The 2020 and 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame classes are being inducted this weekend and Bill Belichick took time to make a visit to Canton Saturday night with the Patriots being off.
The coach is very familiar with a number of players and coaches getting in this weekend, but perhaps no one more than Peyton Manning. For roughly 15 years, the Patriots and Manning's teams had quite the battles.
Speaking with Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, Belichick had high praise for Manning.
“He is definitely the best quarterback I’ve coached against,” he said. “There have been quarterbacks who called their own plays, but it was nowhere near the same as what he did. He basically called every play by adjusting and/or changing the play once he saw what the defense was doing. He excelled at using the cadence and recognizing blitzes, and more than any one single offensive player, he forced us to change and adapt defensive game plans.”
The coach also had some nice things to say about coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson, who he took a photo with Saturday.
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“Jimmy’s command of personnel, coaching, trades, and the draft made him one of the all-time master team builders,” Belichick said. “He took a team from 1-15 and turned it into a three-time Super Bowl champion. Jimmy’s defenses — his 4-3 split safety scheme — were as good as I have coached against. Jimmy is a great friend who has given me a lot of good advice throughout much of my career.”
He added: ”Bill had a tremendous NFL career that encompassed a lot — player, assistant coach, coordinator, and head coach. Schematically his teams were one of the very best over the course of two decades. Our teams had some fiercely competitive battles that made me a better coach. I admire and learned from his complete mastery of coaching essentials — motivation, strategy, fundamentals, and physical play. Bill and I have been close friends for 35 years and I couldn’t be happier for him.”