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Last year, Belichick coached the Pro Bowl. As you guessed he took it too seriously. On Friday — a day normally reserved for a short practice and lots of beach time, Belichick gathered everyone together.
“I didn’t come all the way out here to get embarrassed,” he barked at the best players in professional football. Then, he had them practice their subs utions as if they were junior high kids. He yelled “punt team” and had the punt team run on the field. Field-goal team. Second-team offense. Faster. Again.
That insanity already tells you a lot about Belichick. But that’s not the story. No, the story comes from the game itself and involves Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. As you know there are no role players in the Pro Bowl. It’s a game of stars. That means some stars have to do some grunt work. Every year, coaches put Gonzalez — now a nine-time Pro Bowler — on the kickoff return team.
“I don’t know why they keep doing that,” Gonzalez says.
Nobody knows, but one of the byproducts is that Gonzalez’s family and friends get to laugh hysterically. It is one of the highlights of their Hawaii trip, watching Gonzalez look helpless and try his best to avoid contact on the kickoff team. Hey, come on, the Pro Bowl is a reward. Everybody says so. Nobody goes there to get hurt blocking on kickoffs.
So, first kickoff, Gonzalez stood back, the kick flew over his head, and he sort of looked for someone to block. Someone ran around him and tackled the return man. Business as usual. Only there was Belichick. He did not look at Gonzalez. He stared grimly at the field — you know that Belichick look. He did not even seem aware of Gonzalez’s existence.
Then, as Tony ran by, Belichick said this: “Why don’t you (bleeping) block somebody, Gonzalez.”
