In the New England Patriots organization, it doesn't matter whether you're the starting quarterback or the last guy on the roster. If you mess up, Bill Belichick will let you hear it.
Take recently-retired wide receiver Julian Edelman, for example. Despite being a Super Bowl champion and one of the most important players in New England's offense, even he wasn't safe from Belichick's wrath in the Patriots film room.
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On former Patriots teammate Chris Long’s “Green Light Podcast," Edelman recalled the worst film-room experience he had with Belichick during his 12-year Pats career.
“I got in a fight with [Stephon] Gilmore,” Edelman said. “(Belichick) puts it on, and he’ll just sit and rewind it like 45 times with silence — silence! And then when he stands up, there’s a guy that his job is to go run and turn the lights on. So it’s, like, majestically turning on. …
“So he sits and rewinds it like 45 times, and then he stands up and he goes, ‘What the f--- are we doing? We can’t have this.’ He’s just going on and just wringing me like, ‘You know what, Edelman? You over here think you’re a tough guy.’ Just getting on me in front of the team. But I think low-key, he loved it.”
Long, who spent one Super Bowl-winning season with the Patriots in 2016, admired how Belichick kept everyone in the locker room accountable.
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"When you screw up, you’re going to get fried in the big room,” Long said. “It made me feel better to realize that, probably, when I screwed up everybody felt just glad it wasn’t them. That was the prevailing emotion in the room. It wasn’t like, ‘F--- you Chris.’ I was never watching you like, after that Pittsburgh game I guess you dropped a punt. I was like ‘Oh my God he’s yelling at Julian... Oh my God he’s yelling at one of the best players.’”
Belichick will miss having Edelman in 2021. The 34-year-old wideout announced his retirement from football in April and Belichick saluted the three-time Super Bowl champ with a glowing statement.