Sep. 30—Rodney Harrison has turned into a real sweetheart since becoming a well-known NFL studio analyst and commentator on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
The “nasty” guy, says Harrison, was left on the football field when he retired.
But there is something that will draw his ire, almost to the point of his football days spouting off about disrespect, “dirty hits” or anything else derogatory of himself or his team.
When people talk about the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady run of successes, for nearly two decades, with the New England Patriots, and they are asked to pick a side: Belichick or Brady?
He gets mad, really mad.
“I think it’s stupid, okay?” said Harrison on Tuesday. “I think it’s disrespectful. Not only is it disrespectful to Tom and Bill, but it’s disrespectful to all those great players that came along that were part of those championship teams because, at the end of the day, it wasn’t Bill and Tom versus everybody else. It was an entire team.”
Harrison was not done.
“Tom’s a tremendous player, and Bill’s a tremendous coach,” he added. “But none of that stuff happens without the other players. So that’s where I stand at it. It’s not about Bill. It’s not about Tom.
“Tom wouldn’t be the player that he is if he didn’t have Bill and vice versa,” said Harrison. “Do you think Bill would be the coach that he is if he didn’t have Tom challenging him, questioning him, pushing him? They’re made for each other, and that’s the beauty of it.”
That is not to say that Belichick and Brady weren’t special or even the best-ever at their craft. In fact, Harrison believes both to be true.
In fact, he has a unique perspective practicing against Brady and the Patriots offense while reporting to duty as a captain under Belichick’s stewardship.
While he spent six seasons with both Belichick and Brady before retiring as a Patriot, compared to nine years with the Chargers, when all is said and done he considers himself a Patriot.
“They’re focused on the game ahead,” said Harrison. “Tom has so much going on in his life, as does Coach, that really when Coach is focused on, say, the Cincinnati Bengals, he’s not really paying attention to Tom. Coach has a unique ability to be able to focus on the week ahead of him I think that’s how both of them kind of operate.”
Harrison was there on those film review meetings from the previous game, when Brady got called out as much as anybody when it comes to Belichick’s sometime loud critiques.
“[Belichick] used to say, ‘Hey, we can’t even complete a simple screen pass. A guy from Attleborough High could do that.'” said Harrison. “He would get on Tom. He wouldn’t care if Tom was All-Pro or Pro Bowl or anything like that. That kept Tom hungry, and he kept fighting and clawing and trying to grab that respect from Coach Belichick. Coach Belichick coached him hard, and Tom wouldn’t be as mentally tough as he is right now if Coach Belichick wouldn’t have coached him the way he coached him.”
Harrison heard it, too, from his former coach.
“[Belichick] would say something about me, and I would get irritated,” said Harrison. “I just had ten tackles, a sack, and an interception; you’re talking to me about what? That’s what I’m thinking in my mind, but he’s the head coach and I respect him … That’s his way of motivating people. He’s not going to sit there and tell you how great you are.
“He’s going to keep that sarcastic criticism to a certain degree to keep pushing you, to make you a better player,” said Harrison. “That’s what [being a Patriot is all] about.”
Harrison isn’t ready to predict a winner. He said he’d save that for TV on Sunday.
But he does have a different kind of prediction.
“They both really want this win,” said Harrison.
You can email Bill Burt at bburt@eagletribune.com.