuck we were watching really half the dudes are and like hey man what the fuck this

shit, boom. Oh, that thing, D. You know what I mean? But it was fun. It was a team-building moment to support one of our guys. And Bill was always really good about that, especially if it had something to do with support in America. Yeah, it was.

You know, Bill loved the America stuff. Next, Stephen Ridley and the crazy story of Bill Belichick sending him to Fat Camp. I leave our weight room, walk through the locker room, go by our meeting room, go down the hallway. And, of course, I'm not really as. as scared or... Because you don't know yet. I don't know yet. That's what I'm saying.

Like, I'm not as... You're naive. I'm naive. This guy thinks he can you go talk to Bill. Go talk to Bill. You know, like, can I not go talk to... What an idiot! I guess we'll start with how Bill put me in a fat camp, you know, like, when I was

overweight, coming in as a running back. And do you want me to go ahead and elaborate on that story? What is his back camp? Man. Was it heavyweights? Man. Did he bring in Ben Stiller? Tony, Tony Perkins?

Bro, it's one of those deals. Fucking Billichick says Tony Perkins right now. Man, you get to New England, and of course you're going in there, and it's Bill Belichick. Bill's intimidating, bro. Like, you got to give it to him, man. Like, he knows what he's doing. He's got a system in place, and you don't mess with him. You know what I mean?

You just don't. You respect him. You're in the presence of one of the greatest to ever do it, if not the greatest coach to ever do it. I'm going to give him his, man. He is. I play for a lot of ball coaches, but, you know, you have that meeting where you come in there and you're a rookie. He gives you your playing weight, and he brought me into the office because I go to the weight room and coach Nash hop on the scale, Ridley, and I hopped on the scale.

How much was it? And I'm leaving. How much was it? About 235, 238, somewhere in that. What year is this? Rookie year? It's my rookie year. You came in at 238?

Came in. I played at LSU around 230. You know what I mean? Like, as a running back. But eight pounds is eight pounds. Eight pounds is a lot, bro. Eight pounds is a lot. And you wait until the story gets going because you all don't understand.

What's the weight? What's the weight? So Nash gets in there, Coach Nash is our string coach. And he's like, Ridley, hop on the scales. I hop on the scale. I don't think I was tipping that thing between 235, 240. SEC running back between the tackles. I'm a big bat.

Hey, I obviously did something right because coach, you drafted me. You like what you saw. Nash is like, Ridley, you got some work to do. And I'm like, all right, you know, I ain't scared of work. Coach said, you got to be at 220. I said, 220. How? I said, Nash, you're tripping.

I told me you're tripping, bro. I said, nah. He said, don't ask me. I'm just telling you what the boss man said. And I said, well, which boss man we're talking about? He said, you can go see the head man if you want to. There I went. You know what I mean?

Like, what's the problem? I got to go talk to coach and see what's up because the reason. So you went from weight room. Yeah. You took that long-ass walk down those hallways. To that entry door. And you saw Bears. Cross Berge's office.

I said, Bears is Coach available? And I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. I might have been getting off to on the wrong foot with Bill Belichick because here I am as a rookie walking into his office trying to tell him what my playing weight would be. But what do I know? I'm a rookie, guys. You know what I mean? I'm just coming in like, Coach, come on. So Nash is telling me I'm $2.35 on a light day.

$2.40 if I finish leaving the breakfast buffet, eating my bacon and omelets and grits that I get every day. So he's like, we want you at $220 by a certain day. I can't even remember what he said. So I was like, man, that's impossible. I was like, there's no way I'm going to be able to do that. So I walked back. I said, all right, Coach Nash.

I'm heading on up to go talk to Bill to see what's up, see if I can kind of work this out. He thought you were going in there to negotiate a couple pounds. Go talk to coach. I thought you were ready in a couple. Coach, you give me $2.28. Hey, anything. We meet it.

Can we meet in the middle? And y'all, when I tell y'all, coach is so. So, wait, paint the picture. You walk in. Where is he is? He at his desk at his computer? Okay. So I leave our weight room, walk through the locker room, go by our meeting room, go down the hallway.

And, of course, I'm not really as scared or. Because you don't know yet. I don't know yet. That's what I'm saying. not as you're naive i'm naive i'm i think so you go talk to bill go talk to bill you know like can i not go talk to what an idiot hey it truly when i look back on things now if i was walking by you in the hallway as a second year or third year guy just like what a dumb ass right so i'll come down the hallway you're saying all is to say i have seen i want to get too far off track but i've seen

rookies y'all like on my back end because i was there for four years i've seen rookies come in and see bill coming down the hallway and they would literally like just bust the left or right into a random meeting room because they don't want to look this man in his eyes bro like bill comes down the hallway i'm not making this up cut sweatshirt hoodie on looks like he's been in his office for three days his car hadn't moved like people are like freaked out you know what i mean so i i didn't know what to do I walk down there and I'm like, hey, Bears, you can't get to Bill without going through Bears. But if you make that right into that office, you better have a damn good reason to go in there. And I had a damn good reason that day, Coach, because I can't drop all this weight how you're trying to get me to drop it.

Let me show you all how much he cared. I walked in, I said, Coach. And he's at his desk. He's at his desk. He's at his desk behind his desk. I said, Coach could come in and sit down. He said, yeah, Rid, come on in and sit down. Okay.

Did he know you were coming? or was he blindsided? He was blindsided. He was blindsided. Bears let me in. You know, Bears checks at, you know, Stephen's here to talk to you. Did you tell Bears why you were talking to him? Oh, I can't really remember those details, but I definitely didn't.

What did Bear did just, but here's you go, sure. Bears looked at me. I guess I walked in. I was like, Bears is coach available when he kind of looked up? And I was like, I just need to talk to him real quick. I guess nothing. So Bill's sit you down. And when I walk in there, Bill's sitting behind his desk.

And he's like, come on in and sit down. So I walked in and sat down. So I walked in and sat down. He's like, what you got, really? So, coach, I need to talk to you about this weight. I was like, I just weighed in, you know, and Coach Nash told me at the weight that you have told him that you want me to play at.

And I'm just making sure this is the right weight and this is not like a mistake. And he said, what's the number? I can't really remember what I had. I said, well, the number is. You could have gone right there. If you wanted to make the decision, you could have said 225. Because if he didn't remember the weight, maybe he would have agreed at 225.

All right, you messed up. Go ahead. I should have had a better negotiation tactic as though what Jules said. But I'm just in there trying not to die and starve myself out at this rate. So I go in and I say, well, coach, this weight that you want me at, I said, Coach Nash said, you want me at 220. And I said, that's impossible. So I'm just telling you right now. I don't know what it is.

And I said, I don't know how you want me to get there. I said, I'll bust my ass and do whatever. But I'm like, 220. I said, can I just tell you a little bit about me? Like, he doesn't already know. You drafted me. The Patriots investigate everybody. They know everything about you before they even get you in the building.

So I said, coach, uh, what did he say when can I tell you about me? I said, can I tell you about me? And, uh, he was like, sure. You know, he's just dry. You know, he's not too much. I pulled out my driver's license. And I pulled out my driver's license. true story. I pulled out my driver's license. I said, coach. Coach, see you look. Look, I'm 240.

I just going to show you this. I said, coach, and I promised this true story. I said, I just want to tell you, like, if you can look at my driver's license, I slid it on his desk. You know, I'm bold as a rookie. He's like, what is this clown? You know what I mean? I said, these numbers that are on my driver's license are from when I got my permit in high school before I even got a driver's license, my permit. And on my permit at 15 and a half, years old, I was 5-11, 220 pounds. That's how much I weighed in high school. So I said, coach, you mean to tell me that you want me to drop from 238 all the way down to 20? And he looked at me and he said, kind of smack those lips. Well, Red, I mean, really, I think it's only

about $563 per pound per day that you're overweight. So it's really up to you. And I said, what? I'm like, what do you mean? He was like, per pound per day. And he doubled down on it. I was like, I can do quick math, bro. I'm third round drive pick. I ain't got money like that. So, Fat Camp, I went. You know what I mean? I'm like, screw it, coach. You know what I mean? If that's how we're going to go about it, there's nothing I can do. So what's Fat Camp until? So Fat Camp consisted of me coming in once I had to drop from 238 to my weight when I was 15 years old of 220, it required me changing my diet

with our beautiful nutrition, Ted, first. Ted put me on this strict diet. I had to come in the fat camp, which was running before practice. So we had to come in and either do our workout what? Like before practice in the mornings, or we had to go and do our workout after practice once we got off the field.

I was always an early riser, so I came in early in the morning. So Fat Camp, I was basically in there with all the guys who were overweight that we're trying to come. cut weight. So I would have to go in every morning. I'm talking about it's still dark outside, 5 a.m. and just hit the treadmill and run. And so that was the first time that I really, I think the structure, and I look back on it, I'm like, that structure and that discipline,

it made me a good pro because I legit drop this weight for the simple fact that I was not going to give up my money. And let's do the math. If I'm 238 and the weight is 22, let's do that times 563 bucks times 18 per day. Like, my paychecks are going to be pretty thin. You know, the Massachusetts state taxes weren't too forgiving. You know what I mean? I don't need to be giving away any extra. 8.3 now, right? 6.8.

It used to be in there's some new shit. Something crazy. So I got on board with the program and coach didn't really like yell at me or nothing like that, but I don't know if I kind of rubbed them the wrong way from jump. But it was just like one of those deals, it shook me up as a rook. I'm like, how in the hell am I about to drop 20 pounds or 25 pounds? And you want me to run between the tackle, bang it out with the Brandon Spikes of the worlds and the Geron males of the world,

linebackers at 255. Were you better at 220? Quick as a cat, man. Freaking nasty, dude. Once I got to that plan, wait, I'm like, hey, you know, Bill knows what the hell he's talking. Who else was at Fat Camp with you? I think Big Marcus Cannon was in there early, y'all.

Cannon used to cheat the fucking scale. Remember that? One time Marcus Cannon, he used to have away in all the time he was always in fat camp he was just a big boy though probation all the time shoot and he would go in and he would do it with a towel on his weight and then he'd have a pencil right like here so he could leverage himself up lee huh remember he could lean on it yes he could lean on it and lift it up and he would fucking make it they caught him like three times fucking can he used to have to he was in fat

camp like his whole career. It's a grind, bro, because people don't really realize it's like, man, once coach sets this, you know, coach that didn't just start coaching. It never goes up either. No, that is your weight. So my four years in New England, I played at 220, but, bro, I never was like a top-end guy. I never had, like, breakaway speed. So I always prided myself on living by five yards of carry.

Like, if I get five yards every time I touch his pill, that's halfway to a first down, I can bang it out with whoever, BB, safeties. I used to hit those motherfuckers, like speed. bumps, bro. Like, I wasn't even worried about. I was just downhill with it. But once you got to the league and you had to lose that weight, you know, you became more of a pro, you know what I mean?

And so Bill went back. And after we didn't get the negotiation the first time, I think it was about halfway through the season, I'm like, coach, can I get a couple pounds? Give me a little bit here or there. He still didn't lighten up. But it was just like I learned to respect that, bro, don't question. Just do. You know what I mean?

Because it made me a hell of a running back. It really did. And I would have never been there and never even thought about playing that like because I didn't think I had to pop behind my pads to be a first and second down back and a short yardage back like I was, but I was wrong.

I can say that. He's probably at that point at his career, seen about a thousand of you. Yes, yes, correct. And that was the weight that he wants to me. He's seen the Hirschild War. He's seen them all.

You know, I brought that Southern Flair to the locker room, you know what I mean? Like, we believe coming out of LSU, man, it was like, you look good, you play good. You got to be swacked out. You know what I mean? You got to have some good tunes and have the energy going.

So I used to pull up the game day and the Hummer, you know what I mean? Subs going, beating the block down, hollered my people at the game. Oh, what's all right? And it was just always good. You're doing a donut in there for the crowd. Hey, that's another story, too, man. Hey, remember when we had the big snow, you don't remember us. We had the big snowstorm.

Yeah, and we were all just ripping donuts in the parking lot. To the parking lot. I do that every snow. It crashed in the Marcus Cannon. Did you? Before the game. Before the game, we're out there just going nuts. Before a game, I do like on a Friday when there's no one in there.

I think it was like before. I want to say it was before the game because we had the snowstorm. We're taking those back roads, you know, where you go through Foxborough, you know, you had the little houses and everybody was like, live next each other. So it's like a caravan. All the boys were taking the back roads to get to the stadium. So I see this parking lot that hadn't been hit, no tread, no track in there. I'm like, fresh powder.

Whipp a right right there in the Hummer. And there I go, I'm smashing on it. doing donuts out there. And the funny thing is, I remember it clear as day. Wes Welker's houses in the backyard and Canada, I'm doing donuts out there. And all of a sudden, you see Marcus Cannon come over the hill and his Toyota Tundra ramps over the hill.

And he's got pipes on his and he's like, and we're spinning out there and hitting them, just having a blast until, of course, we lose control. And I hit Cannon and boom, smack it. And when I smacked it, I looked over, and I swear you see the blind slide up it like this and West stuck his head out there

and he was like oh y'all fucking idiots and he just closed the blinds and went on by his business because I really want to say it was either like before game or after game but I remember seeing West

with the big old blue eyes you know what I'm saying like he's looking out the blinds it's like man I didn't know if it was a neighborhood of West like oh y'all are fucking idiots dude it was funny but

hey we're having a good time but that was our Foxborough days So basically that story just told me that when Bill tells us before training camp don't drive like a fucking idiot in Foxboro, he was talking to you? He was talking about me. Okay. He was talking about me. He was.

Next up, we got Matt Light on his hilarious pranks. He'd pull on Coach Belichick. And Bill's kind of pissed off. Yeah, what did you do? I heard that story once. You went into his office and what did you do? So I had this remote, right? And again, this is back in the day when this stuff.

didn't really exist but I was always surfing in that and it was a mouse and it plugged in actually but they didn't do anything when you plugged in and you couldn't actually control the mouse but there were I don't know how you get this much energy out of two triple A batteries but those two AAA batteries when you hit that mouse button it would send like Jesus through your body like real quick and so he was in a staff meeting it was it was in training camp and nobody was there so I slip in and I'm on my way out they're still working really hard trying to make us better I go in there and I put that thing on his laptop on his desk. I come in the next morning,

ain't all dying, necks killing me. It's like to start train camp. I'm not even thinking about what I did the night before. And Bearers is like, immediately when I walk in, he's like, not good.

Like, seriously, like, and you can see in his eyes. And Bear's, the bear's. The bear. Not good.

And I'm like, what? But I know, I know what he's saying, right? But I'm like, what are you talking about? Denied to you die.

And he's like, just telling you. it's not good, man. What happens is not good. And I'm like, hey, look, I can't play this game right now. I got to go get ready. So I walk into the meal room. And when I walk in there, Maddie P. is just got some toast or something. And he turns around and he sees me and he's like, you're an idiot. And I'm like, what? I'm like, you too? And he's like, hey, man, he's fired up. And because of your dumb ass, we spent like two more extra hours here last night. And I'm like, for what? And he goes, well, he goes, I know it was you. And when he

shocked himself the first time he had he had his hand off the keyboard the second time his hand hit the keyboard and it deleted his notes you know how he takes notes every single day of everything everything like hey by the way this is crazy man here's a here's a great example we're let's say we're playing the jets and it's it's it's it's monday afternoon so we're playing a divisional game right it's we're coming off a loss on the road and you know we're have we have a uh a Two key players on defense that went down. He'll go back in his notes and do keyword search or something, and he'll find a scenario that mimics that almost to a T,

and then he'll look and see, how did I address the team? Did I go hard on him? Did I take it easy on him? Did I push him? And how hard did I push him? Did we practice a certain way? What was the outcome? How did it come out?

All that stuff gets analyzed, man. That's the craziness and the complexity that a lot of people don't realize. I don't know how much that weighs in his success or whatever else, but that's who he is right so when now by the way first time he didn't have his hand on the keyboard the second time he shocked himself he did and it closed in a program the way i look at that is you're an error repeater that the first one was my fault second one that's your fault now we didn't we didn't talk about that but i will say this when he lost that that was not a good day because it wasn't like auto save apparently so all of his notes for that day apparently went bye-bye and

what i thought was real so i wanted to go get my mouse but i left that thing and there, buddy. Once I heard about that one, I was like, yeah, that thing's gone. What did he say to you? I mean, literally, he said something like, I mean, he stopped me. And by the way, Bill's kind of like Tommy. Like, I have no idea how Tommy got from one meeting room to the next. I don't know if he floated in the atmosphere. He, like, like, became particles and just reappears, like, in weird places. Obviously, he didn't shower. Tommy never showered. Never. Nobody ever saw him in there. Weird.

Well, actually, I see him a couple times. He'd have the two shower heads on him. Remember, you would be in the corner sometimes? Rarely. And he would do two shower heads. I'm like, dude, you get two showers? I know. And neither one of those heads wanted to be pointed to him. No.

Seriously. Like the water was like, he's hydrophobic. Like water doesn't like him or something. I mean, you got to think about it. He probably goes to like his sick home where like he's got like hydrogen based water. No, I'm, listen, I think he has to wash him every day. I think so. Seriously.

That's Alex. Alex Guerrera, yeah. Little tiny hands. So what did Bill say? Hey, man, he was fired up. He basically told me, if you go in my office again, I will kill you. And, of course, I denied it. I'm like, coach, what are we even talking about?

He's like, you know exactly what we're talking about. I really don't. I said, but I'm going to get some food here. I'll see you in the meeting room. And but it was weird because Maddie P. came at me and so the bears. And I thought they were like flipping it on me, right? Like, oh, we're going to make him think that, you know, coach is really fired up.

No, coach, because Dante was the last. one, because you know Dante doesn't mess around. Dante was real matter of fact. What does Scar say? He's like, I don't think that was a good idea. You probably shouldn't go in the head coach's office. And I'm like, you two? I'm like, I don't know what you're even talking about.

So did you deny it till date, forever? Forever. But that's the, so again, we didn't have a conversation about it. It wasn't like at some point he came to me. It was like, hey, that shit was kind of funny. You got me if that shit had hurt. You know, like, I'd be cool to acknowledge any of this. Like, hey, Bill, remember that email you sent me?

Like, that was funny. But there's a part of me that. believes like what he reiterated on his concluding remarks email that he was kind of serious you know what saying dead serious bill used to he was notorious for fucking quizzing us on spot and i could have sworn matt light was sleeping in a meeting and bill tried to catch matt and he goes matt you got all the fucking answers exactly what he said actually i was just going to say that man you got all the fucking answers. What coverage is that? And you hit, you hit the coverage. Uh, what was it? Like two blitzone, two C? It was like, the square root and I saw these triangles equal to

the opposite. I'm like, and everybody turns around and like, because they know I sleep. Like, you know I sleep. Yeah. I slept through every meeting. And I don't, honestly, my wife was like, you're going to get fired like my first year. I remember Dante Scarnacia, my line coach, would make me stand up in the meeting room when we had our offensive line meetings. And I would fall asleep, eating a candy bar trying to stay awake eating a candy bar fall asleep standing and he would be like like if you if you fall asleep one more time I will kill you and I'm like oh man like I'm a rookie I didn't know what was happening on that one though so this is the greatest right so notorious sleeper copen would kick me he sat right behind me he would always feed me the answer too because I have

fuck I don't know what bill just said I was asleep and so and by the way like football like yes we're a bunch of Neanderthals but like I don't need to watch that 700 times like all we do is sitting rewind watch rewind watch so on this one if you think on that season we had a bunch of young guys and defensively as you know the defense could get everything or you know bill would be like all right look you know you know what are we expect and you know he'd be talking to the offense in this situation what are we expecting them to do i mean it's third down we're in a red zone i mean you know we got you know whatever we got trips you know and and he'd ask somebody a question and it'd be like a really difficult question and and we would come up with an answer that's pretty good i mean he'd be

like, oh, I'm not, what the fuck? You know, that's not what they're going to do. I mean, God damn it. You know, have you watched an ounce of film? And then he would go to the defense and he'd be like, all right, guys, like, what's one plus seven? And they'd be like, uh, six and a half and they're like, oh, that's pretty close, pretty good.

All right, now I'm moving on. I'm like, what are we talking about, coach? Like, those guys have no idea. What color are their jerseys? Right. Like, he would give some fucking terrible, you get the easiest questions these fucking defensive guys. And they always got a pass.

Always. Every time. So I'm listening to this and I'm like, these cats have no idea. And Bill's kind of pissed off. Like we had a couple weeks of coming in and I want some answers. It's a Wednesday morning, right? And you better have my answers, right? Well, they weren't having it.

So I go on my way out. I don't know why. I just had this epiphany. And I walk into Coach's office, which is always awkward. Like, you don't go in there just to go in there. Oh, no. And you got to pass bears, the little man purse right there at the front, right? And I love bears.

but you know so anyway I go in there coach is working at his computer and he looks up at me he's like you know like there wasn't a question it was just like a you know and I'm like and I'm right then immediately I'm like why did I do this? This is not going to be I'm like coach hey listen I'm like these guys

don't have the answers they're not coming in with stuff I said I thought it'd be funny if like you know next time we do this like on the next Wednesday or whatever you throw me some questions and I'll just rattle them off it'd be like shit that even Brady wouldn't know And he's like, you know, all right, well, what are you thinking? And I'm like, well, you know, like, you know, you say something. Then I, I rat off an answer.

Then you try to hit me with another one, try to catch me slipping. And I'll just keep rat them off. And all the guys are going to, and that way now they're going to know, like, well, I got to get in the film room. I need, if light knows this shit, then I really need to do a little bit more studying. And it fell on deaf ears, dude. He was just like, I don't know, look, I mean, you know, like it wasn't like a, hey, that sounds like a great idea or that's really stupid.

It was just like indifferent. So I walked out of the thinking, oh, that, that failed. three weeks go by it. I'm walking in and Bear's like, hey, Bill wants to see it. And I'm like, oh, snap, what did I do? Like, I totally forgot about the whole conversation, right? And I'm not kidding you. I walk in his office and immediately he goes, all right, look, you know, I'll hit you with, you know, what they're doing the third down.

And then I'm going to talk to you about, you know, when we get into the red zone, you know, what that looks like? And then the last one I'm like, and he rattles off these three questions he's going to ask me. And I'm like, okay. And I'm like, what's the answer? Like, I have no idea. Like, you're speaking like, SWAT. I have no idea what you've been referring to, Bill. And he's like, oh, well, so I grab a pen and I start writing the answers on my hand.

And we go in, team meeting kicks off, and he starts off with his typical, I mean, you know, in the category of what we're not looking for. And it's some Bengals, you know, problem with some guy getting arrested at a strip club or something. Always a Bengals player, right? I swear to God, always a Bengals player. And then he looks at the name. That's how we learned the Bengal formation. The F was all the way in the inside because he was in jail. in jail

easy way to remember that one so when he asked me when he says exactly what you said all right you got all the fucking answers all right here we go what are they doing this and I literally just rattled off immediately I remember I could hear the air

come out of coping and he's like shit he's awake and I didn't even know that one so the next one he throws out there I immediately answer that one and the third one I'm like literally looking at my hand of course and so when it's done

and we leave the team meeting room I remember the guys coming up to me and they're like what the I'm like hey dude just get in a film room You know, like I didn't acknowledge the fact that Bill and I set that up. And you know, here's the best part, Jules. I've never had a conversation with Bill about any of the funny stuff that's ever happened between him and I. Thanks for listening.

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