After 18 years of dealing with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady possibly would like to “accidentally” hit Belichick in the head with a pass. If Brady ever gives in to that temptation, he won’t be the first one to have beaned Belichick.
It happened in 1984, when Belichick coordinated the defense for the Giants and Hostetler was a third-round draft pick out of West Virginia.
“My rookie year, I am a rookie quarterback with three other veterans on the roster,” Hostetler told the Three Guys Before The Game podcast on Monday. “I’ve got Bill Parcells as a head coach, who did not want to draft me, and so I wasn’t one of his guys. I had Ron Erhardt as a quarterback coach, who had been in the league forever. His offense is still being run by [the] Patriots, by the Steelers. It’s probably the best offense that I’ve ever been involved with as far as being consistent, verbiage, all those things. And so I’m involved with all these guys that are all veterans, and I’m thinking, ‘This is a tough situation for me to come into.’ And so I’m scared, basically. I’m thinking, ‘If I make a mistake these guys aren’t going to have any patience with me.’
“Well, I would run a little bit of the seven-on-seven for the defense. And Belichick would always have these cards out and he would show us what he wants us to do. And then he would turn where the center would be, he would turn and he would watch his defense. And so we were running all these crossing routes . . . and so all of a sudden, we’re running these crossing routes, and he stands right there where the center is. I drop back, and it’s a two-yard crossing route. And I drill it to the guy.
“Well, all of a sudden, Bill’s head is right in the way. It hits him in the head. His papers fly everywhere. The ball flies everywhere. Everybody stops and it’s like, everything just went quiet. It’s like, ‘Uh-oh.’ And then he starts ripping into me and yelling at me and grabbing his papers. After that was over with, I had almost every defensive player come up to me and say, ‘Hey, great job, Hoss. Great job.’ And it was like, I was accepted. . . . Belichick hated me after that, but my only response to him was, ‘Well, don’t stand there.’”
Chances are that Belichick stopped standing there, at least during crossing routes. Chances are he definitely won’t be getting himself in position to be hit in the head (or elsewhere) during what could be Brady’s final training camp.
And chances are that, given Hostelter’s story, Belichick will appreciate the story in the video attached to this blurb, courtesy of Chris Simms last month on PFT Live.