New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick reflected on his tenure with the New York Giants ahead of their matchup.
There’s never any lack of juice when the New York Giants and New England Patriots meet. From Eli Manning winning two Super Bowls over the Patriots, one of which ended their bid for a perfect season, to Bill Belichick‘s 12-year stint with the Giants, there’s no shortage of history between the two teams.
Belichick, who has been impressed with Daniel Jones thus far, spoke to the media about his ties with the Giants, per Mike Reiss of ESPN. He spoke of his history with the team saying “there’s so much history there, you could write a book about that.”
Belichick, who will surely be the subject of many books for years to come, spent 12 years with the Giants in a variety of roles. He was the special teams coach from 1979-1984, as well as serving in defensive assistant roles. He then served as defensive coordinator from 1985-1990 before leaving to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He views the Giants very fondly and considers them a class organization.
“Of course, the Mara family — single ownership,” Belichick said. “They’ve certainly been through all the phases of the league, and not only have done things very professionally and for the good of the game on the field, but present everything well off the field as well — their family and their organization and just the way they do things.”
“So that’s a storied franchise and it goes way, way back. I was very, very fortunate to be a part of that great organization for 12 years and I learned a lot there from so many people, some who are still there, most of whom aren’t. But they put together a tremendous group there in the ’80s, starting with Coach [Ray] Perkins, so I was very fortunate to be a part of that.”
Belichick worked for the Giants when patriarch Wellington Mara was still alive and running the team. Belichick won two Super Bowl rings with the Giants under head coach Bill Parcells. However, he was not selected to take over for Parcells after the 1990 season, and thus went to Cleveland.
Belichick credits the Giants with teaching him about all aspects of the game.
“You learn something everywhere, you learn something every day, you learn something every year,” Belichick said. “So Baltimore, Detroit, Denver — but the Giants, that’s really where I learned so much about really everything. Special-teams coach. Defensive coach. Defensive coordinator. Got more involved in scouting.”
Belichick’s six Super Bowl rings with the Patriots (in nine appearances) suggest that he took his education with the Giants seriously. He summed up his tenure with Big Blue, saying “it’ll always be a big part of my life and my career.”
