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At the height of the New England Patriots dynasty, Bill Belichick had a famous docket of rules. Super Bowl LI MVP Julian Edelman remembers Belichick’s most “memorable” rule.
“The most memorable rule I always remember him saying is nothing could, nothing burning can be in your hotel rooms,” Edelman told Fox News Digital in August, while promoting the sleeping pill Unisom.
“‘I don’t’ care if it’s incense, this scents, sage, if it burns you can’t have it.'”
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Then-New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman (11) warms up prior to a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 15, 2019. (David Kohl/USA TODAY Sports)
And just as Belichick was particular about what the players inhaled, he was also particular about what they chewed.
“We tailor everything we do to each individual, so we train players that are 185 pounds, we train players that are 350 pounds,” Belichick said in 2017, per NFL.com.
For Edelman, that manifested in a high-tech but modest approach to food discipline.
Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots speaks to Julian Edelman #11 in the first half against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on January 24, 2016, in Denver, Colorado. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
“I would basically have a nutritionist that was part of the team, Ted Harper, and they would communicate with a chef of mine, and they would see how my practice was through my data on what our GPS units on how much load I had that day, and they would tailor to my blood type,” Edelman said, adding the science was so precise that he had to cut out mustard and almonds.
Belichick’s strict calculated approach to player management was a defining quality that yielded New England six Super Bowl trophies and nine appearances under the coach’s leadership from 2000-2023. The Patriots won 266 regular-season games, clinched 17 AFC East titles and 31 postseason wins during his reign.
Despite all that, Belichick reportedly missed out on being a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick smiles as he walks off the field during an NFL football training camp in Foxborough, Mass., Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
ESPN first reported that Belichick would not be going into the Hall of Fame this time around. The outlet reported, citing sources, that Belichick was “puzzled” and “disappointed” with the decision and that he wondered what more he had to do as a head coach to get in immediately.
“Politics kept him out. He doesn’t believe this is a reflection on his accomplishments,” another source told ESPN.
The Patriots are headed back to the Super Bowl for the first time since Belichick left the team after the 2023 season, under his protégé Mike Vrabel.
They will take on the Seahawks in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX, when Edelman helped secure New England’s first of three Super Bowl wins in the decade of the 2010s.
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