It’s no secret that New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has a soft spot for the New York Giants — and it has little to do with their classic Super Bowl matchups.
Belichick will tell you that some of his fondest memories come from the 12 years he spent with Big Blue, first as a special team coach and defensive assistant in 1979 and later as the team’s defensive coordinator.
The Giants won two Super Bowl titles during Belichick’s tenure, including the franchise’s very first in 1986. And over that decade-plus, the future Hall of Famer had the luxury of coaching some of the best linebackers in history — Pepper Johnson, Carl Banks, Harry Carson and, of course, Lawrence Taylor.
Belichick’s players know all about that — perhaps too well — having listened to the coach rave about those linebackers over the years, while repeatedly watching film from the 1980s.
One of Belichick’s former players, current Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, got so tired of hearing about Johnson, Banks, Carson and Taylor that he actually used a Giants helmet to troll the eight-time Super Bowl champion during practice once.
“Every other day, it’s not an exaggeration that [Belichick] would reference the New York Giants. And he’d be like, ‘[Carl] Banks used to do this, Pepper used to do this, and L.T.’ Like, ‘You guys stink. These guys were 3-4 linebackers.’ And he would show us film,” Vrabel said during a conversation with NBC Sports Boston’s “Camera Guys.”
“So finally I was like, ‘OK, we’ve got to do something.’ And I found this old helmet in the equipment room, and I was like, ‘You know what? I think now’s the time to roll with it, come out there and be like, ‘Here we go, Bill. We’ve got the Giants linebackers going.”
Vrabel said the entire team got a kick out of the stunt and that even the usually stoic Belichick cracked a smile.
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