Former Baltimore Colts quarterback Bert Jones recognized Bill Belichick’s talent decades before the coach experienced historic success.
Jones worked with Belichick on the 1975 Colts when the North Carolina coach was just 23 years old.
“I always knew he was a smart kid,” Jones said on Glenn Clark Radio Sept. 5. “… That was his first job. I helped him get his first paycheck.”
The Colts brought Belichick on as a special assistant ahead of the 1975 season while Belichick’s father, Steve, was coaching at the Naval Academy. This was Belichick’s first coaching job out of college. With the help of Jones and the rest of the Colts roster and staff, Belichick gained a more complete understanding of football.
Jones recalled Belichick’s humble beginnings prior to winning six Super Bowls as a head coach and two as a defensive coordinator. Belichick would sleep in the training room of Memorial Stadium.
Belichick later told Jones that his time with the Colts was the first time he really learned about defenses. The Colts would run a drill in which Jones would yell out defensive coverages his teammates would get into. Belichick snapped the ball to Jones at the suggestion of head coach Ted Marchibroda.
“Every day twice a day in training camp, he’d snap the ball to me and I’d holler the coverages,” Jones said. “He said, ‘Sitting there after I snapped the ball, looking up and watching defenses going like this and you hollering the coverage, that’s when I learned defensive coverages.”
The 1975 Colts season is noteworthy because of team’s rough start. The Colts started out 1-4, in line with the previous season’s 2-12 mark. But they went on to win nine games in a row en route to the AFC East title. Although the Colts came up short in the playoffs, the 1975 season still remains one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history.
After all these years, Jones has maintained a relationship not just with Belichick but also with his teammates and coaches. The ’75 Colts took part in a reunion on Sept. 13 and were honored by the Ravens on Sept. 14.
Jones described the opportunity to meet up with everybody again as a “special time.”
“We’re having a real private party … and it’s going to be a glorious time where we sit down, probably tell some lies, and have a whole lot of bellyaches,” Jones said, prior to the weekend’s celebration.
Jones threw for 2,483 yards and 18 touchdowns in 1975. This wasn’t the peak for Jones, who would throw for 3,104 yards and 24 touchdowns a season later to win Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year.
Jones still has a lot of love for the city of Baltimore, where he had a historic run that started with the ’75 team. Although injuries cut short what many observers to this day argue would have been a Hall of Fame career, Jones only looks back at his time in the NFL with a smile.
“I have so many reminders of the great times and great friends I have in Baltimore, on and off the field,” Jones said.
For more from Bert Jones, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credits: Courtesy of the Indianapolis Colts and UNC Athletics