The Flea Flicker ain't throwin' it back too far this week. About 20 years. In the past decade Bill Belichick has built the New England Patriots into the model franchise. Three wins in four Super Bowl appearances. Contending every year. This unquestioned success makes it easy to forget that Belichick had something brewing in the last years of the old Cleveland Browns. I have never truly understood Art Modell's reasons for firing Belichick. It certainly had a bit to do with the team's move to Baltimore. Perhaps Modell just wanted to be known as the idiot that fired Paul Brown and Bill Belichick.
If kept in place, I truly believe that Belichick was well on his way to great things in Cleveland/Baltimore. His success in New England over the past decade shows that he has it in him. The coaching staff and personnel department that Belichick put together was simply remarkable. Talent recognizes talent. His coaching staff included future NFL and college head coaches Eric Mangini, Jim Schwartz, Al Groh, Nick Saban, Kirk Ferentz and Pat Hill. The personnel group was even more incredible. Some of the best talent evaluators of the last 20 years learned with and from Belichick. Thomas Dimitroff, Ozzie Newsome, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum and Phil Savage all walked those halls in Cleveland. Amazing.
In my lifetime, Bill Belichick and Bill Walsh have made the greatest impact on professional football. Success may often be judged best in those that follow. So many people learned from those two. Their success and and teachings will carry for generations. Belichick's classroom started those days in Cleveland. We'll never know what that team might have become. Perhaps what we now see in New England we may have seen in Cleveland. Modell effectively shattered that. Breaking up that pack of talent did end up spreading Belichick's influence from Fresno to New York.
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